so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and i cant make up my mind. currently running a G5RV which does okay but its kind of a compromise on 40 and i want something more dedicated. my lot is maybe 80 feet wide so a full size 40m dipole would just barely fit if i go at an angle, but then ive been reading about verticals and people seem to love them for low angle radiation which matters for DX right.

the thing is i dont have a great ground plane situation. backyard is pretty rocky and putting in a proper radial field sounds like a weekend project i may never actually finish. a dipole at least would just work once its up. but then again 30 feet is about as high as i can realistically get it which isnt even a half wavelength on 40, so it would be more of a cloud warmer anyway.

anyone gone through this same decision? i mostly want 40m for evening DX and some rag chewing, not really contesting. and yeah before anyone asks i know a beam would solve it but thats not happening in this neighborhood

honest answer — at 30 feet on 40m your dipole isnt going to be a DX monster but its not terrible either. ive run a dipole at 25 feet and still worked plenty of EU from the midwest on good evenings. the radiation angle isnt ideal but propagation covers a lot of sins especially around the bottom of a solar cycle when the lower bands come alive.

the radial thing with verticals is real though and people underestimate how much it matters. ive seen guys put up a vertical with like 4 radials and then wonder why their dipole at 20 feet outperforms it. if you go vertical, do it right or dont bother — i'd say minimum 16 radials, more if you can. if that sounds like too much work then just do the dipole and call it a day, you'll have it on the air this weekend instead of next summer.

i went through this exact thing last year and ended up doing both which probably isnt what you want to hear lol. dipole went up first because it was easy, then i spent about three weekends laying radials for a vertical. the vertical does seem to hear better on the low angle stuff, had a few contacts where i could barely hear something on the dipole and switched over and they were much clearer. but the dipole is quieter in terms of noise floor at my QTH so for rag chewing i usually leave it there anyway. if your lot only allows one antenna i'd probably do the dipole just to get on the air and not stress about it