As a Novice, and for the first year or so as a General in 1969 and 70, my 
antenna for 40 meters was a folded dipole that was made and fed with 300 ohm 
tv line. It was installed flat, at 30 feet.

I was using a Johnson Viking Ranger transmitter, which would load into 
nearly anything.

My receive antenna was a window screen, so I can't address the receiver 
noise question.

What I can tell you is that I have never had another 40 meter antenna that 
played any better on transmit as determined by signal reports at similar 
power levels.

As recently as last summer, I debated installing another one just like it. 
The reason I didn't was that due to power lines, I couldn't run it as a flat 
top, which is how a folded dipole needs to be installed.





Mike Duke, K5XU
American Council of Blind Radio Amateurs