[Antennas] Dipole vs random wire

[Harvey&Bessie]

If what you mean by "random wire" is an antenna that is not cut to be
resonant on any particular amateur band, that's what I have been using
for the past 10 years at this location and 18 years at a previous
location. The antenna is 300 feet (91.5 m) long and center-fed with
commercial "ladder line." At the center it is supported by a metal tower
at a height of 50 ft (15.3 m). This antenna is coupled to the
transceiver using an old Heathkit "antenna tuner." I have found, over
the years, that this configuration will perform as well as a dipole cut
for each band 160 m, through 10 m. That would be 9 resonant half-wave
dipoles if we erected one for each band! In addition, on the higher
frequency bands, this configuration gives some gain (the higher the
frequency, the more gain). However, it must be realized that an antenna
is not an amplifier -- the "gain" we speak of is only in certain
directions, adding power there and subtracting power in other
directions. We call these favored directions "lobes" and the unfavored
directions "nulls." The higher the  frequency on which this antenna is
operated the more numerous are these lobes and nulls, and the higher the
gain in the lobes. If, however, the station you wish to work happens to
be in the direction of a null, reception of his signal and his reception
of yours may suffer (be not as good as with a resonant antenna oriented
to favor his direction. This is the only drawback such an antenna has,
both in theory and I find in practice.
I hope this dissertation will help you decide what sort of antenna to
use for your particular location. I hope also that you will ignore all
the nonsense your question caused on this reflector.
73,
Harvey/W4TG