In . au "Peter"
wrote:

I'm keen to hear this groups view on the noise issue and generally how
verticals are regarded as a DX antenna. Also keen to hear of personal
experiences with vertical antennas on HF.

I've had a Cushcraft R5 vertical up on the roof since 1991 and have
worked 214 countries with 196 confirmed, mostly on CW, never running
more than 100 watts, with a very, very low-effort operation.

Things have been very tough the past several years with the lack of
sunspots though; watching the traffic on the DX clusters, it's obvious
that folks with better antennas are working people I can't even hear. On
the other hand, if I can hear them, I can usually work them.

As far as noise is concerned, I don't have anything other than a (very)
low 40m dipole to compare with, and the dipole is a lot noisier. I'm in
the city, on a very small lot, surrounded by other homes and the power
lines are about 60' away from the vertical and at about the same
height. The far end of the dipole is probably not more than 10' from
the power lines, both horizontally and vertically.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN