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View Full Version : Which is better: Vertical or Dipole?



BOOTY MONSTER
04-23-2020, 07:51 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRTo01Qttbc

Turboomni
04-29-2020, 06:35 PM
I have heard a horizontal dipole can be better for DX . I don't know. I have my horizontal Double Bazooka outside now and it is doing better. I saw the video you posted and found it interesting something having the dipole 1/2 wavelength above the ground for better performance. So I guess around 17 ft? That's what I have mine at the moment.

222DBFL
04-30-2020, 12:09 PM
Get your antenna up to 30ft or more. And for DX a horizontal dipole is about the best bet for making contacts. Not so much for local talk though. This is where a vertical antenna works better. You get local talk and if the conditions are good, you can make contacts just as well as any dipole. That is if the conditions ate right.


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Sticky Fingers
05-08-2020, 02:38 AM
The humble di-pole is better for skip as it's quieter than a vertical , most man made noise is vertically polarized. This is not to say it cant be used vertical it can, but it's the kind of antenna more suited for horizontal work. It has a 0 db gain or gain netural...... so when you see antenna spec's and it says an antron 99 has 3.5 dbd ( just making up the figures here)...... it just means it has 3.5 decibels gain over a dipole ........ Antenna's are a complicated subject and there are lots of variables at work , which I wont get into here. But a dipole will work great for skip and not so great locally unless everyone else was using a horizontal antenna as well.

Bobcat
05-13-2020, 01:22 PM
Here is the deal as I understand it....

Mobile antennas are pretty much universally vertical. Because they attach to a vehicle .... which serves as a ground plane... and stick straight up.

So, back in a time when 92 out of 100 vehicles were CB equipped it helped to run your base horizontal.

When you run a horizontal antenna it reduces (to some degree) the impact that all of the local vertical traffic has on your reception/transmission. In theory, if you and a remote station both run horizontal, you will pick each other up as well as vertical to vertical. I think that just became a habit.

When skip gets involved I have heard that the reflections can change polarization anyway... so it becomes MORE of a "happenstance" thing anyway.

With very very few vehicles toting CBs anymore, I see many people running skip on verticals... (A99, others)...

That's my take..... it depends on what you want it for.

Heretic
08-21-2020, 12:12 PM
Though my experience with dipole antennas is extremely limited, I have been experimenting with an inverted V dipole. Therein performing considerably better in the local arena. I wonder whether it retains a zero/neutral gain.

Cedar Mountain Radio
01-05-2021, 03:29 AM
a couple years ago I put up a dipole with 5/8 wavelength of wire on each side of a 4:1 balun because a 5/8 without a matching network is around 200 ohms so the 4:1 balun drops it down like a matching network to right about 50 ohms and I had a 1.15:1 swr but it sure worked well when skip was in. I had it at 32' or about a 7/8 wave above ground. Beat my 1/2 wave dipole by over an s unit

Turboomni
01-05-2021, 12:31 PM
The most important takeaway I got from the video above about horizontal dipole antennas is that the horizontal dipole must be mounted 1/2 wavelength above the ground. If lower than 1/2 wave length above the ground the radiation pattern will go straight up. I run a radiowaves double bazooka dipole antenna.