so ive been going back and forth on this for a while now and figured id just ask here. i have a pretty small lot, maybe 60 feet of usable space side to side, and im trying to figure out if a center-fed dipole cut for 40 is even worth attempting or if id be better off just throwing up a vertical with a decent radial field.

the dipole would have to be in an inverted-V config because theres no way im getting it flat, apex probably around 35 feet off the ground if im lucky. i have a decent tree in the back corner i could use as one support. the ends would probably be drooping down to maybe 8-10 feet which i know isnt ideal.

the vertical option is tempting because i could fit a quarter wave pretty much anywhere and run radials under the grass, but ive heard you really need like 30+ radials to not take a massive efficiency hit, and honestly running that much wire under my yard sounds like a weekend i dont want to have.

mostly interested in general rag chewing and maybe some casual contesting, not chasing dx hardcore or anything. what would you guys actually do in this situation

the inverted-V at 35 feet is going to work better than you think for 40m, honestly. the angle isnt perfect but its close enough that youre not losing huge amounts. the main thing people obsess over with inverted-V is the included angle between the legs — try to keep it above 90 degrees if you can, below that and the feedpoint impedance starts doing weird things and your SWR curve flattens out in a bad way.

for casual operating and contesting you dont need perfect. ive worked plenty of europe on a 40m inverted-V from a lot not much bigger than yours. the vertical with only a handful of radials is probably going to be noisier too since youre in a city, the dipole tends to be a bit better at rejecting local noise by nature of being balanced. id go dipole, get it up there, and stop worrying about it. you can always mess with the radial system later if youre bored.

i ran a vertical on a small lot for two years with only 16 radials and it worked fine tbh, never felt like i was missing huge amounts compared to what i hear from guys with full elevated systems. but the noise thing the other guy mentioned is real — my S-meter was always a couple points higher on the vertical vs my dipole on the same band. for just chatting around and some contesting the dipole is probably less headache overall