You know how people always say "every cloud has a silver lining" and how we should try to look on the bright side of things?

Well, trying very hard to apply that to 20meters, at least Nino and his gang of anti-Nino jammers have turned 14.195 into a reliable beacon telling us if 20 is open to Europe.   :-/

<snooooooOOOOOOOooorrrk!>

  (That, of course, is the sound of coffee being nasally propelled onto a computer keyboard.) 

Hilarious!

I've been playing with vertical HF antennas for a few months--first time I've ever used them, really. 
( http://www.duke.edu/~kuzen001/lawnmower.htm )  The vertical in that photo currently has four radiators, for 20, 17, 15, and 10m.   It seems to work pretty well overall.

I looked at copper pipe when I started adding elements to it, and I was a little surprised at how expensive copper is these days.   You might take a look at the DX Engineering website and see how much their aluminum tubing would cost for your project--I decided it would be cheaper to get the DXE tubing on the web than buying copper pipe or even tubing at a hardware store.

I'm actually using mostly aluminum tubing taken from an old Gap antenna I had but hadn't used in a dozen years.   :-) 

Great photos!  It looks like you really enjoy mobiling!   Do you run into problems with the roof mount for the HF antenna?

When THAT didn't work, you should have sold him some "magic beans."  Someone who would pay money for the 'radar jammer' would probably be willing to pay top price for some Radar-Avoidance Magic Beans.  :-)

I heard them on 20 phone driving home from work--I got off early--and wasn't able to work them from the car.  But an hour of waiting and trying when they were strongest, and I finally got them.   A new one for me.  From the lawnmower, too.   :-)  Though I used a 120v PS plugged into an extension cord, so I could turn it up to 80 watts.  :-)

W8JI:  This is a bit off topic, but I just got my new _QST_, and I was very impressed by the photo of the tube.  That low-light stuff is always impressive when it's well done--that was a great photo!

I had a bunch of good opportunities to work ST0R from the car on 20m, several afternoons of good reception, but I never did work them from the car.  But  I *did* work them from that lawnmower rig I posted recently, with a 1/4 wave vertical with elevated radiators.

I can guarantee you, I'd have been DELIGHTED to have one more dB in my antenna system, driving along on those afternoons, trying to work ST0R.  :-/ 

Wow--I'm glad you told me that BEFORE I wasted time trying to make a whip out of copperclad antenna wire.  :-)  The brass will probably work OK for me, for now--it's easy to solder, which is helpful, and the vibration isn't much of an issue for me; I've got short whips due to my garage situation.

A couple of months ago I was on a long trip in my car, and heard a 9M6 working a medium-sized pileup.  That would have been a new one for me.  I tried for 10 or 15 minutes before the path faded, and never worked him.  I also heard a 5BA; I had never worked Cyprus from the car, so I spent 20 minutes waiting and trying when the conditions were best, and finally worked him.  But not the 9M6. 

I can PROMISE you, I'd have been glad to have an extra dB or two in both those situations.  I'm working right now on changing some stainless whips to brass or copper-clad, to try to scrape a bit more performance out of my mobile system.

That's why I've been playing with replacing my SS (Hustler stock) whips with brass rod, hoping for a tiny improvement there.  (You posted a link about the difference between SS and copper a week or two ago.) But right now I'm only active on 20 and 17, where I suppose the difference would be fairly small.

As the days get shorter, I really *should* set up a mobile 40m antenna, I suppose.  On my morning drive, 17 is usually completely dead, and 20 is pretty close to dead, at least from the car.  I sure wish the solar cycle would hurry up and give me some propagation!  :-)

I've read it, Alan, and about 80% of the rest of your website--there's so much info there I haven't seen it all yet.   But with Simon's question, and also a question on another forum that asked for a description of the cap hats I've built, I thought it was worth posting a link to one small datapoint and a photo.  (I wish I had mentioned on that page that the photo shows the resonator & whip tilted down horizontally to make the photo better, that in ordinary setup and operation they're straight vertical.)

It was reading your website's article on cap hats that made me decide to try them, for more efficiency from a given (and limited) length mobile antenna.   And I'm convinced they make a big difference.   (I agree my construction is lightweight and ugly, but it's all I need.)

What I NEED to re-read on your website are the pages about noise control and bonding; I'm having fun on 15m from home but can't use it from the car because of air-conditioner noise.

Central North Carolina, vertical antenna:  saw them spotted a few times but haven't actually heard them at all.  :-(

We were talking last week about how to figure how much a capacity hat might change an antenna's resonance; I got a couple of new RM-12 resonators on sale the other day and measured the difference with and without a cap hat, on a simple test rig.  Info and a very bad photo here:

http://www.duke.edu/~kuzen001/caphat1.htm

It's been a rule for years, not to discuss religion or politics on the radio, and it applies to online forums as well.   No matter how good peoples' intentions are, people WILL wind up being angry and upset about it.  I've seen political talk ruin several once-good mailing lists.  OP is RIGHT--let's talk about ham stuff, NOT politics!