[Elecraft] RE: verticals...........

[Stuart Rohre]

A vertical dipole system is ground independent and does not benefit from a
counterpoise on your lot.  See L. B. Cebik's excellent antennas site,
<cebik.com> where he investigated this.  A dipole is a complete antenna unto
itself.

What is often overlooked, is are you in a flat area, or a bottom of a
valley.  The ground 5 waves out the Fresnel Zone can be of more importance
to the propagation from your antenna than local earth, if using a ground
independent antenna such as loops, beams and vertical dipoles.

Not all verticals require a counterpoise or radials, only those quarter wave
or less and base fed.
73,
Stuart K5KVH