Everything I learned over the last 25 years is ....debunked?

[JesseJamesDallas]

Vert is mainly what base and mobile operators have..so you need a vert antenna to receive/talk to them. If your looking for long distance/Skip..you need a horz antenna..one..to get out there(even with a 3 watt radio)..but wit a horz(beam) antenna ...you will lose your locals on vertical. also..if your running any power..it will splatter on AM band on vertical.
My advise is.. Buy the Best Antenna that You can Afford,good coax, and see the improvement!

Totally not true...I have a MaCo Shooting Star 60' up and talk to locals all the time on it (vertical side)...And also run anywhere from 500 to 0ver 1K watts talking local with no problems what so ever... ONLY down side to using a beam for local talk, is your pretty much only going to be talking to guys on one end of town at a time in the direction the antenna is pointed...Lucky most of the guys I talk to are north, and NW to NE of me and my beam has a broad enough signal pattern to where I can pick up these guys without having to move the antenna...

If I want to talk to someone due east, west or south of me tho then I have to move the antenna.