Art, KB9MZ wrote:
"But you are not alone in this comparison game, somebody stated he read
somewhere that the dipole was such and such efficient which is
absolutely silly---."

The radiation resistance of a dipole may be about 70 ohms. If the
surface resistance of the dipole added about 4 ohms, efficiency would be
about 70/74, or 95%, the number I recalled seeing in Kraus.

Antenna efficiency is old news. The field a lossless antenna can produce
at a point in space is easily calculated and measured. How close an
antenna comes to the ideal is a measure of its efficiency.

Broadcasters and the FCC rely on such calculations and measurements.

Antenna efficiency is desirable and for broadcasters has been well
researched.
Brown, Lewis, and Epstein are justly famous and are residents of
Terman`s name index. RCA`s research was accpeted by the FCC and made a
part of the rules. Antennas built according to the FCC rules are
considered nearly 100% efficient. An example:
Realistic loss, mostly in the ground system, is about 1-ohm. The
1/4-wave tower may be 30-ohms (Rr). Efficiency is 30/31=97%

Of course, it`s possible to screw-up.

Best regards, Richard Harrison, KB5WZI