ok so ive been running a resonant dipole at about 35 feet for 40m for the past couple years and its been decent, not great but decent. recently put up a vertical (ground mounted, radial field of about 24 radials ranging from 16 to 33 feet because thats what i had room for) just to compare and i honestly expected the vertical to get smoked at that height but its actually holding its own on a lot of dx paths, especially anything going over the horizon like europe in the morning from the midwest here.

the dipole still wins close-in and i notice its clearly quieter on receive, like noticeably. but the vertical is doing something the dipole cant on the long haul stuff and now im second guessing everything i thought i knew. is this just the low angle radiation doing what its supposed to or am i reading too much into a handful of qsos? i havent done any kind of systematic comparison, just been switching back and forth and taking mental notes which i know isnt scientific at all.

also the radial situation is probably not ideal, some of them are only a few inches under the sod and a couple are just laying on top of grass because i ran out of pins. does that actually matter much once theyre down a season or two or should i get them all buried properly before drawing any real conclusions

yeah what your seeing is pretty much exactly what the antenna modeling predicts. a dipole at 35 feet on 40m is maybe half a wavelength high which puts a decent amount of energy at higher angles, good for regional stuff, not so great for dx. your vertical with even a mediocre radial field is going to have a lower takeoff angle and thats why europe is popping out of nowhere in the morning. its not magic its just geometry basically.

on the radials — honestly once theyre in the ground a few weeks they make electrical contact with the soil pretty well and the difference between 2 inches deep and 6 inches deep is pretty small. the ones laying on top of grass are slightly less ideal but in my experience the first season or two they work their way down anyway or the grass grows over them. what really matters more is the number and total length, 24 radials is decent but if you can get up to 32 or so you'll probably see a measurable improvement on receive noise and efficiency. not huge but measurable. i wouldnt tear everything up to rebury them, id just add more where you can.

the noise difference you notice on rx is real by the way, verticals pickup more local noise in most suburban setups and theres not a lot you can do about that without getting into elevated radials or a separate rx antenna which is a whole other rabbit hole.

same thing happened to me when i finally put up a proper vertical last spring. been a dipole guy my whole ham career and just assumed it was always gonna win. and it does win, a lot, but not for everything. i had a guy in japan come back to me on my first real cq on the vertical and i just kinda sat there for a second like wait did that actually just happen.

i still keep both up and just switch depending on what im trying to do. dipole for anything domestic or if the bands are noisy, vertical when im chasing something far. works for me anyway