I live on a steep hillside that rises over 2,000 feet above me in less
than a mile away to the west. Eastward I get terrific takeoff angles
because the slope is downhill in that direction, but HFTA tells me that
no reasonable height for a tower is going to help me the tiniest bit to
the west. Both HFTA and on-the-air experience tell me that for VK/ZL
I'm better off wrapping a note around a rock and trying to throw it as
far as I can in that direction. My VK/ZL contacts in contests all come
from the long path.
In my opinion, about the best you are going to be able to do is to put
up a tower high enough to minimize local ground effects (50 feet sounds
good to me although I have no firm basis for saying that) and simply try
to rely on higher angle propagation (middle of openings, F2 layer
gradients, etc).
If you are willing to plot the terrain profile in a couple of key
directions (say NE and NW) from that QTH I'll work up a terrain file for
you and run some HFTA plots to show you what you'll be up against.
73,
Dave AB7E
On 8/23/2011 6:27 PM, Bryan Edwards W5KFT wrote:
>
>
> We are in the process of moving from the flat lands of Texas to the
> mountains of New Mexico, have to get away from the heat. I need
> some input from you guys that live in the hills and mountains.
>
> Our new location is in a narrow valley at about 7800 feet asl.
> Hillsides rise steeply about 800-1000 feet starting about 150
> feet from where tower will be located.
>
> I would like some comments from you guys that live in the hills
> about is it worth it to go to some super tower height to try and
> overcome the terrain or would it be best to just put some simple
> 40-50 tower and live with the terrain.
>
> If you prefer, reply direct to w5kft@nts-online.net
>
> Thanks
>
> Bryan W5KFT
>
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>
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