Digital ionosondes such as the Dynasonde disclose that the ionosphere is seldom horizontal even when it is plane stratified to a good approximation. The local magnetic dip does not then determine correctly the radiowave propagation angle for inversion of the ionogram to a plasma density profile. The measured echo direction of arrival can be used together with the known dip for an improved propagation angle. The effects are small for simple one‐parameter laminae but become important when differential (ordinary, extraordinary) retardations are used to aid correction for “valley” and “starting” ambiguities. The resulting profile describes the plasma distribution along the direction of observation, rather than the vertical; it thus conveys information about horizontal gradients. Observations suggest that advances in inversion methods may be practicable for application to modern ionosonde recordings, by which local lateral structure can be described in greater detail.