I've been keeping the attached Poem on the wall of my shack for 20 years or so.  I've not seen it posted anywhere in all that time, and I thought I'd share it with you.
 
My understanding is that Edgar Guest was a rather prolific writer of what could be termed "poetry for the common man".  He made no pretensions to being anything but passing fair at rhyme.  However, his collected poetry and various verses for many national magazines gained him a good amount of fame--he was the Norman Rockwell of poetry in his day.  His poetry is all over the internet, and his poems on family life and things American are very worthwhile reading.
 
Remember, this was written by a non-Ham who somehow understood what our hobby is about. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.  
 
73, Harv, K2PI
 
 
                    The Amateurs

 There’s something about them you’ve got to admire,
They work for the love of the task, not for the hire.
Every one of them’s blessed with the heart of a boy!
What’s a job to the drudge unto them is a joy.
While we to our regular schedules are keeping,
the amateurs do without eating or sleeping.

They worry their wives since so short is the day –
they don’t get to bed when they should, but they stay
sending calls on the air; catching calls from afar –
and I think as I hear them how patient they are!
How much better we’d work here if only we knew it
in that Amateur spirit of wanting to do it.
 
Professionals weary sometimes and they shirk,
since they’re paid to perform they look on it as work.
They begin with reluctance,
they’re glad when they’re through,
and they measure in money whatever they do.
But the Amateur never begrudges a minute,
he goes to the job for the joy that is in it.

So here’s to the Amateurs – brave hearted throng –
though short be their waves, may their lives all be long.
May the wisdom they gain and the joys which they reap
make up for the nights when they go without sleep.
And may we – in their spirit and deep understanding of
work and its joy – keep our Amateur standing!
 

                       Edgar A. Guest
                           1934

Not being much of an antenna expert, other than through my amateur radio experiments, I'd have to say both antenna's are just variants on the same thing.  A quarter wave on 20 meters is about 16 feet, which is exactly what the wire in the hamstick is, although it's helically wound around a fiberglass core.

I suspect the differences you saw were a result of the difference in mounting of the two antenna's, the fact that the longer wire may have encountered something along it's run (such as a grounded piece of metal) which the shorter hamstick did not, and subtle effects at the feedpoint.

I believe if you try the same experiment with a 20 meter dipole and the hamstick, you'd notice a trend leaning towards the dipole.  Remember, the hamstick is modeled to be an efficient radiator with limited counterpoise.  In fact, you may have seen a trend in the opposite direction if you had made some contacts which were not ground wave, since the longer wire has more capture area and, probably, a higher takeoff angle.

Interesting experiment though, and I hope someone with more antenna theory can give you a better answer.  It just seemed such a "hammish" experiment (and boy am I glad to see that sort of thing popping up again) that I couldn't resist saying something!

73, Harv.

I use WinPSKE, which I believe is slightly better than digipan.  The latest version of Digipan seems to have a problem with the waterfall display on occasion, which caused me to stop using it.

WinPSKE also has the ability to copy two PSK31 signals at once, and (what appears to me to be) better weak signal demodulation.

73, Harv.