Topband: Vertical dipoles in the real world

[Tom W8JI]

> I put up a short vertical dipole for 40M.  It is 25' tall and has top  and
> bottom X-shaped capacitive hats that are 42.5" square with a perimeter 
> wire
> attached.  The lower capacitive hat is about 6' above the ground.
>
> While the antenna is resonant just under 9 mHz, it works very well on 
> both
> 30M and 40M.  My "go-to" antenna on 40M is Double Zepp about 90' on a
> side.  I frankly did not expect this short vertical dipole to be 
> competitive
> with the DZ, yet it was!

Hi Paul,

How high was the DZ? What direction was it oriented compared to the 
reporting stations? What is the feed system?

We really need articles describing ways to reasonably compare systems. There 
is a small helical magnetic loop antenna that was in an eHam article and is 
on U-tube that, if we believe the video, has well over 10 dBd gain!! The 
CFA, the EH antenna, the Isotron, the CTHA antenna, and the list goes on and 
on.

It might not be about what is right with antennas being evaluated, but what 
isn't right or detailed with references.

73 Tom