so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and i just need someone to tell me im being dumb or not. currently running a 40m dipole about 25 feet up between two trees in my backyard, works okay but i keep reading about verticals and how they supposedly have a lower takeoff angle which is better for DX. my dipole at that height is probably more of a cloud warmer than anything else right.

thinking about putting up a trap vertical or maybe just a plain 40m vertical with some radials but then i read you need like 32 radials to make it work right and that sounds like a massive project. property isnt huge either so laying out that many radials is gonna be a pain. just wondering what people actually run and if anyone has done a side by side comparison because most of what i find online sounds like its written by someone trying to sell me something

25 feet on 40 is pretty low yeah, youre right that its going to favor high angle stuff. but honestly for working stateside and even some shorter DX paths it doesnt matter as much as the articles make it sound. i ran a dipole at similar height for years before i had room to do anything else and still worked a ton of countries.

that said if you want to try a vertical, you dont need 32 radials to get it working. thats kind of the theoretical ideal from the classic Radial study. even 4-8 quarter wave radials on the ground will get you like 80-90% of the way there in terms of efficiency and the difference between 8 and 32 is smaller than people think. just make sure theyre actually on or slightly buried in the ground, not elevated, or you change the whole feedpoint impedance situation. id try a simple one first before committing to a big radial field project

i went through exactly this debate last year and ended up just putting up both lol. vertical with 16 radials and kept the dipole as a backup slash comparison antenna. honestly the difference on 40 wasnt as dramatic as i expected. the vertical does seem to pull in the weaker DX stations a little better on the low stuff but the dipole is quieter on receive here, less local noise. might just be my location though. if i had to pick one id probably keep the vertical but im glad i didnt take the dipole down