You said "Compared to a vertical, there could be 10-30 dB difference in
favor of a low dipole (less than 150 ft high) within a few hundred
miles.",
and I was pretty much trying to make the same point but indirectly since I
don't have a dipole on 160 meters.
The original poster mentioned relatively short distance work on 160
meters,
and that is why I mentioned that a true vertical may not actually be his
best choice (he might actually go backwards in performance if he is trying
to work stations in adjacent states as an example).
I've done hundreds or thousands of tests. I was test crazy when I moved
here.
Within around 100-200 miles, at night, the verticals and a dipole up about
1/2 wave are really dead compared to a "low" dipole.
That problem rapidly vanishes with increased distance, and during daytime
skip zone of the high dipole moves in closer. From my house the skip zone
of a 280 ft high dipole is about 10-50 miles. The vertical never really has
a skip zone in the daytime. Groundwave fills it in.
I initially thought a low dipole (or a high dipole) was worth it, but I
outgrew that. I just live with the weaker signal in the skip zone. The
vertical does so much better at most distances most of the time it is just
not worth worrying about.
If I wanted to work 50-200 miles, I'd probably just use a low dipole.
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