Open wire has little or no loss in the MATCHED condition. All feedlines exhibit some loss, and the loss is amplified when the feedline is unmatched due to reflections. When feeding an untuned doublet
Here is W8JI's take on the noted subject: http://www.w8ji.com/short_dipoles_and_problems.htm Some key points: "While pattern looks excellent on higher bands, lowest band performance of a short dipole