My half empirical points for successful BOG antenna deployment:

• Poor ground conductivity is good for BOGs
• Do not rise the antenna wire too high from the ground (< 2″). This includes grass and other vegitation on the ground. Rising it too high can decrease the directivity.
• If you install radials, make sure that they are not too long. Three 40′ radials per end point seems to be good for 60/80/160.
• Length: 150′ – 300′ has been often used. I tried 150′, 200′ and 300′. 300′ worked best in my case. It has good pattern on 160 m, 80 m, and 60 m. I have not tried it on 40 m since I have 3 element beam there.

There are many stories online where some people say that BOGs work great and others that have absolutely no success with these antennas. It took me a while to test various setups but now I finally have a working system. It easily beats my inverted L in receiving on 160/80/60 especially when lightning is present somewhere. But I tend to use both in receiving (see other posts on “multi”).