Midland MXTA26 Tilted

[WRDJ205]

I was doing some testing on antennas today and decided to use the Midland MXTA 12 mag mount with the MXTA 26 antenna mounted to the roof of a metal garage.  As you can see from the photo, it was not parallel to the ground.  It was close to a 15-20deg angle.  
 

Any thoughts on how much being angled like that might affect performance?   Would it be better to one side and worse to the other?  

[WRTC928]

In theory, it will tilt the lobes of the signal to be higher on one side and lower on the other. In practice, it might not matter. The only way to know is to try it and find out. I suspect that unless you're trying for some absurd distance, it won't make a discernible difference.

[tcp2525]

The last time my antenna was tilted like that I was able to bounce my signal off the moon. It was strange that I made it that far as I was only transmitting 100 mW on GMRS. 

[OffRoaderX]

You will never notice any difference compared to it being straight up and down.

[WSHH887]

My ignorance is showing but I have seen antennas mounter horizontally. Why?

[SteveShannon]

45 minutes ago, WSHH887 said:

My ignorance is showing but I have seen antennas mounter horizontally. Why?

If the radio you are trying to talk to has its antenna mounted sideways (horizontally polarized) you’ll get better results by mounting your antenna the same way, unless the signal is bouncing off something which also can change polarity. 

[WSHH887]

Just learned something.  But the only way you could ensure both antennas were horizontal would be if the vehicles were some how "related".  Like from the same company or agency. 

[SteveShannon]

1 minute ago, WSHH887 said:

Just learned something.  But the only way you could ensure both antennas were horizontal would be if the vehicles were some how "related".  Like from the same company or agency. 

Or you try it both ways. You’ll see hams rotating Yagi antennas to determine the antenna orientation for the signal they’re chasing (mostly VHF and UHF).