On Thu, 9 Jun 2005 08:10:41 -0700, "butlercellars"
wrote:

You'd think that aiming it east, southeast, or south towards all those
transmitters would pull in something, but gain is very weak.

Hi Bob,

Metropolitan FM stations are not always located downtown.

However, if I
point it northwest, at about 45 degrees up the hill behind me, I can
actually pull in a few decent stations.

This may be evidence of where the transmitters are.

Aiming the antenna in the opposite
direction of the stations just seems contrary to logic. I understand that
ground waves travel parallel to the earth, but could the signals be bouncing
off the hillside too, acting like a huge reflector?

Yes, very much so at this frequency. As in gold prospecting, the
signal is where you find it.

The thing that really gets me is that I can get excellent reception on all
stations in my car sitting in the driveway, and driving around. Therefore,
I'm thinking of dumping the yagi and trying to find or build a vertically
polarized omni antenna.

This is more telling. It suggests that perhaps you haven't properly
connected either the antenna to the feeline, or the feedline to the
receiver, or yes the antenna is still not pointed in the right
direction - or you have a bum receiver. What about an FM portable
with a whip antenna? What about that FM portable with your antenna
feedline attached? If the whip works better, look at the feedline and
up.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC