Art wrote:
"Members of this group oppose the idea of sloping antennas but without
reason."

A sloper is neither vertical nor horizontal. A horizontal discriminates
against groundwave propagated noise sources when receiving. A vertical
discriminates against wasting transmited energy toward the zenith and at
high angles over the horizon. For locations near the antenna, groundwave
propagation is usually preferred. Check page 803 of Terman`s 1955 opus:
"The groundwave is vertically polarized, because any horizontal
component of the electric field in contact with the earth is
short-circuited by the earth."

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI