187 Countries on 35 Watts: Craig W3GF, Seven Years on a 20-Foot Vertical
The Signal Report · Owner Story
Craig, W3GF, put up a 20-foot Greyline vertical in 2019. Three months in he wrote us a review; seven years later he wrote again. The two notes, side by side, are the whole argument for a small antenna done right.
2019, three months in
"With a little tweaking of the installation, I now have matches of no greater than 1.8 to 1, 75M thru 6M. Even with the poor band conditions we are currently experiencing, I have worked some nice DX — Albania, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Italy, Spain and most other European countries with great reports on 100 watts. In short, if I can hear them, I can work them even through some serious pileups. I am particularly impressed (and surprised) with 6M performance. My noise level is also several S-units lower than with my former 1/4 wave trap vertical, which makes a real difference!"
— Craig, W3GF · verified review, October 2019
2026, seven years in
"Added 2 more today — Seychelles and Wallis and Futuna Islands! Now have 187 countries in log. Not too shabby for 35 watts and a Greyline OCF vertical."
— Craig, W3GF · October 5, 2026
Thirty-five watts. A 20-foot pole, nine more feet of whip on top since September. 187 entities, the last two of them an Indian Ocean island nation and a French territory in the middle of the Pacific, both logged the same afternoon. The bottom of the sunspot cycle in 2019 to the top of it now, and the pole never moved.
What his two notes teach
The noise floor is the story most people miss. "Several S-units lower" than his old trap vertical is the line that explains the other 187. A vertical dipole carries its own return current above ground; it is not listening through a radial field laid in the dirt next to every switching supply on the block. Hearing them is most of working them, and 35 watts is plenty once you can hear.
"If I can hear them, I can work them." That is the low-angle lobe of a vertical doing its job on the long paths. A 20-footer is ahead of a full-radial quarter-wave across 20 through 10 meters in NEC modeling, and those are the bands where seven years of DXCC gets made.
Seven years is the number to notice. Craig's 2019 review mentioned tweaking the installation once. Three hurricanes since. No traps to drift, no radials to corrode, no coils to cook. The same pole, a whip added on a 15-minute afternoon this fall, a bigger logbook every year.
His antenna: the 20' DX Vertical with the 9' DX Whip — a Skyline 29 built in two steps — and an LDG RT-100 at the feedpoint. Every band, 160 through 6; strongest on 20 through 10. Ships free to the USA and Canada.
Craig's seven-year report, three hurricanes and 20 countries on six meters: read it here →
Congratulations, Craig. Thirteen to go.
Ham Radio is fun again! Pass it on... 73, Jon KL2A
Read next · HOA
Operator Spotlight
Two Weeks of Voicemails, Then This: W3GF's 20-Footer and the Whip in a Florida HOA
Signal Lab
The Other Half of Your Antenna Has to Go Somewhere
Operator Spotlight
Margie KK7MGK: The Sun City YL Out-DXing Her Own Son
