Just finished a systematic comparison between my ground-mounted quarter-wave vertical with 6 radials and a horizontal 20m dipole at 5m height. Signal reports on TX consistently showed 2 S points down on the vertical compared to the horizontal dipole, with similar receive performance. The vertical only showed advantage when both antennas were at identical maximum heights - noise issues really matter for verticals or the lower angle benefits get obliterated by poor SNR. Using RG58 feedline for the vertical vs 90-ohm balanced line for the dipole, both with comparable losses. Anyone else done similar comparisons with different height configurations?

Great test! If you raised that dipole to half wavelength (10m), the far field advantage increases dramatically - even at 5 degrees the dipole would win by 3dB, and at one wavelength height that advantage jumps to over 6dB. The key takeaway is antenna height trumps polarization for most HF work.

This confirms what I suspected about my vertical setup. I'm getting similar poor performance and wondering if it's the radial system. Adding more radials might help, but probably not considerably. Thinking of switching to a simple dipole instead.

After extensive testing, if you really want that rare DX, buy a small compact beam. For all other purposes a horizontal dipole, even at low height, seems hard to beat. Your results match my experience perfectly - verticals are overhyped unless you have optimal conditions.