[Milsurplus] BC-611 Operational Question

[Hubert Miller]

So altho the 611 antenna is ~1/80th wavelength, it is not like really a 'point source', and that the polarization of the handheld is important ?
I do see that there will be a null directly above ( and below ) the vertical antenna.

I read some years back, that someone had been trying out a 611 radio, this is postwar, and they happened to try touching the 611 antenna to the base of a metal flagpole.
This notably increased the signal strength, which translates to distance, i suppose. I still do not understand how that would work. In the radio you have a loading coil working 
with apretty specific low capacitance antenna. I suppose this assumes the metal flagpole was not perfectly grounded and that its capacitance was still in the 2 or low 3 digits
capacity, so that the percentage of wavelength of this new antenna addition overcame any mistuning of the output circuit. 

I friend has a 611 and told me he can hear a Chinese SW broadcaster on it, so it's not the receiver that limits the working distance.
-Hue Miller