"Jimmy" wrote in message
. ..

I have found that a 3/4 wl and longer vertical antenna can be quite useful
during periods of "skip". Quite often these antennas will allow you to
work
into areas that are not so crowded. Your signal is going places others are
not. This can be a good tool to have.



3/4 wave on a ground plane has a main lobe about 50 degrees above the
horizon. I have a paper by Inagaki et. al. from the 70's describing a 3/4
wave on a gnd plane if I recall, 1.6 lambda or was it 0.6 from a 60 degree
corner reflector. Built one for 2304 MHZ It gives 18dB gain (probably dBi)
and has a very good 50 ohm match. My dad built one in a 2 foot cube for a
440 antenna gain contest {it was a bit short compared to the paper's
specifications) and won.
--
Steve N, K,9;d, c. i My email has no u's.