I’ve used inverted L and inverted V configurations. Have never determined which is the best. It really comes down to the summit layout and also the weather situation at the time. I like having the pole close to me so I can sort it quickly if there is a problem, so I tend to favour the inv-L and mount the 49:1 at about a metre up the pole.
One thing I’ve never got around to is finding out is which direction is best to have the counterpoise. I try to run it at about a metre above ground and usually away from the slope of the inv-L, but I know others prefer it beneath the end fed wire… better NVIS?
If you’re using a single counterpoise wire, I read that it should lay beneath and in the same line as the EFHW. But for an omnidirectional antenna like a vertical, it’s better to split the wire into 4 shorter lengths spread out like a cross from the the antenna base.
If you really mean a counterpoise (and not a radial) then laying the wire on the ground, heather, etc is fine (and a lot more convenient than raising it). Its part of the ground plane is to act as the ‘top plate’ of a capacitor, the ground being the ‘bottom plate’.
P.S. I never bother with CPs with my EFHWs [I always get good results without one]. If one is going to that trouble, IMO you might as well deploy an inverted-V [linked] dipole.
If it is a half-wave, should not need or derive benefit from a radial. On 20M the "radial is less than a foot long.
Probably essentially no difference in radiation between an inverted-L and an inverted-V. However, the inverted-V puts much more stress on the pole. With an inverted-L with the wire going away from the wind and the pole leaned toward the sloping wire, the pole can be very light and yet never break. - fred kt5x
Thanks for the flowers Fraser, but there are other hams who have done more scientific research in this area than I have (e.g. HB9BCB).
Just ignore unsupported statements. If you really want to know what’s going on, make a model with the setup you’re most comfortable with and the bands you’re most interested in. Then do some variations and see what changes.
Yes, compare the radiation pattern of a 2λ with a 1λ in an inverted-L (or more precisely inverted-7) configuration for the 10 m band in my 7-band EFHW document on page 30.
Yes, check the above document on page 30 for a 1λ EFHW on 20m with the same configuration. I can confirm that the model matches reality.
For some reason I’m unable to locate the original article, but I seem to recall that the counterpoise being laid out in the opposite direction and above ground had something to do with making it multiband. It is basically a 40m EFHW, but I’ve been able to use it on 60m and 80m with the auto-ATU in my IC-703.
I really need to find the article and reassess, but it does perform okay. For SOTA I normally use a link inverted V dipole, my 60/40/30 one being my staple antenna.
Lately I have been using not a 20m end fed wire but a 10m end fed wire, in an inverted-L configuration. This gives me the 2 bands I’m interested in for SOTA CW, 40 and 20. My rigs do not have inbuilt antenna tunders.
On 40m, with a single 8m long counterpoise trailing on the ground, it resonates as a 1/4 wave ground plane, no matching required.
On 20m I switch in the usual matching transformer and feed it as an EFHW. Band switching is just the flick of a toggle switch on the little matching box.
Here’s a video that explains it with pictures. It concentrates on the use of a lightweight 6.3m Balinese flag pole (as a replacement for my heavy 10m DX-Wire pole) but more recently I often just take my DX-Wire pole to save a bit of messing about with multiple pieces.
Since I made this video the cycle has come good and I’ve used this antenna for reliable VK-NA-Eu DX on 20m QRP 5W CW.
It should work on higher bands but I haven’t tried it.
I haven’t tried using just the 6m pole and stringing it as an inverted vee but that’s an option that should work on 20 and might even be a workable compromise on 40.
thats ok. Thanks for the summit to summit on Friday. 
Sorry I missed you when you were in Scotland.
