"Richard Clark" wrote
The main reason I ask though, is that I thought I heard here some time
ago, that a dipole would perform better over a good ground system.

Hi Mike,

You heard correctly. The ground system lowers losses which translate
to more power out. This is not method of controlling TOA, simply loss
- all angles of radiation improve.
_________________

Note that the intrinsic, free space pattern/gain of a dipole does not depend
in any way on the presence or nature of a ground plane.

Reflections from the ground (and other objects) can modify the classic donut
shape of the dipole pattern and produce relative gain in some directions, at
the expense of gain in other directions. But the "power out," or absorbed
by a matched dipole will be the same in any case.

A low-resistance ground system will increase the fields radiated from an
antenna that uses the earth as an 'image' part of the complete radiation
system, such as the vertical mast radiators used in MW broadcasting. With a
perfect ground in this situation, the base current in the vertical mast is
twice what it would be for the same power applied to an equivalent wire
dipole (less a ground system) in free space -- resulting in 3 dB system
gain.

RF