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

[Bill Tippett]

N2EA:

 >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.

         But that's exactly what you need under
certain conditions.  In addition to being good
for local (<300 mile) contacts, sometimes TOAs
go extremely high for DX.  Typically this is
at sunrise, sunset or in geomagnetic disturbances.

 >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.

http://users.vnet.net/btippett/new_page_10.htm

Normally my 3-element vertical (black plot) is
about +10 dB better than the inverted-V (blue plot).
However, it can sometimes be the other way around.
Looking at the graph, I would think "normal" is
about 10-15 degrees TOA (where the black plot is
+10 dB vs the blue).  However the case where the
inverted-V is +10 dB indicates a TOA of 70 degrees
or more.

         I had both a vertical and inverted-V in Colorado
for many years.  I finally put up an inverted-V here
in 2004 and only wish I did it sooner.  Sometimes
the difference is incredible.  And BTW, TOAs also
apply to receive antennas.  Beverages do not work in
high angle conditions (often a clue that high angles
are predominating) so I transmit AND listen on the
inverted-V in those conditions.

                                         73,  Bill  W4ZV