Art wrote:
"I believe that most hams recognise that a vertical polarised antenna is
not the best type to use when communicating over ground with
horizontally polarised antennas and I suspect that even CBers are aware
of that too."

Crosspolarization creates an extreme loss if the ionosphere isn`t in the
path constantly mixing the polarization.

For several years I worked in what was then the world`s largest
shortwave broadcasting plant. All our antennas for many bands and target
areas were horizontally polarized. I`ve visited many commercial
shortwave plants and it`s the same story. Horizontal polarization
predominates. Our antennas were designed for operation over 1-hop or
2-hop paths. They could be received with any piece of wire in any
attitude but would likely work best with a rhombic or curtain that
exactly matched the transmitting antenna but on the receiving end of the
path. Those worked very well indeed on the program relay circuits.

C.B. is supposed to be a line-of-sight service. As mobile stations which
may at any moment be located on any azimuth are involved, vertical
antennas which don`t discriminate against any azimuth are likely the
best choice for base and mobile stations which work together.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI