[Elecraft] Buddipoles and KX1

[Craig D. Smith]

<> I would go so far as to state without fear of
<> informed contradiction that a dipole will grossly grossly outperform
<> any portable HF vertical, which almost never has an adequate grounding
<> system.  The difference on receive or transmit is more often than not
<> about five S-units, equivalent to 30 dB.  

I will respectfully disagree.  You have made one major assumption that is
almost never true - namely that the BuddiPole vertical is used without an
adequate ground system.

Most everyone I know (including me) who uses the BuddiPole as a vertical
uses a single quarter wave elevated radial or counterpoise wire.  This costs
less than $2 and weighs a couple of ounces.  It offers VERY efficient
performance.  Indeed, for DX work, its lower radiation angle will vastly
outperform the horizontal doublets unless they are very high.  Using the 16
ft mast it can be essentially a full size vertical dipole on 20 meters and
above.

I'm not knocking the 44 and 88 ft doublets with open wire feed.   I use them
myself and encourage beginners to use them as an all-round antenna.  But at
normal installation heights they will perform best over more moderate
distances than the vertical.

           73
                    ... Craig   AC0DS