E Z Peaces wrote:

One station 80 miles away would break up in some weather conditions.
Reception improved if I turned the antenna 90 degrees from the
transmitter.

I've had the exact same experience here. My antenna is highly
unidirectional. It should need a rotator to point it exactly to each
transmitter for each different channel. But that just doesn't work
here. I do recieve good signal over a wide area with the antenna
aproximitly 90 degrees off. For one PBS station I need to rotate it but
even that is iffy if it will work pointing to the tower or turn it 180
degrees and it picks up good signal from the rear of the antenna. I
never know which is going to work best that day.