Well I've said it dozens of times before . . . but I have used a horizontal halfwave Dipole (at about 50ft) for working DX on 160m for the past 50 years ! (and that's at 6 different QTHs)
Not only do I work all over the world, but I know my signal often compares pretty well with other Gs using good verticals . . . and I have no problem getting through the pile-ups working the various DX-peditions. How is this possible? Well in my opinion it's because DX propagation on 160m ISN'T like 80m (where it IS nearly all low angle, so you MUST have a good vertical to work DX effectively) Based on the hundreds of comparison QSOs I've had over the decades, I figure that on 160m, propagation MUST be fairly high angle a lot of the time, presumably because of inter-layer reflections or ducting. Most of the "experts" who have written books about Low-band DX-ing have made the assumption that 160m is just like 80m . . . which in my experience it clearly isn't ! The only other factor I DO think is that if you have a low dipole on 160m but DON'T have any radials or anything underneath it, it probably radiates more low angle than computer-modelling software would suggest. I believe the errors occur on 160m because it can't properly forecast the effect of the REAL WORLD ground when the antenna is a fraction of a wavelength above it. Roger G3YRO _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector
