My pet peeve is the magical EFHW antenna that someone tries to multiband or just put up a random chunk of wire.
Hi Tisha (AA4HA):
I understand. There are many types and implementations of wire antennas, and especially end-feds. The devil is always in the details. And in the case of multi-band EFHW wires, it's the resonant, band-compensated, high-power multi-core versions that work really well and are easy to put up. At least in my direct experience and that of many of my club members. We have plenty of other antennas too, but not too many that are quite as versatile. No magic needed, really, just some (not always obvious) physics that seems to "do the job".
Problem is, many wire antennas are labelled as "EFHW". You need to pick the right one.
Same is true of "verticals", for example a CHA-250B (not so good) compared to a Gap or ground mounted/radial field 6BTV. There is good and bad in every antenna class.
We can't fix stupid, now I just want to ignore it.
Perhaps. But it may be possible to fix ignorance by patient instruction, examples and demonstration. I'm not giving up yet.
Happy Holidays!
Brian - K6BRN