so ive been going back and forth on this for probably two months now and i think im just paralyzed by options at this point. my situation is a suburban lot, maybe 60x120 feet, neighbors on both sides who are already a little grumpy about the wire i have strung up for 20m. i want to get on 40m without too much drama and im trying to decide between just extending what i have into a dipole somehow or throwing up a vertical in the back corner of the lot.

the dipole would probably have to be an inverted V just to fit, apex around 35 feet maybe if i use the same mast im already on. i know that's not ideal but its what ive got. the vertical option would be a quarter wave which works out to like 33 feet, and id have to lay a decent radial field which honestly sounds like a lot of work with my clay soil and the way the yard is laid out.

from what ive been reading the inverted V at that height isnt going to be great for DX but for regional stuff it might actually outperform the vertical depending on ground conditions. but i also read the opposite somewhere else so who knows. just wondering if anyone has actually A/B tested these in a real suburban setup rather than in a simulator

honestly i ran almost exactly this comparison a few years back, 40m inverted V at about 38 feet apex versus a homebrewed quarter wave vertical with 32 radials. and the results were kind of situational which i know is annoying to hear. the vertical clearly did better when i was working stations out past like 1500 miles, that low angle radiation just does what it does. but for working the midwest from here in the mid-atlantic, guys within 500-800 miles, the inverted V was frequently better, sometimes by a noticeable margin. i think the higher angle stuff fills in the skip zone better.

the radial situation is real though, dont underestimate it. i put down 16 radials first and the noise floor was noticeably higher than after i got to 32. on receive especially. clay soil you might want to go a bit more aggressive with the radial field than you think.

if stealth is a concern the vertical definitely wins on that front, a 33 foot pole is easier to explain to neighbors than wires running across the yard

35 feet for an inverted V on 40 is pretty low but its not hopeless. i ran one at like 30 feet for a couple years when i was renting and worked a lot of stations with it. yeah it wasnt great for long path DX but for everything within a few thousand miles it held its own. fed it with 450 ohm ladder line into a tuner and called it a day.

the radial thing with verticals always undersells how much work it actually is. people say oh just throw down a few radials and youre fine but theres a big difference between functional and actually performing well. if youre going to do it right its a real project.