A quarter-wave vertical works against a ground system that acts as the missing half of the antenna. It is omnidirectional, radiates at a low angle (good for DX), and takes up almost no horizontal space.
Radials are the antenna
A vertical is only as good as its ground system. Common practice:
- Ground-mounted: as many radials as you can lay — 16 is decent, 32 is good, 60 is diminishing
- Elevated: as few as two to four resonant radials per band, tuned to length, work very well.
returns. Length is not critical; quantity is. Bare wire pinned in the grass, and the lawn grows over it.
Without a proper ground system, a large fraction of your power heats the soil. This is the most common reason a vertical "does not work".
Trade-offs against a dipole
- Vertical: low takeoff angle, omnidirectional, small footprint, noisier — it picks up local
- Dipole: quieter, needs height and space, directional.
electrical noise that a horizontal antenna rejects.
Many stations keep both and switch, because on any given contact one is typically several S-units better than the other.
Practical types
- Multiband trap or fan verticals — one feedline, several bands.
- 43-foot verticals with a remote tuner at the base.
- Mobile whips with loading coils — inefficient but effective in motion.
- Screwdriver antennas — motorised loading for mobile HF.