On 8 Sep 2005 08:17:00 -0700, "bpnjensen" wrote:

I agree in general, except for the fact that a dipole has a
characteristic directionality, whereas a random wire significantly
shorter than the wavelength will be omnidirectional. I suspect that
there will be occasional times when this factor matters.

When it doesn't matter, a random wire is still a more versatile antenna
than a single-lambda dipole, even when untuned.

I have an Alpha-Delta DXUltra, which is basically a multi-lambda
dipole, and a 60-foot random wire through a transformer at 20 feet
elevation above ground. Noise levels aside, there is little I can hear
on the DXUltra that doesn't appear on the wire, and quite a bit on the
wire, especially at freqs 6 MHz, that is inaudible on the DXUltra
(even though the DXUltra supposedly is good down to 120 meters - this
loss of signal may be a function of inadequate height, since the
antenna center is only 27 feet sloping to 7 feet at either end).

Bruce Jensen

I find a random wire superior overall to just about any ''tailor
made'' SWL antenna I've tried.