so ive been running a ground mounted vertical for 40m for about two years now, it works okay but ive always wondered if i was leaving a lot on the table compared to a proper dipole. the thing is my lot is not huge and getting a dipole up at any reasonable height is kind of a pain. i could maybe get it to about 25 feet at the center which i know isnt great for 40. been reading a bunch of stuff online and honestly some of it contradicts itself pretty badly.

my vertical is a hustler 4btv with the recommended radial field, maybe 16 radials not all of them full length if im honest. gets out decent on 40 and 20 but on 40 especially i feel like im missing some contacts that other guys are making. or maybe thats just operator error i dont know. anyone switched from a vertical to a dipole on 40 and noticed an actual real world difference, not just modeling software telling you what should happen

yeah honestly at 25 feet a dipole on 40m is going to be pretty much a cloud warmer, good for regional stuff but anything over say 800 miles it starts to struggle. your 4btv with a decent radial field is actually probably doing better on DX than a low dipole would. the low angle radiation from the vertical is where it wins. if you could get the dipole up to like 50 feet or more then the conversation changes but at 25 feet i wouldnt bother pulling down the vertical.

that said 16 radials is on the low end, i had a similar setup and going from 16 to 32 made a noticeable difference, not huge but real. if youre gonna keep the vertical id spend the weekend laying more wire before doing anything else

i made exactly this switch a few years back, had a 4btv and replaced it with a dipole center fed at about 35 feet and honestly for local and regional stuff the dipole crushed it but yeah DX was about the same or sometimes worse. ended up putting the vertical back up and using both, feed them into an antenna switch. its not always convenient but having the option is nice when youre chasing something specific