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??.
. . .

No, it's not. An antenna doesn't have a single angle of radiation, but
radiates at all angles.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL