I have been using an 80 meter loaded vertical for a couple of years with
moderate success. The ground system is a dozen 'untuned' radials 40 or so
feet laying on the ground. The feed line is about 100 feet of RG-8 coax.
The SWR in the shack is about 1.1 to 1.

I have done some research on the antenna and based on it parameters it
should have a radiation resistance of about 4 Ohms. This says that the
coil and ground are absorbing on the order of 45 Ohms. This is 10db
performance loss.

I have limited space and the most common solutions are not available to
me. From a practical perspective it would seem to me that building a 40
foot center feed loaded dipole and putting it in the attic or on the roof
would probably perform somewhat better.

Is this a reasonable assumption?

Would burying the radials and connecting them to several 4 square foot
buried screens substantially help the ground system?

Thanks,
Dan kb0qil

How high is the antenna, where is the loading coil placed, what is its
value, and Q?

Frank