Vertical SSB: Hare-brained scheme or dangerous new trend?

I'm sort of interested in 2M SSB (and UHF SSB), but conventional wisdom dictates that horizontal antennae be used for "weak signal" modes like SSB (single-sideband). I don't have a horizontal 2M antenna, and it's not really practical for me at the condo. The other issue is that there's very few people doing two-metre weak signal.

The theory for using horizontal polarisation on SSB is that noise is vertically polarised, and horizontal antennae are therefore quieter. It's very old, even for conventional wisdom, and simple experimentation will show that a great deal of digital noise is now also horizontally polarised by virtue of travelling on power lines. The real reason for using horizontal polarisation is because everyone else that uses weak signal modes is using a horizontally polarised antenna. If you use a vertical, and the person you are trying to talk to is using a horizontal antenna, then you lose 20 dB -- translation: "It's not happening, dude".

But if everyone is using a vertical, then it's totally cool. You don't lose 20 dB, then. It's pretty much the same as everyone using a horizontal.

So a few of us crazy new hams that don't know any better were sitting around, talking crazy talk like we do. I said that we should try doing vertical two metre SSB simplex. We tried FM simplex, and we couldn't get any reasonable distance. But weak signal modes are different; you can hear them further away. After a little discussion, we decided that the whole thing was suitably crazy and worthy of our efforts.

At this point, four hams have "signed on": KD0UIH, KD0WZW, N0YNT, and KD0TLS (me). By signing on, we agree that, at some point, we'll try it. There's talk of a Sunday night effort already. And it could very well happen before then.

It's incredibly easy, after all. We all have vertical antennae, and we all have SSB radios for the band. We don't have to reach Bemidji. We can do weak signal simplex in the metro instead of FM. It should be interesting to see how much power we need, and if simple antennae can work satisfactorily. I don't think we're going to need Yagis or 50W of juice, but we'll find out.

I'm also interested in trying this with UHF. Ever since I read this short piece about UHF QRP SSB. Even with 5W and a Yagi, we should be able to reach 50 miles easily. It would be harder to get people together with UHF beams for an experiment like that, though. I do wonder, though, what kind of performance one could expect with 5W SSB and a vertical? Certainly, FM simplex is out of the question for those levels and antenna type.

UHF SSB with a Yagi is almost on the level of being clandestine. First off, not many are on UHF in the first place using FM. Second, of those that are there, nobody is listening for SSB. And third, the beam would restrict that unlikely-to-be-heard signal to the person you are trying to reach.