"Cecil Moore" wrote
I was speaking of the typical ham radio 1/4WL monopole.
EZNEC's VERT1.EZ is an example of such an antenna with
a maximum gain of about 0 dBi.

And NEC shows that such maximum gain occurs at some angle above the
horizontal plane, maybe 20 degrees? NEC also shows zero relative field in
the horizontal plane, and very low values below elevation angles of 10
degrees or so.

But note in the graphic linked below that for broadcast stations using
1/4-wave monopoles, nighttime skywave coverage in the range of 400 to 1,000
miles is provided by radiation in the range of 1 to 20 degrees elevation.
Both theory and practice show that monopole radiation for these conditions
could not be as given in a NEC analysis showing the field at an infinite
distance.

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h8...ermanFig55.jpg

The point was that the average 1/4WL amateur monopole
doesn't equal the maximum gain of an average 1/2WL dipole,

It could get very close to it though, with the necessary buried radial
system.

RF