Dear Richard:

Your last paragraph (quoted below) is a good summary. It, or something
like it, should be an introductory paragraph in every vertical's data sheet
and advertisement. Well done.

To have a vertical perform well for the important (for DX) angles
between 2 and 12 degrees (above the horizon) one would like to have a copper
sea starting one or two wavelengths from the antenna. I have worked 10 watt
backpack stations in the UK when they were by the sea side. No hope to do
so when they are inland.

73, Mac N8TT

--
J. Mc Laughlin; Michigan U.S.A.
Home:
"Richard Harrison" wrote in
snip

The point is that high conductivity is only needed very close to the
tower for the ground wave. For a sky wave, you need high conductivity at
the reflection point for a vertically polarized wave.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI

I have worked 10 watt
backpack stations in the UK when they were by the sea side. No hope to
do
so when they are inland.


Three or four weeks ago I drove down to the beach to do
some fishing, bbqing, and general r&r. Of course, I had my
radio. I pulled my truck right up next to the water. Didn't
bother throwing a "water" ground wire out. Just ran normal
with my "extended" 14 ft mobile whip. The coil 8 ft above the
base of the whip. 100w. Was yakking on 40m late at night, and among
all the stations, mostly home stations, some running power,
I was one of the loudest ones on the freq. Can't beat a good
sal****er location. Also, a mobile late at night on 40m,
generally is as good as most normal height dipoles, etc. In fact,
I had one guy do a test. He was in the house in FLA, and I wagered
that his signal would increase if he went to his mobile.
He did, and it did. MK

Dear Mark:
I had to look up your location in order to put your story into context.
You are in Texas.
Thanks for the story.
73, Mac N8TT

--
J. Mc Laughlin; Michigan U.S.A.
Home:
wrote in message
oups.com...
I have worked 10 watt
backpack stations in the UK when they were by the sea side. No hope to
do
so when they are inland.


Three or four weeks ago I drove down to the beach to do
some fishing, bbqing, and general r&r. Of course, I had my
radio. I pulled my truck right up next to the water. Didn't
bother throwing a "water" ground wire out. Just ran normal
with my "extended" 14 ft mobile whip. The coil 8 ft above the
base of the whip. 100w. Was yakking on 40m late at night, and among
all the stations, mostly home stations, some running power,
I was one of the loudest ones on the freq. Can't beat a good
sal****er location. Also, a mobile late at night on 40m,
generally is as good as most normal height dipoles, etc. In fact,
I had one guy do a test. He was in the house in FLA, and I wagered
that his signal would increase if he went to his mobile.
He did, and it did. MK

I was at Quintana beach, at the mouth of the river.
Basically Freeport TX. I was parked on the beach, right
where the beach makes the turn north at the river, on the
east side of the river. Anywhere on the gulf coast is a good
place to play radio. It's all rated the top "30" rating as far as
ground conductivity. If you are nearly on the water like I was,
you can really brown the food with a good vertical. I had to
keep moving the truck up, as the tide kept coming up. Almost
got stuck once... BTW...The fishing that night was lousy...
I did much better at the BBQ and the radioing..MK