Antenna Shoot-Out: Mate Loop vs. I-AM

Huh? 

What the heck is a Mate Loop?

Simple: a figure of eight magnetic loop (link is to a similar version and not the one tested in this analysis) that yields a less critical tuning bandwidth than a single loop.

What's an I-AM?  

Simpler: It's one of these end loaded vertical dipoles that yields a dirt-cheap, effective antenna.

Results:

The end-loaded vertical dipole beat the loop by a relatively small but consistent margin, except for the long path VK contact, which was heavily against the loop.

Sample data, 20m band at about 09-10UT 2013 January 29:

To SV8QG: Loop = -24dB; dipole = -19dB
To EK6RSC: Loop = -11dB; dipole = -9dB
To 4X1RF: Loop = -20db; dipole = -12dB
To VK6PG: Loop = -24dB; dipole = -6dB

So, if you want performance, it seems the vertical dipole, which costs essentially nothing to throw together, is a winner in this particular quick test.  The advantage of the loop, of course, is that it can stay up in just about any wind, whereas my vertical dipole, even at 6m, does sometimes need to be brought down.