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[TowerTalk] 90' vs. 120' on 20 meters?

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Subject: [TowerTalk] 90' vs. 120' on 20 meters?
From: w4an@contesting.com (Bill Fisher - W4AN)
Date: Thu, 30 Apr 1998 14:14:26 -0400 (EDT)
Did you move 2 blocks down the road and 2 blocks down the hill?  

My experience tells me that 90 - 110 feet is pretty darned good on 20 
meters.  Most on this reflector would pick that height if they were 
putting it on flat land.  

What you didn't tell us is the terrain.  This makes all the difference.  
If you live on irregular terrain, I would suggest buying a copy of 
K6STI's TA (Terrain Analyzer).  If you are on a hilltop, 120' could very 
well be worse that 90 feet.  For that matter, 90 feet is probably worse 
than 60 feet.  

At my place (hilltop with drastic slopes) I found that 90% of the time on 
a stack of 204BA's (one at 105' the other at 55') that the lower antenna 
was the best choice to Europe.  The bottom one was fixed so I couldn't 
test in any other direction.  The stack was marginally better than the 
lower antenna.  This was predicted by TA.  

So now I have two 5 element 20 meter yagis on seperate towers, one at 55 
feet and the other at 60 feet.  They are both exceptional performers.  My 
experience on 10, 15 and 20 meters has shown that TA or YT (by N6BV) are 
very good judges of what a hill will do to your HF antennas performance.  
I highly suggest them.  You might be surprised what they tell you.

73

Bill, W4AN

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