I've used a mixture of low dipoles and inverted-L or loaded verticals for
the five years I've been on 160 and only three of the 190 countries I've
managed to work so far have not been on the low dipole.
In 1995 I worked 151 dxcc on the band, all on the dipole, and I'm up to
121 since January 1996, so I guess these low dipoles must be some good!
Comparing signals from the Pacific, ZL and VK6 at their sunrise are
usually up to 10dB better on the dipole, and last fall, 9M8 and 9M2 were
10 over 9 on the dipole and only S7 on the vertical. ZS, 3DA0 and
suchlike have always been better on the verticals (using 1.5 miles of
insulated quarter-wave radials), whereas JA is about the same on either
antenna.
Recently I managed a personal best time of just under 8 hours for Worked
All Continents, all on the dipole at 30 feet following some storm damage.
I might not get through the pileups first with this setup, but I usually
make it before the DX gets bored with the lids and goes off to a party
instead. This station will never be in the same league as the Big Guns,
but oh what fun it all is....
If I had to choose just one antenna, I'd pick the dipole every time as an
all-round performer. Being greedy, I'd also want some crossed extended
double Zepps at 100ft+ and a nice full-size four-square just to be sure!
Neil G4DBN/AA1EG g4dbn@cix.compulink.co.uk
"Yes I still need Utah"
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