Well.  If you don't mind climbing a 110 foot tower, your 5 band quad will work a lot better for DX at 110 feet.

Plus, at 110 feet, if you use non-metalic guy wires, it will be easy to put up an 80 and/or 40 meter 4-square hanging from your tower.

You might even be able pull you a delta loop for 160 meter contests.

To get better state side coverage, you can always put up a fan inverted Vee, close to the ground.

Bob  

Satellite TV with a DVR.

Well. If you like playing with the TR4CW, you'd love a C-Line.
Bob

The dual receive is really nice for 40 meter phone.
Optional filters help a lot when a band gets crowded, or zeroing in on where DX is listening in a pile up.

Steve, WB2WIK claims you can run a rig thru the dish washer to get rid of the smoke build up.

If you get extra money burning a hole in your pocket, you can ad a band scope to the 950s.

External receive antenna is nice.

I think the Kenwood site had some mods or updates for the 950S.  With more than 100 watts out, it can drive any legal limit tubed amp.

One nice trick with that rig is that you can use the second tuner to set the noise blanker.  What is nice, is that you can tune the second tuner above or below the ham band, where there are fewer signals.  Fewer signals means less de-sensing of the main reviver.

Bob

Esto es, Alpha Echo 7 Gulf, Argentina Ecuador Siete Guatamala, C Q (Say Coo).
bn 73
Bob

I think you can download a demo copy of EZENEC.com and model your antenna. by varying your antenna's length, you should be able to approximate your SWR readings.

W4RNL has some articles of SCV including right hand and equilateral delta loops.

Ideally, you want the voltage to change from plus to minus at the middle of the horizonal wire.

73
Bob

Heard a rumor that some hams used an old TV with an out door TV antenna.  If I remember correctly channel 4 or 5  is a good indicator.

For 10 meters an old CB works FB

W4RNL has nice write ups about SCV.  You migh improve performance by converting your Vees into delta loops.
73
Bob

Absolutely!
Great Prose OT.
73
Bob

You've over looked the ground reflection, along with the conductivity of the ground.

If you really want the ability to increase your angle of radiation, buy an electric crank up tower.  You can then try lowering it to max your short skip signal.

W45RNL has interesting info on ground reflection on his site.

73
Bob

Could be the coax has corroded; corrosion on the PL259s, or corrosion on the female connectors.

Time for new coax and soldered on PL259

many rigs have they keyer built in.

My logging program has memory  for sending cw.

Bencher paddles are great for beginners.

It is fun to send cw with WWII straight keys.

73
Bob

Focus on how you operate your station.

<I would love to solicit the opinion of my fellow hams
out here.>

eHam has a section called SPEAK OUT.  But since your posting is too long for Speak Out, as well as too long for Elmers, you could try the article section.

My opinion is that you should contact whomever you don't like directly, and spend less time trying to get others to contact people you don't like.  More time on how you operate and less time on how others operate.

73
Bob

If you spend 5-10 minutes every day, practicing writing down CW, and study for 30 minutes a day, you should be able to get your General ticket in a month.
So, if you want to become a ham, what are you waiting for?
Bob