so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and i think i need someone to just tell me im wrong or right. my situation is a suburban lot, maybe 60x120 feet, house in the middle, trees on the back property line that go up maybe 40 feet or so. neighbor on the south side is close, maybe 15 feet from my fence.

i was planning on putting up a half wave dipole for 40m, inverted vee style, fed at about 35 feet from one of those trees. the ends would slope down toward the corners of the yard. the math works out okay i think but the southeast leg would be running kind of toward the neighbors house and end up only like 8 feet off the ground near the fence.

so now im second guessing and wondering if a vertical with a decent radial field would actually outperform that on low angles — like for working dx on 40. ive read a ton of conflicting stuff. some people say a low dipole is basically a cloud warmer and useless for dx, others say its fine. ive got access to a MFJ antenna analyzer and an nec2 modeling program but honestly i havent sat down and actually modeled it yet which i should probably just do.

anyone run both and have a real opinion? not looking for a definitive answer just want to hear what people actually experienced

yeah you should just model it, like you said. but honestly from experience the inverted vee at 35 feet on 40m isnt going to be great for dx — the takeoff angle is going to be pretty high, like 45+ degrees depending on ground quality. it'll work fine for regional stuff, 500-1500 miles, but if you're chasing dx you'll notice the difference especially when conditions are marginal.

that said a vertical with a good radial system can be a real pain to put in if you dont have a lot of open ground. you need a LOT of radials to get the ground losses down and most people underestimate that. i ran a 40m vertical once with like 8 radials and it was mediocre. added 32 more and it woke right up. the difference was not subtle.

if the inverted vee is easier for your situation just do it and get on the air. a real antenna in the air beats a theoretically better antenna that isnt built yet every single time. you can always add the vertical later if the bug bites you.

i run a 40m inverted vee at about 30 feet apex and work plenty of dx with it, europe from the midwest isnt a problem most mornings when the band cooperates. so i wouldnt stress the takeoff angle thing too much unless you're really serious about competitive dx. for general operating it's a fine antenna and simple to build and tune.

the neighbor situation you mentioned — honestly 8 feet off the ground near a fence line isnt ideal and depending on how nosy your neighbors are it might cause headaches even if its technically on your property. something to think about. my antenna ends at about 10 feet and nobody has said anything in 4 years but ymmv