I have a file of paper cards from 5 decades. I love them. LOTS of great memories there. I still enjoy sending and receiving the "hard copy". Also enjoy the E-confirmation since it's faster -- especially for DX.

Most US cards are sized for USPS post card standards. DX may also be standardized by their countries protocal -- but there is no "standard" size world wide any more than their is an average shoe size for Chicago. Accept that your paper card file will have to accomodate the size variations.

Especially for DX the lighter the better for lower postal cost. Especially for DX and rare they get tons of cards and strongly prefer all info on one side. The call and picture or graphic on one side and the report on the other doubles the time they need to look you up and confirm the QSO since they have to flip the card. So I have a lighter weight stock and a plain basic form/data for the DX ones I send. There is nothing I could say about or show them about a routine guy from Florida that will truly enrich their QSL collection anyway. They have worked countless hundreds -- maybe thousands of W4s and are doing me a favor to confirm something I need. So I make it as easy as I can for them. Return envelope. green stamp or IRC (being careful about the desirability or problems with green stamps).

I also have a little fancier one for routine use because I am "old fashioned" and enjoy the traditions -- rag chew; courtsy; and a quality card from someone or to someone I enjoyed running across.

Couple points ............ firt at 21 feet for the apex and the end height mentioned it' not an inv Vee. Apex angle needs to be between about 75 and 120 degrees. It's a raised center dipole -- not a good Vee or a flat top diploe. You cannot make a proper Vee with 21 ft center height as 21 ft drop and 21 ft out (each leg) gives you the 90* apex ............. but if you do the math the leg is less than 1/4 wave (33 ft) on 40 meters. So the most Vee you can do is for 30 meters and up and that puts the ends -- where the high voltge is -- at ground level. Not safe. As mentioned in one reply it's too short for 75/80. ALSO it' too low to be effective on 75/80. Sure -- NVIS and all that -- but at 100 watts it's not goinng to be very effective on the longer wave bands. If you want a Vee go with 22.5 ft legs (approx -- do the math) ft legs and 21 ft center and use it on 30 meters and up. ALSO if you feed it with open line the support needs to be non metalic. Open wire needs to be a way away from metal and standing it off that far likely will upset your neighbors a it becomes really ugly and obvious. However 21 feet of fiberglas pole sections is easily doable.

I had a 4BTV in 3 different QTHs over 15 year. Each time I ued an 8 ft galvanized pipe driven in to mount it and 6 or 8 radials -- bare copper (antenna wire) burried in 3 or 4 inch deep slots and an 8 ft ground rod at the far end. Worked beautifully.

Personally I have always felt you do what you can do and you work who you can work and you enjoy it. So I worked SSB, CW, and RTTY all those years on 40-20-15-10 with the 4BTV and liked it. Never envied the 75/80 or WARC band guys. Never envied the KW guys. Never envied the rare DX QTH guys. Wa just myelf and had tons of fun QSOs.

About every facet of life has rules and conditions and requirements and responsibilities.

A driver'slicense doesn't allow me to drive as I please .......... there are speed limits and stop signs and all.

The Second Ammendment and my CCW permit does not allow me to carry a gun everywhere or shoot someone. It has rules and requires responsibility on my part to be appropriate.

Even though the grocery store or Wal-Mart door is unlocked and it's a public place I still have to wait my turn in line and pay at the checkout.

QRZ is not a news media or journalistic outlet who's job and/or public trust is to convey unbiased info. It's a privately owned site. You can choose to visit or choose not to visit. They could incur liability for posting inappropriate comments and are not required to provide unlimited (or even any) bandwidth to anyone.

So the owners/operators of the site have guidelines -- even some rules -- that govern how they operate their site. I'm OK with that and take it for what it's worth to me. You are free to skip it if it doesn't suit your needs or feelings.

Couple factors here.

RF will be absorbed by the tree and the tree will detune the antenna due to it being a "capacitor". So what? It is what it is and you install what you can install where you can install it and you work who you can work and enjoy the hobby. Insulater or bare wire has zero to do with this.

Remember that there will be VERY high voltage along parts of the wire. Up to several thousand volts maybe depending on transmitter power and where along the voltage wave on the wire you are. So it must be insulated from anything that is flammable. This is especially true for wood rafters in your attic for those with indoor antennas but may semi apply to your situation and tree branches. INSULATED WIRE IS A MYTH. First the common Home Depot 12 or 14 gage house type wire is good for 600 volts and is no where near insulated enough at the voltages your RF will be. DO NOT count on it. To be insulated you would need to run hi tension test lead like used for a probe to an instrument -- stuff about 3/8 inch diameter and soft rubber. EVEN THAT IS STILL NOT OK. The mechanical abrasion will quickly wear thru the insulation and you will have bare wire contact to whatever it is rubbing against.

Either route the wire so it doesn't rub using actual insulators to stand off the wire --- or trim a few tree branches --- or accept the rubbing but be sure it will not cause a fire. It's that simple. As for the tree detuning the resonant freq of the antenna make some SWR tests and prune it to resonance at the freq you desire. The antenna within several feet of the tree will detune it and that will change with season and weather -- how much sap in the tree; how wet the bark is; leaves on or off; etc. So just live with that part.

I had mine on a TV mast -- unguyed -- at 20 feet. That's about 8 feet above the patio roof -- not even as "good" as you propose. However I had it vertically. Needs to be well in the clear to be horizontal. I had a TV rotor but found it wasn't really needed. The null is broadside to the plane of the loop but not too wide. So I left it "facing" in a direction I didn't care too much about and was able to work guys that direction anyhow. The painter's pole may not be quite strong enough ......... use a single length of TV mast.

It will need to be at least 5 feet away from anything that will detune it. 10 or 15 feet is good if you can. When it was in my attic for a while it was too close and 20M didn't tune very low ......... worked but SWR wouldn't go below about 2:1.

I could only move a few KHz on 30M and several on 20M --- maybe +/- 5 KHz on 30 and +/- 10 KHz on 20M. So plan to retune often. But it only takes about 5 or 10 seconds to get to the lowest point SWR. You tune by receiver noise till you're close if you change bands. Then use the cross needle meter to hit the low point. If you go from the CW portion to the phone portion there will be a very noticable drop in received strength and if you change bands it will be about deaf till you tune it.

If you're in the clear it will work (back pack up a mountain). If you're a "rare" or desirable call/QTH it will work (vacation to DX). Or combine them -- get on a mountain in a rare state like ND. But keep in mind it is a VERY small inefficient radiator. Guys have to want to work you enough to dig out a weaker signal -- cuz you will be. If the "noise floor" is high like during a contest weekend forget it. If you want long easy copy rag chew QSOs forget it.

But if you want light easy cheap portable it is a nice answer. Not as cheap as a couple lengths of hook up wire -- but way less than Budipoles or MFJ loops. Way easier/quicker than dipoles or tuners and long wires. Picnic table portable from a beach .......... balcony view from the 27th floor ........... the "kick" of working anyone anywhere anyway you can with low power so you can say you did it are all good reasons to have one and lots of guys do.

The top wire is a 40 M dipole with a loading coil in each leg for 40/15 meters. The loading coil changes the length -- that's how they get a 40 meter dipole in 40 feet (Vs the "standard nominal" 66 feet). It will of course have some coupling -- detuning -- interaction with the other wires as any fan dipole does. The center wire is a 20 meter dipole but will of course have some coupling -- detuning -- interaction with the other wires as any fan dipole does. The lower wire is a 10 meter dipole and it too will have some coupling -- detuning -- interaction with the other wires as any fan dipole does. So the lengths are not "text book".

You should plan to erect the antenna -- measure the SWR at the freqs you are interested in -- and lower/adjust the length -- raise and remeasure the SWR a few times. My results now that it's pruned/tuned where I want it are very good and it's a well made quality product .......... so I'm happy with it. It was well worth the cost and the work tweeking it.

I put mine up as an inverted vee. The apex is 90* at 32 feet. It's not in the clear -- it's under BIG trees about twice or more that height and within about 3 or 4 feet of the edge of the house and patio roofs. One is conventional wood/shingle (the house) and one is aluminum (the patio).  So it's far from optimal. The wires run due east/west so north - south should be favored. But the "true" inverted vee offers surprisingly good east - west coverage too.

I raised -- measured SWR -- lowered and adjusted the length of the 40 M portion a few times. Now it covers the 40M phone band and the entire 15 meter band at under 2.5:1. I didn't do any adjustments to the length of the 20 meter wire (left it just as it came out of the bag) and it's under 1.8:1 across the entire band.  I adjusted the length of the 10 meter wire a couple times and the top half of the 10M CW and bottom third of 10 M phone are under 3.0:1.

The bandwidth at resonance of the antenna itself is pretty good -- and with the narrow range tuner in my IC-746PRO I can stretch some and cover all I want on 40 - 20 - 15 - and 10. It is OK on 40 CW; PSK; and RTTY and great on 40 SSB. Does anything/everything on 20 and 15. Won't quite reach the bottom of 10 for CW DX but does from about 28.100 to about 28.700 very well so if 10 gets hot I will enjoy it there too.

I have a vintage station and a rice box and 3 antennas and a dummy load. Also I live in the lightning capital of the world -- half way between the ocean and the gulf on the FL pensilula where the land and Caribeen systems collide with the gulf and ocean systems and kick off the storms from hell. So switching was nice and protection was critical. ALL my coax has in line gas tubes and LOTS of ground just outside the shack wall. But more is better protection wise and a moment of forgetfullness in not doing the mechanical cable swap could be bad. So I went with switches and it's great.

The 3 antenna leads and the dummy load go to an Alpha-Delta 4 position switch. The unused positions are grounded by way of the switch design. There is also a ground position. So a simple switch selects what antenna I want or allows for off the air tune of the vintage gear easily and leaves everything grounded when not in use. Slick. The output goes to an Alpha-Delta 2 position switch that's "backwards". Input goes to the common connector and the 2 outputs go to the 2 stations. Again the unused one is grounded and a not used position grounds everything. In 3 seconds I can select which antenna and which station and the rest is grounded.

CAUTION: since only the selected position is "live" and everything else is grounded be careful that you don't transmit on the not selected station ............ you'll put the RF out directly into ground. Also this precludes listening on one station while working with the other. Once in a while that's a bummer -- but no where near the bummer a fried beautifully restored Collins or expensive Icom station would be.

Get a short wave guide and SWL the BBC, Radio Moscow, etc. The news perspective will be interesting for them and noticably different than what they get from TV or their parents or even the web. Kids like "off angle" views as they explore and discover themselves and wean themselves from adult controls. A healthy way to let them stretch the envelope a little. Listen in on the Hurricane Net (14.325) or intercontinental net (14.300) for some exposure to the ham side. Then expose them to PSK as it's easy to work QSOs with low power and temporary not fancy antennas and the kids love reading stuff on a screen.

Coax is much like your hand, your foot, or your garden hose with regards to lawnmower blades. Not intended to -- and will be harmed by -- contact. Best if you don't allow them to be in the same place at the same time.

Perhaps a section in the book you memorized (Vs actually having either knowledge or at minimum common sense) to get your "extra" that tells you to either remove the coax while mowing the lawn; or bury it (proper type for that use); or route it so it's not laying on the lawn.

TenTec Argosy is great and easily in that range. But some do some don't have optional filters and for dedicated CW you'll want that. TenTec Scout also in that range but be sure you get modules for the bands you want as they are available but go quick when posted. BEST in my opinion is an old TenTec Triton IV or 544 I think is their model number. Can run about 2 to 100 watts. GREAT CW. The 5 basic bands. Solid state and digital and fairly low draw when run QRP. NOT truly low draw -- but reasonable low (unless you're back packing with AA battery). Also the Omni C and D are great rigs. Large and draw a lot so not for portable -- but really nice for home and are half or 2/3 what you're talking about spending. Also Kenwood TS-50 or 120 or 130 or 140 are in your range -- some half what you're considering $$ wise. They will need the optional CW filter so be sure you find one with that. Or an IC-730 or even an older IC-706 can be had in your range. Any of those will do CW nicely. They will also do more bands and SSB and more power if you ever decide you want that. Many of them will also do digital like PSK or RTTY which is great fun and well suited for low power and/or marginal antennas. I have the NUE-PSK self contained thing and it's GREAT on my TS-50 and IC-703.

If you are 100% sure all you want is limited band CW (remember 15 and 10 are opening and will get really fun soon with small easy antennas) and you're thinking 100% picnic table portable or backpack or battery then the above are too big and draw too much. So the Elecraft 1 series is great. Personally I like the K-1 since it is easier to use and the size and draw are still really good. The Vibroplex Warrior mini paddle is wonderful if the rig has a built in keyer. I had an OHR 100 for 40M and loved it. Think they make a multi band one too and with analog and simple and GREAT receivers they are a good choice.

At the end of 1960 the 9th call area had issued all the W9 and then all the K9 calls and were about to issue the first WA9 calls. But at that time the novice was one year not renewable. So in addition to the normal amount of silent keys vacating calls there were some unused/expired calls from novices who didn't upgrade in the old pool. The FCC decided to use them up first and then go to the WA9 series. I got lucky and my novice exam was on their desk early in 1961 and got one of the reissued calls .......... Kn9FID. The original one was likely issued about 5 years earlier from what I can tell from asking guys who got the original series with calls near mine in sequence. So I got a 1 x 3 and "unearned seniority" by dumb luck.

Later I moved to the Detroit area in the early 70s but I kept an Illinois address as my operator's/primary station license official address and kept the 1 x 3. I got a secondary station license WB8TOY. When they did away with secondary station licenses in the late 70s I was able to choose and decided to keep the 1 x 3 call. A couple years later we moved back to suburban Chicago and I was glad I had kept the 1 x 3 9th area call --- plus it was way better on CW than the 8 call.

In 2005 I decided I was in FL for a couple years already and likely to stay for the rest of my life (as much as the good Lord allows us to decide anything) and got W4FID as a vanity call.

Longer is better ........... seems easy enough to believe even to us not too technical guys. Knowing actual dats is nice too. Thanks for both the effort and for publshing it.

However; I think there is another factor in play for mobile. I have an F-150 pick up and use a BIG mag mount in the center of the roof. I use the "mini" hamstick type which are bout 2/3 the length of the "normal" full size ones. That puts the tip about 11'-6 off the ground. With a small spring I do fine. It does tonk some tree limbs and even an occasional overhang like at the bank drive thru. But being careful and slow when needed and the spring allows it to be a viable installation. A full size stick would be about 15 feet to the tip and just too high. It would require a larger spring and be hitting everything including some underpasses at highway speeds. Not a viable installation.

I feel there is a compromise between length and mounted location. In the center of the roof it is symetrical -- better coupling to the vehicle and less directivity Vs a corner fender mount. Also it's above my sheet metal; and the car next to me's sheet metal; and guard rails; etc. If it was frame or bumper or fender mounted with the base maybe a foot to two and a half feet high it would be low enough to clear obstructions -- but suffer loss the center of the roof mount doesn't have. The lower portion -- the part that has the highest current and radiates the most -- puts the RF into the sheet metal less than a foot away. I've used both for several years each and feel over all the performance is about the same based on on the air results. Who I can work on the county hunters; how easy it is to check into SOCARS or MIDCARS; how solid and easy QSOs are as I drive.

But with the shorter ones on a qucik disconnect I can easily stick them in the truck. The long ones are a pain to store.

I do keep a couple full size ones in my travel trailer and use them when stationary and QRP from an RV park or campgrouns as they are better when hitting overhead stuff isn't an issue.

I used a loop that was about 75 feet long. Two fiberglass masts -- each 28 ft tall and unguyed army camo green -- were 40 feet apart. The loop was a delta with the top wire horizontal and 28 ft high. The apex was about 4 ft high. At the apex I fed it with an SGC237 coupler. Worked on 75/80 a little. Worked on 40 well. Worked very well on 30 and up. Rig saw the 50 ohm coax and coupler input and was happy. DID NOT use the rig's internal tuner. Coupler delt with the wire length and frequency and did the best it could. I have trees 2 or 3 times as tall and made the loop from 12 ga black house wire so it was low visibility. Not truly stealth -- but low profile and low objections from CCR Nazis. Since it was frequency agile and multi band I enjoyed it and could always find someone on some band to work easily. Not a pile up buster -- but I always worked DX and had fun even in contests.

Prior to errecting it outside for 2 years it was in my attic. Just hung from zip ties under the rafters around the attic perimiter. Left enough hang down to keep the high voltage from arcing the the wood. It did raise hell with the house wireing and had lots of TVI. Didn't work any where near as well as the outside. But I did work lots of Qs and some DX at the bottom of the cycle.

Get one of those 3 large dia magnet mounts and a couple hamsticks for the bands you want. From the wide open spaces you'll do well enough with that as your antenna. And you'll have a mobile too!

DEFINATELY run your DC power directly from the car's battery. DEFINATELY keep track of how long/much you operate so you don't kill the car's battery when you're not running the engine. A set jumper cables is good in case you forget to do the amp hour math or do the math poorly.

A used 100 watt rig is about the same $$ as the 817 and can be turned down. If you back pack or bicycle mobile then sure the efficiency of a dedicated QRP -- even an analog rig -- is way more efficient than a turned down full size rig. Since battery size/weight is a factor if you're carrying it then small and light are the rule. But for driving go with what's more universal. My TS-50 is still a winner after a lot of years and miles and picnic table. My IC-703 with its built in tuner is also a rig I will never part with ............ it's been in my travel trailer, hotel balocnies, field day, under trees. I love it.

The guy who said above all have fun is right. DO THAT FIRST.