The discussion on antenna height is interesting and shows that location must
be considered in the formula for EACH station.
I visited Frank, W4AMJ (still spry at 91) , this past May and all he has is
a medium tri-bander at 60' but with his location on the water and water in
several directions he can be hard to beat on 20 or 15. He runs consistent
schedules on 15 with South Africa and often he hears and works them better
than anyone else in the USA . I remember the big gun about 15 miles away
that broke the schedule and was told you are only an S unit down from Frank.
Regarding lower antennas, I remember the local with a small tri-bander at
45' who always worked Central America better than I did with a big antenna
at 71'. The only times I beat him was as the band opened and as it closed.
I was 2 S points louder to Africa or Europe.
N4 RJ was using 26' for his lowest stack on 10 with highest at 74'. This
antenna was a real door buster any direction on 10 (a stack of 4 Cushcraft
4el beams).
That ole vertical that is a dummy load at home becomes a gain antenna at the
tropical beach!
Dave K4JRB
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