If you could only have one antenna (10-80) at 30 feet in your subdivision, and your choice was a vertical or an inverted V fan dipole, which would you choose?  

Inverted-V

Vertical. At 30 feet with a dipole all bands lower in frequency than 20M will be warming clouds and not doing much for DX at all.
A vertical will have a great pattern with a low take-off angle even on the ground (as evidenced by the thread recently from folks
using Tarheels with short radiating elements on the ground.)

Vertical, hands down.   I screwed around with different dipoles in different configurations and heights and it was pretty blah.  Then I put up a 31' vertical with about 1,000 feet of radials and the difference is literally night and day.

Rarely was there any DX to be heard with the wires, but I can work a DX station almost every day with the vertical.

I will be the first to admit that I have a lot to learn, but don't we need to know what he is trying to accomplish?  Not everybody chases DX.

I'd rather have the Omni pattern of a vertical, but no room for radials.

At 30' in height, a dipole is gonna be pretty much omnidirectional for anything lower than 20 meters anyway..

If DX is what you are chasing, vertical..

If you are interested in general ragchewing on the lower bands up to 800 miles, and limiting your DX to 20 and above, then you want horizontal..

Personally if I can have only one for HF I would go with a Hustler 6BTV with 32 radials under it.

But then again I love getting DX

Working on my General and thinking about antennas.   I have an Alpha Delta DX-EE that I installed about 18' above ground and oriented NE/SW.   Listening only at this time, but I get good signals all the time well beyond 1,000 miles.   I'd like to get it up higher, but that will require some kind of mast.  And since I want to get higher, thinking about options of going to a vertical also.   A real tower is not in the cards right now.  

 

Well, I DO only have one antenna and a small lot so I'll tell you what actually works for me. I don't have height restrictions, but my center-of-the-city lot is about 50ft x 80ft, most of it taken up by the house. No room for radials. I went with an ebay QSO King with the wire cut to 29ft. I run it vertically on a 36ft fiberglass push-up pole. It's a bit noisy in RX because it pretty much picks up *everything*. But I've worked DX, west coast, east cost, etc...

So given your options, I'd go vertical. It won't be "the best" but it's probably the best for your situation.

+1
This

I LOVE my 6BTV

took my inverted v down because the trap vert worked so much better

He's right.

I have a vertical so I can't compare to anything else. At some future date I may put a dipole or something else just to comare the two. It does take up space, not that anything would be there to begin with. I have two lengths of radials. The short ones take up 1/4 acre and the longer ones which are not as numerous/dense take up an acre.

ARFCOM GET BOTH

I hate it when I ask a question and they respond "It depends what you are trying to do with it"

However, it really depends on what you are trying to do with it!!!

A vertical will have a much lower take off angle beam pattern, which means you will be able to do a lot more DX contacts, but a lot less 300-600mi contacts, which it means it won't really be good for SHTF unless you bend it over (If can be done and it depends on your antenna) to use as a NVIS to make it a regional antenna!  Also, a good transmitting vertical will require a tuner (preferably an external tuner at the base of the antenna) and a large number of radials (32+) but will work with a lot less!

On the other hand, a fan dipole will be resonant and efficient on a number of frequencies it was designed for, and will not need a tuner.   Also changing the relative angle of the legs will change the beam pattern and thus the take off angle (if you can do it on your set up!), so, if you hang it vertically it will act as a vertical antenna and if you install it horizontally, it will work for regional contacts (SHTF), and in a inverted V, will work the in between range!

In a true Arfcom fasion, you will neally need both!!!! but if I had to choose only one, it would be a fan dipole to start with........

73 and good luck.

I'm not an expert or an author, so rather than me trying to explain why I chose the horizontal over the vertical, I'll post a couple links as food for thought, for those who want to read them.

These are from trusted sources, and just small bits of info, not complete information on the topic.

http://ham.stackexchange.com/questions/146/should-i-chose-a-vertical-or-a-horizontal-hf-antenna

http://www.eham.net/articles/23758

Polarization  makes no difference  for long distance contacts  but it's  important if you plan on rag chewing  with stations nearby (10 to 20 miles). The antenna  choice greatly depends on antenna efficiency and take off angle of radiation pattern. Verticals have lower take off angle but may be less efficient if you don't  have a good radials system. Radials must be cut to resonant  length if a vertical antenna is mounted above ground. It's  not too critical if the antenna is mounted at ground level. Verticals are also known to be "noise  magnets" and you also need to provide sufficient  clearance from nearby  conductive objects.

Absolutely.. There is no broadside or end-effect radiation pattern until a dipole approaches a half wavelength above the ground on the frequency you are operating at. For 75, that means 90-120' above the ground before you see any true directionality off of a dipole.
If you can only do one antenna, and you have the room, put up a 75 meter horizontal loop. feed it with a quarter-wave matching stub out of 75 ohm coax, 50 ohm from there to your tuner. If you cut it so its resonant on 75, you pass through the tuner, not needed-will be good up 800-1000 mi. on 75.
As you move up the bands the lower your takeoff angle will go and the better it will work DX- an all bander antenna that is a cloud burner on 75, works well on 40 and a DX chaser on 20,17,15,12,10.
Yes, you will need a tuner, but unless you put up a monobander for each band you operate on, you WILL be compromising, like most of us.

Here are my stats for working DX with nothing more than a wire antenna.

Its not too shabby for nothing more than a wire strung up between some trees.