Topband: 5/8 wavelength vertical is mo betta than shorterversions??,

[Richard Fry]

>BC stations tried 5/8 wavelength antennas to maximize their groundwave 
>coverage. Unfortunately, the high angle lobe produced a skywave that caused 
>severe interference fading at night out in their desired coverage area.

Most 50 kW, 24/7, omnidirectional MW broadcast stations such as WJR, KMOX 
etc use a radiator height close to 195 degrees, which produces almost as 
much groundwave field as a 5/8-wave, but without the high-angle lobe 
centered at about 60 degrees elevation.

It was this high-angle lobe that produced self-interference when the skywave 
radiation from it arrived out of phase with the groundwave, at the edges of 
the groundwave coverage area.

RF