Having moved from the flatlands of FL to KH6 I agree with most of the
statements by K9YC.
One absolutely needs to do an HFTA to assess what he is working with if you
are not located on flat ground.
Out here in KH6 you can move about 500 feet and have a whole different world
since the terrain is so mountainous. If you have a choice as to where to put
the tower, do maker use of the HFTA program.
I have only been in one contest out here (WWSSB) on 75 meters and can tell
you the antennas play as I expected from the HFTA.
Going higher is a good remedy to topography disadvantage but if you are
looking at Pike's Peak or Mauna Kea pretty close to you, you just have to kinda
suck it up and shrug your shoulders as there isn't much you can do.
I modeled at 1000 foot tower at my QTH and even that didn't help all that
much in that direction. Even at 1000 feet I could not get angles at 1 degree
from 3.5 through 28 mHz. With a 500 foot tower no angles less than 5 degrees!
It's not a big deal here since I don't have much coming in from that
direction except LP to EU. However, if one had that situation to EU from W1
it
surely would hurt.
One thing I do disagree with however, is that the angles below 2.5 are
pretty much not important. That may or may not be true depending on you
location.
Out here in KH6 the angle of arrival from JA (not all that far away) is at
1 and 2 percent 25% of the time for 10 meters. That may or not be important
to a non-contester, but it sure as hell is important if you are a serious
contester.
Bill K4XS/KH7XS
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