According to a QST review about 20 years ago, the B&Ws are comparable
to a standard dipole from 20 meters and up; much less efficient than a
standard dipole, below 20 meters.

Yep, a short 80m antenna does ok on 20m. The Military, in their quest to get a
signal out, in the smallest space possible devised a scheme that used a very
inefficient antenna. From what I have read, it was a 20 kw transmitter with
matching auto-tuner that tuned from 2-30 mhz.
One makes up for the -6db loss on 4mhz with brute force. The B&W has 6db or
more loss on 80m. As a ham, I hope my antenna is very efficient. When I am
mobile that is not possible, but fixed, I want an efficient antenna.


73 Gary N4AST