"J. Mc Laughlin" wrote in message
...
snip

.. The angles that are important for "DX," I have found to be
between two and twelve degrees. In other words, if long distance contacts
are desired, it is desirable to have most of an antenna's gain be between
2
and 12 degrees above the horizon.


At last reason prevails.......
For DX purposes only the bottom half of the
main lobe is usefull. If your TOA is 13 to 14 degrees which is average
then more than 50 percent of the main lobe is serving no purpose.

If one wants to capture the highest possible number
of DX contacts then the TOA should be the angle where the
upper side of the main lobe is 3db down from the TOA.
Lower than this point renders the antenna useless as propagation sets in.
Mac shows this with a antenna having a TOA at 5 degrees that
has a theoretical NULL at 10 degrees which means 50 percent of
incoming signals are not available to the antenna user



Consider the person who places a 14.2 MHz Yagi at 60 meters (the magic
height above which one has to deal with the FAA). As a first
approximation,
such an antenna is expected to have a peak at about 5 degrees and a null
at
about 10 degrees. When the band opens, such a system is likely to
dominate.
When propagation is better, those with lower antennas might have more gain
at the useful angle.

73 Mac N8TT
-- Reg, G4FGQ

Regards

Art