so i finally got around to building a proper dipole instead of just using the random wire i had strung up for the past year. cut it for 40m, used some 14 gauge stranded wire i had leftover from a house project and a cheap SO-239 chassis connector for the feedpoint. legs are 33 feet 4 inches each give or take a few inches.

got it up in an inverted V config, apex is maybe 28 feet off the ground hanging off a tree branch, ends are about 6 feet up on some wooden stakes. ran about 35 feet of RG-8X down to the shack and threw it on the analyzer.

resonance came in around 7.050 which is actually pretty much where i wanted it but the SWR at resonance is sitting at like 1.8:1 and i was kind of expecting it to be closer to 1.5 or lower. feedpoint impedance is showing 62 ohms. is that about normal for an inverted V at that height or am i doing something wrong? i double checked my solder joints and everything looks solid. the connector is just bolted to a piece of scrap HDPE i had lying around as a center insulator.

also not sure if the short feedline is affecting the reading or if it matters much. probably overthinking this.

62 ohms at the feedpoint for an inverted V is actually pretty reasonable, nothing to stress about. the angle of the legs affects the feedpoint impedance and with an inverted V that isnt very high up youre gonna see it shift from the theoretical 73 ohms a flat dipole would give you. the shallower the angle, the lower it goes. so yeah 1.8:1 is totally workable, most rigs are fine with that and if it bugs you a 1:1 choke balun right at the feedpoint sometimes helps settle things down a bit.

one thing i would check though is whether that HDPE center piece is thick enough that moisture cant wick up between the connector and the wire. i used PVC on one of mine and had weird SWR shifts in the rain until i sealed everything with self-amalgamating tape. might not be your issue but worth keeping in mind.

yeah 28 feet apex isnt super high for 40m so that will do it. i had almost the exact same setup a couple years ago and got similar numbers. honestly just loaded it up and worked a bunch of stations without a tuner so dont sweat it too much. if you really want to get it lower you could try fanning the ends out a bit more to open up the angle but at that height theres only so much you can do.