[VHFcontesting] Suggestions on Antenna Heights for 50 MHz

[k8cc]

Since our new reflector has been "broken in" by its first thread ("Software 
Questions"), I'd like to start another.

K9TM and I are putting together some gear and antennas to have a permanent 
VHF setup here at K8CC.  In the past, the constraints of underground 
feedlines (or rather, the lack thereof) lead to temporary summer lashups 
that had to be ripped down once the HF contest season arrived in the fall.

One of the main questions to be answered here concerns the preferred 
heights for the 50 MHz antennas.  I've looked at the 50 MHz setups from the 
K8GP and W2SZ web sites, but their mountaintop locations offer advantages 
my QTH doesn't have.  I found some interesting 50 MHz configurations at the 
W5KFT web site, but Texas and Michigan are somewhat dissimilar in terms of 
the available target audience.

I think I understand HF wave angles, antenna heights and stacking pretty 
well, but my feeling is that VHF is a different thing.  50 MHz might share 
*some* characteristics of 28 MHz, so some of those techniques might apply 
if the propagation modes are known.

My location is essentially flat terrain, and I have towers that go up to 
120'.  My thinking is that really tall heights are not necessarily needed, 
since anything above 80' (four wavelengths) is essentially free 
space.  I've been told that a 30' antenna can be a real killer at times for 
summer E-skip, so I was thinking about identical yagis at 60' and 30' with 
upper/lower/both switching for wave angle control and the ability to spray 
RF in different directions.

Thanks for any suggestions.

73,


Dave/K8CC