so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and i think im just going to ask and stop second guessing myself. my lot is roughly 60 feet wide and maybe 120 deep, suburban neighborhood, HOA isnt terrible but i do need to be somewhat low profile. right now i have nothing on 40m and thats the band i most want to work in the evenings.

the obvious answer everyone gives is a dipole but the problem is i dont really have a clean east-west or north-south run of 66 feet without either crossing the driveway or ending up 8 feet off the ground on one end which i know is going to kill the pattern. i was thinking about an inverted V off a 30 foot mast in the backyard, apex at maybe 28 feet and the legs going down at like 45 degrees. other option is a vertical, maybe a trap vertical or homebrew quarterwave with some radials thrown in the grass.

i know the inverted V is going to radiate higher angle stuff which is fine for regional contacts and honestly thats mostly what i do, but im also not opposed to building a proper vertical if the radial situation is manageable. the ground here is pretty decent, not rocky, decent moisture. anyway what would you guys actually do with this lot, not theoretically, like if this was your yard

honestly with those dimensions and what youre describing i'd just do the inverted V and not overthink it. 28 foot apex isnt ideal but its workable and the pattern difference from a flat dipole at that height vs an inverted V isnt going to matter for what youre doing. the 45 degree leg angle is fine, some people get weird about wanting 90 degrees included but ive had good results at 120 degrees included and even a bit less.

the radial thing with a vertical always sounds manageable until youre out there on a saturday afternoon with a bunch of wire and a lawn mower problem waiting to happen. if you go that route you really want at least 16-20 radials on the ground to get it performing decently and even then youre fighting losses depending on soil. your soil sounds ok but still. the inverted V just works, its resonant, no matching drama if you cut it right, and you can always tweak the legs. id run it and see what happens before spending more time on it.

i had almost the exact same situation last year, similar lot size, went with a vertical first because i thought i wanted DX capability and ended up tearing it out after about 4 months. the radial business was annoying and i kept getting RF in the shack which i never fully sorted out. switched to an inverted V off a pushup mast and its been solid. nothing fancy, just some 14 gauge wire and a couple of dog bone insulators. works the whole midwest without any trouble on most evenings.