I put up my Guohetec V5 dipole over at Twin Lakes park. With whips extended, it tuned to 14.2. This was over dry ground. Last week I was at Seacliff and put the V dipole out on the field. I noted that the soil was very wet . With whips extended, it tuned to 14.3. I might have added alligator clips with a little wire to bring the tune down, but instead, dialed the radio up the band to 14.341.
The wet ground had some impact.
The V dipole has some advantages in some spots, in that it doesn't take much of space to operate. It doesn't use radials. And, at 8 to 15' above the ground, it's above the kids (on bikes speeding through your camp).
At Seacliff, I had the broad side of the V dipole pointed out S/E over the water, towards Monterey. For giggles, I spun it 45 degrees to the N/E. The audio pass band went silent. I spun it back towards Monterey and the receive audio got very hot.
I gather that the V dipole must be more Bi Directional that I previously thought.
There are opinions that the V dipole is NVIS. I tried running the V dipole at 36" off the ground using FT8 and PSK Reporter. PSK Reporter showed 25 contacts across the Western US. I put the V dipole up at 8' off the ground. I had the same pattern but tripled the number of contacts. I saw few local contacts on the PSKReporter map. So, this antenna isn't willing to do NVIS. But, responds nicely to elevating it to 8'.
This newer V dipole is made by Guohetec. The whips are nicely swaged. The base is superior in that it has a 3/8" adapter mount that works with my tripod. I prefer this GH-V5 to the spike mounts sold on other antennas. Keep in mind that you will need to have a tripod with this antenna.
I also have the same type antenna made by chellagance. It's a MC-599. This one shorted out internally. I'll have to take this one apart.
In summary, the GH-V5 dipole compares nicely with the Pota Performer, but may have some advantages. The VDipole doesn't need radials, It appears to be BiDirectional. Despite local opinion, the V-Dipole is not NVIS. At my last activation, I heard a faint station and made contact with Mr. Sado JA9KOR, who was motorbike mobile in Tokyo. This V-dipole is horizontally polarized, which seems to be more quiet than the Pota Performers.
The Gh-V5 are sold on Aliexpress for about $130. As mentioned, the whips are nicely swaged, the Cast aluminum body is anodized. This antenna doesn't come with a case ., so, you'll have to make up something.
[url]https://www.aliexpress.us/item/32568090 ... TCf214/url]
Observations that I hope help you: Craig de N6SBN