Topband: Under the Unbrella signals

[D Andersen]

Hello All,

When the sunspot cycle was lower (a few years ago) I could hear Europe shortpath with a very very long(4 wavelengths) Beverage that ran down a steep hill toward Europe loosing 150 feet of elevation at the front.  A four square made the receiver show 20 DB over S9 with a white noise sound(no white noise with Beverage).  There was no trace of Europe with the 4-square.  This happened almost every night for about 5 years but has been gone for about 3 years now.  I expect it to start again in a year or so.  I noticed that other western stations usually did not hear the European stations at all.  This was receiving from Arizona.  I have often wondered  what was going on.  This "under the umbrella" theory may be an answer??  I think the very long sloping Beverage antenna had a very low angle of reception and a very good front to top ratio(sharp elevation reception cutoff).  I must receive right through the aurora oval to Europe.  It was weaker 5 years ago than now.  If anyone has some thoughts about this I would appreciate them.

Best Regards,
Don Andersen  w7dd