[ILQSO] 40 meter horizontal mobile antenna ideas

[Jimk8mr at aol.com]

Whether you use a vertical or horizontal antenna, mobile or not, is not an  
issue.  The question is whether the ionosphere will support any short (i.e.  
in-state) propagation.  If not, what antenna you use does not matter.
 
In the Ohio QSO party this year, with solar flux in the upper 70s and a low  
A/K index, the first two hours (noon to 2 pm EDT, or 11 am to 1 pm EST) had 
good  short skip on 40.  Then it went long for the rest of the day (bad for us 
in  Ohio, good for the guys in Illinois!).
 
I interpreted this to mean that for an hour either side of solar noon,  there 
was enough direct radiation to support a low MUF.  Once the sun  started to 
decline in the sky, there wasn't enough. Big stations with big  antennas noted 
the problem as much as us HamStick kind of guys in the  field.
 
For a mobile, I don't think it is worth fooling with the mechanical issues  
of a horizontal antenna.
 
 
73  -  Jim  K8MR