[TowerTalk] 40M Beam Performance vs. Height

[T A RUSSELL]

On Wed, 27 May 1998 22:22:22 -0500 Tom Champlin <w0hh@ix.netcom.com>
writes:

> and I have a 40-2cd in the basement I never finished, 
because, frankly the thing needs to be up at about 140' to
>have any real gain.
>
>                                                        Thanks again,
>Tom W0HH
>
>BY the way, I always thought that the Earth was flat!
>

Tom,   you have made this comment about not having any
real gain on 40M  below 140 ft before.  Please define what 
you mean by  "real gain".  

I suspect you are refering to gain below 10 degrees elevation.

On 40M, I find that  10 to 30 degrees is where signals from
Europe and Africa tend to peak in the afternoon and evening.
This range is maximized at 100 ft. on 40M.

Remember, the ionosphere will support angles higher than
the minimum angle necessary to get to the target area and
MOST  DX stations are NOT using high antennas.  This means
that their signals are most likely coming at the second and 
possibly even third highest angle that will still be supported
by the ionosphere since their low antennas have little radiation
at the lowest angle that will reach the USA targets.

Several prominent DXers and contesters with high and low
beams on 40M report that their high antennas (130 - 140 ft)
get creamed to Europe by the lower antennas until  well after
darkness, especially during higher sunspot activity when 20M
remains open to Europe until very late in the afternoon.

The tall antennas perform best just before sunrise on the skew 
path (SW) to SE  Asia,  LP to central Asia, and the South Pacific.

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of "shortie forties" at
60 to 90 ft around the world that perform quite well, certainly
better than most inverted vee or simple wire antennas at
equivalent heights.  You are really missing something by
keeping your CC  2L40 in the basement!

73,   Tom  N4KG   (I love my CC  2L40 at 95 ft.)


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