so ive been going back and forth on this for like two months now and i cant make up my mind. currently running a half wave dipole for 40m, its up about 25 feet which i know isnt ideal but its what i can do with the trees i have. been thinking about putting up a vertical instead, something like a trap vertical or maybe just a straight quarter wave with a decent radial field.

the thing is i keep reading conflicting stuff. some guys swear by their verticals for DX because of the low angle radiation, but then other guys say unless you have like 60+ radials on the ground youre just dumping power into the dirt and youd be better off with the dipole. my soil out here is pretty lousy too, clay heavy, so i dont know if that makes the radial situation worse or better.

not really looking for a definitive answer i guess, just curious what people who have actually A/B tested this stuff have found in practice. i do mostly DX chasing and some contesting on 40, not much local ragchewing so takeoff angle actually matters to me.

honest answer: at 25 feet your dipole is basically an NVIS antenna on 40m, maybe decent for regional stuff but youre not getting much low angle radiation out of it at all. a vertical with even a modest radial system, say 16-20 quarter wave radials, is probably going to walk all over it for DX. i ran this exact comparison a few years back with an AIM analyzer and just doing A/B on actual signals and the vertical won almost every time past like 2000 miles.

the clay soil thing is real but its not a dealbreaker. elevated radials help get you out of the soil loss equation somewhat. some guys run 4 elevated radials and do surprisingly well. W4RNL did a lot of modeling on this if you havent seen his stuff, worth a read before you commit to digging up your yard.

yeah i went through the same thing last year. ended up putting up a Hustler 6BTV and laying down about 30 radials, mix of lengths, nothing too scientific. honestly compared to my old dipole which was also kind of low the vertical just sounds quieter on receive too which i wasnt expecting. might be a local noise thing but DX signals def seem punchier. only downside is the thing needs tuning every season when the ground shifts a little and the resonant point drifts, kinda annoying.