Could someone help me analyze my new vertical? It works fine on rx, but
I don't want to hurt anything when I actually transmit....

I've seen folded dipoles with short lengths of wire attached to their
ends. I guess this is to make up for the velocity factor of the
twinlead. Is this really beneficial, or should one just be happy with a
somewhat smaller antenna with no wire extensions?

Here's the real question:

I thought I'd try this on my 20 meter folded vertical but found that it
worked best when the short length of wire on the end was taped back down
the top of the twin-lead rather than extending the overall length of the
antenna.

(thanks to everyone here for straightening out the myth about reduced
ground losses for folded monopoles btw...)

I borrowed a friends antenna analyzer and with the tail folded back down
on the twin lead I was able to get the reactance to zero on some freqs.

Here's the setup:

12 feet of 300-ohm twinlead twisted together at the end
6-inch wire from the end taped back down the top of the twinlead
16.5-foot radials (I can only get two down and NO rf ground indoors)
1/2 wave of RG-58 feedline cut for 20 meters

Some measurements
14.0 R=113 X=0 2.1 swr
14.1 R=87 X=0 1.7 swr
14.25 R=72 X=34 2.0 swr
14.35 R=71 X=53 2.6 swr

I placed some chokes around the feedline and they didn't seem to make
any difference.

With the tail extended rather than taped back down the twin-lead the swr
was always a bit higher and the reactance would never get below 60 or so.

So is this "taped tail" beneficial or am I fooling myself somewhere?

Thanks!
WN6F

Dipole means that you have the center of the coax soldered normally to
the wire/conduit/tubing that is upward and then the braid is soldered
to the radial(s) which are either parallel with the ground, angled
toward the ground, or even straight down as if you put a "T" out there
and put conduit in (looking at the T as if it were an "E" without the
top/bottom legs) and then that attached to a mast pole by the use of a
larger "T" or even a 90' el that will fit the mast pole OD