[TowerTalk] Was Radials... 160m High angle vs. low angle

[Jim Jarvis]

Having a 160m inverted vee with the apex at 60' is like having
a 10m inverted vee with the apex at 4'.  It's a cloud burner.
A 160m dipole at 100' is a LOW antenna.

That said, there ARE high angle nights on 160, but it's my
impression that means signals arriving around 25-30 degrees,
rather than 8-10 degrees above the horizon.  It certainly
doesn't mean arrival angles above 60 degrees, which is what
such a low antenna will produce.

Any of these antennas have a range of response, and K1UO might
well have happened upon a set of conditions which allowed him to
hear and be heard on a low vee.  I assure you those conditions are
not statistically prevalent.  

On the other hand, I bought a tower from Larry, some years back,
and recall seeing his 135'(?) rotating tower system.  So he clearly has the
capacity to have top band antennas at a reasonable height.  

My assumption would be that the low Vee is there to allow talking
to his fellow New Englanders.   

n2ea
jimjarvis at ieee.org