so ive been running a pretty basic 40m dipole at about 30 feet for the past couple years and its been fine, gets the job done, works okay for NVIS into the surrounding states. but ive been thinking about putting up a vertical because everyone seems to swear by them for DX and i want to start working more EU and JA from here in the midwest.

the thing is i dont have great ground conditions here - its mostly clay and gets pretty dry in summer, so i know radials are going to be a whole thing. im thinking either a homebrew quarter wave with a bunch of radials laid on the surface or maybe one of those trap verticals that covers multiple bands. the trap verticals feel like a compromise though and ive heard they can be lossy.

has anyone actually done a real comparison between a decent dipole and a vertical with a mediocre radial field on 40? like is the low angle radiation advantage actually showing up in practice or is it one of those things that sounds better on paper

done exactly this comparison actually, had a 40m dipole at 35 feet and put up a quarter wave vertical with 32 radials on the ground, mix of 16 and 33 foot ones just whatever wire i had laying around. on domestic stuff the dipole smoked it, no contest, the NVIS angle just works better for that. but yeah for DX it was noticeable - not dramatic, maybe an S unit or a bit less on average, but statistically more DX contacts on the vertical over a few months of keeping notes. clay soil hurts but more radials helps compensate, the usual advice is at least 16 on the ground and after that youre getting diminishing returns pretty fast. skip the trap verticals if you want 40m performance, theyre fine for convenience but youre definitely giving something up.

honestly the radial thing is not as bad as people make it sound if you just go out there and do it. i put down 24 radials in an afternoon with a rented trencher, like 4 inches deep just to get them out of the way of the mower. yeah clay isnt ideal but its not terrible either, its not like being on solid granite. one thing i'll say is dont overthink the length too much, random lengths are apparently fine and some guys even argue they're better than all the same length for some reason i never fully understood. my vertical definately outperforms my old dipole on 40 for anything past about 1000 miles, closer in the dipole is still better. both antennas have their place if you can run both