Saw on another thread that @Jerry Bransford is installing a dipole antenna in his attic. I was just reading about dipole antennas and had this question:
For HF, why is it that horizontal dipoles are so popular? I can understand the ease of installation vs a vertical arrangement, but I would think that vertical would have a more omnidirectional signal, whereas horizontal would probably broadcast stronger in directions perpendicular to the antenna, but not as strongly in directions parallel to the antenna. No?
Or are horizontal dipoles so common in HF that you need to use one in order for your signal's polarization to match that of other stations?
For HF, why is it that horizontal dipoles are so popular? I can understand the ease of installation vs a vertical arrangement, but I would think that vertical would have a more omnidirectional signal, whereas horizontal would probably broadcast stronger in directions perpendicular to the antenna, but not as strongly in directions parallel to the antenna. No?
Or are horizontal dipoles so common in HF that you need to use one in order for your signal's polarization to match that of other stations?