What about NOISE ! Are Vertical antennas noisy?
Yes, vertical antennas are noisy, but that is not a problem at all.
It turns out that the earth will filter out some of the horizontally
polarized noises (signals) that are generated around the world, so a
horizontal antenna will not hear some of that energy, but the earth
will also filter out some of the horizontally polarized ham radio signals.
If you want to hear what is really out there, a vertical antenna is
actually better than a horizontally polarized one.
There is lots of information about noise and polarization at
W8JI's
web site. Tom has fantastic information about the polarization of electrical noise.
Here is a picture of Tom, W8JI in his workshop. I had to include this
picture because no words would describe his work area and equipment.
I got this picture from QRZ.COM
