Antenna quests - EFHW vs Random Wire

EFHW or RW - witch one is the best ? They are both lightweight and have relatively small footprint. No wonder they are so popular for field, POTA and SOTA operations. Main advantage of RW is the freedom to jump from one band to another and thus make more QSOs in a short time. But wait, EFHW is resonant and more efficient, shouldn't it be easier to score more contacts if your signal is stronger ? In order to answer this question, I decided to make a quick test. 

Configuration

I used 6m telescopic pole and a slopper configuration for both antennas in VE-5005 park. I tested the RW first and the EFHW right after. It was on a weekend without contests and the SFI was about 110. The radiators for both had a similar length - about 31' for the EFHW and 29' for the RW. I used 10 watts and TX-500 rig in CW.

Performance on 20m

• EFHW got 8 RBN hits with signal strengths 7-38 dB
• RW got 9 RBN hits with signal strengths 8-26 dB

Clearly, the EFHW preforms better, but the RW is not bad either!

Multibands

The random wire allows me to switch bands almost instantly. And even with this short radiator, I can use 30 meters comfortably (9 RBN hits with 3-27 dB). I even worked a local ham on 10m that day.

The EFHW would need a longer radiator for 30m and changing the bands takes much longer.

Best of both

I was ready to trade the extra decibels of the EFHW for the instant band-hopping of the RW. But then I had an idea - it is possible to use the 17-20 linked EFHW radiator as random wire for 30 and 15 meters ! This way, I can cover all my favorite day bands with only one radiator and minimal effort of changing the transformer.