Jimmie D wrote:

This afternoon while cleaning a closet I pulled out an old US map that had
been marked with contacts I made back when I worked 10M a lot. After the
local stations there is a big empty area on the map then I started making
contacts again at about 300 miles. Antenna used was a 1/4 lambda groundplane
with the radials drooping so to match 50 ohms. A chart I found indicates
that this means I have a vertical angle of radiation of 50 to 60 degrees. Is
this correct??. I didnt think the angle would be so great for this antenna.

BTW the antenna was about 30 ft off the ground when in use.
Jimmie



What is missing is the altitude of the reflecting zone. The altitude of the E,
F1, F2 layers very greatly depending on solar activity, season and time of day.
There are so many variables in propagation that is is impossible to definitely
state what the path and angle were.