wrote:
I *never* wanted to receive on my dipole
if I was working long haul off the vertical. Would be like shooting
myself in the foot.

Sounds like your dipole was not a very good dipole. With
the same height limitation, EZNEC says the vertical will
NEVER be 4 S-units (24 dB) better than the dipole's broadside
performance at any angle.

At http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp/dipvsver.htm is a comparison
of my 130 ft. dipole at 40 ft. with my 33 ft. vertical
with the feedpoint at 20 ft, both on 40m. There's only a
tiny sliver where the vertical beats the dipole broadside
and isn't even close to 24 dB.
--
73, Cecil http://www.qsl.net/w5dxp