Vertical vs Dipole on fence

[KJ6TSX]

I have a dipole antenna less the poles ( wire stapled to the top of my fence approximately 7 feet off the ground) center fed with a 1:1 bauln, would I be better off to install a vertical multi-band antenna on the peak of my roof? My roof is approximately 20 feet high and I bet I could put a 30 foot antenna on top of that, currently I have a 10 meter antenna that is approximately 20 above the roof and the neighbors have not complained... Yet

Any insight would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
George

[KB4QAA]

You haven't given us complete info on anything that is comparable.

unknown dipole at 7ft

10m antenna on roof @20ft, vertical?

proposed multiband antenna on roof, vertical?


*What bands do you want to operate?

*Any additional height you can get on your current dipole will improve it.

[W8JX]

I have a dipole antenna less the poles ( wire stapled to the top of my fence approximately 7 feet off the ground) center fed with a 1:1 bauln, would I be better off to install a vertical multi-band antenna on the peak of my roof? My roof is approximately 20 feet high and I bet I could put a 30 foot antenna on top of that, currently I have a 10 meter antenna that is approximately 20 above the roof and the neighbors have not complained... Yet

Any insight would be greatly appreciated
Thanks
George

Generally a dipole will not offer any gain or directivity unless it is close to at least 1/2 wave above ground.  In the case of your 80 m dipole stapled to a fence, I think a decent ground mounted vertical would out perform it especially on long hauls. When a vertical is ground mounted, radials do not need to be resonant  even when antenna is. When it is elevated they need to be resonant.

[KJ6TSX]

You haven't given us complete info on anything that is comparable.

unknown dipole at 7ft

10m antenna on roof @20ft, vertical?

proposed multiband antenna on roof, vertical?


*What bands do you want to operate?

*Any additional height you can get on your current dipole will improve it.

Your Right I didn't tell the whole story, most of my time is spent on 80 & 40 meters, I don't get home in till after dark so the higher frequencies are pretty dead.
 I am considering a Butternut HF-2v (vertical) or something similar and would replace the existing antron-99 with it. Currently I have a "Cobra Ultralite Kid" (Alternative Dipole) antenna on the roof which works better than the fence antenna on 40 meters and is useless on 80 meters. The house is only 40 feet long.

My fence antenna is a center fed dipole approximately 7 feet off the ground (stapled to the fence) each leg is approximately 60 feet and is in a horseshoe shape. the antenna is resonate at 3.900 Mhz the reason I cannot go higher is the Telephone and Cable wires run directly above the fence approximately 6 feet.
Thanks for the help
George

[WX7G]

The issue with a roof installation is the length of the radials. I think you will obtain the performance you want with the Butternut HF-2V ground mounted. A couple dozen radials, even if they are just 12' long, will provide good performance. 

[WB6BYU]

How far do you want to talk on 80m and 40m?  The dipole may be better than a vertical
for local contacts, while a vertical likely is better for DX.  (Adding a 40m element to the
fence would improve performance on that band, otherwise you can have high losses
in the coax feed.)

A vertical mounted on the roof would require radials tuned for each band - about 60' long
for 80m.  You'll have to run them to the corners of the roof, then bend them around
under the eaves or wherever to make them fit.