Dan wrote:
The CB/Ham antenna is tuned to 28.4Mhz and is sitting next to a
window. It is 35" or so in height with a loading coil.. Not sure how
much wire is in the loading coil.. Another post I found says 18 turns.

OK, definitely the dipole should be a better performer.

The loading coil is necessary to provide a reasonable SWR match, but it
doesn't contribute to the efficiency of the antenna. A full
quarter-wave antenna would be roughly 9 feet in length, and would be
close to the dipole in performance.

Also with the CB antenna, the ground system is part of the antenna. Any
losses in the ground are essentially a resistor in series with the
antenna. For your ground to be reasonably efficient, the antenna would
have to be stuck to a rather large piece of metal. (a car would be a
comprimise; I doubt it's practical for you to have anything nearly that
large in your radio roomgrin...)

The *real* test is how strong do you hear the repeater on the two
antennas. (unless, of course, it pins the meter with both in which case
it's hard to tell!)
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com