One of the great pileup trainer is morse runner.
I keep it handy and use it prior to any CW contests.
It is a freeware and can be found at http://www.dxatlas.com/MorseRunner/
I also agree with K0RS technique, different approach but as valid as mine.
No matter what;  a split will clear your TX frequency and make things smoother, and faster as you do not have to wait for the callers to stop.
As I said before listen to DX stations and see the way they handle their pileup.
DX expeditions are dependant on who is operating; some are great others so-so.
In Diego Garcia I usually send one CQ and the madness starts.
It is not always easy, as like all, I have good and bad days.
Overall enjoy, it is a good learning experience

ES1TU,
Split is definitely the way to go.
Another way I perfected when operating as VQ9PO is to remove the CW filter and listen to the pileup as a whole.
No matter what his signal strength is, someone will be right on your pitch frequency and he is the winner.
Just to clarify: I just assume all of us do, my ears have a pitch frequency I am most attune to, and that is the one I was referring to.
Try to pick up part of the call and just work that station till completion.
Be firm and do not succumb to the temptation to work the guy who ,when you ask all to standby while you work one , keep on calling.
If you do then the pileup gets out of hand, and it is over.
Enjoy there is a learning curve in how to handle this, and listening to DX expeditions is a good way to learn what to and what not to do.
   

Roland,
I operate more than usual the week prior to the contest to establish a pattern: what bands are open to what part of the world and at what time.
During the contest I will go back to my notes and consult VOACAP prior for any changes.
I always do a lot of planning before the contest and make sure that all is in top shape.
Time permitting I will erect a twin half square for 40m to add to my lazy H curtain for the high bands.
See you there and have fun

KY6R,
I went through the same process when debating raising my antenna, HFTA showed it was not really worth it with my surrounding terrain, and more so where were my nulls.
I agree with you it is an excellent piece of software, and it has been a time and money saver.
I tried the microDEM route but could not get it to work. It was fine till I had to enter the tower Lat and Long, and was not doing it and also I could not generate the fan vectors.
 I finally had a friend use his GPS mapping software to generate elevations surrounding my QTH.
From this point I entered the data manually and it is working very well.
HFTA takes the guessing game away.

It was my first CQWW SSB in 37 years licensed.
I usually attend thorough the years the CW portion but a friend convinced me to give the SSB a try as our club PVRC can always use the points.
I really wanted to try my new array prior to the CW week end.
I lost power to the storm most of Saturday and managed 463Qs low power (did not attempt QRP), and most of all had fun.
Contrary of what I thought would be, most signals were clean and ops most courteous.
Now I am getting ready for the serious business of CQWW CW and I will be entering QRP as always.
So to my surprise I think I will be entering next year SSB portion again.

I have to add to the chorus.
Ordered a 1:1 balun. Right away email confirming the order and it was shipped right away.
4 days later the box was at my front door, and the packaging was first class.
I will purchase again from DXE.

well QSL can be  a beast.
for 5 years I was VQ9PO operating in Diego Garcia and to this day I still receive QSLs.
IRC or money is a must, at least 1 dollar for me  to cover the stamp.
the return envelope has to be filled.
I am planning to resume operation again soon but this time I will be smarter.
It will be Eqsl for all except direct for the ones wanting a DXCC certificate.
 

Mike,
I also added in between the end of the supporting line and the pulley one of those garage door spring which will take the tension of a tree swaying.
My old sloping Vee beam had plenty of droopage and did all-right.
Unless you have excellent rapport with your neighbour I would keep it all on my lot.
I even go as far as when asked I tell them it is a shortwave listening antenna, as in the past as soon as they know I was transmitting a signal, TV, stereo and other problems suddenly became my fault.

Hello Chris,
I have to agree with Tony. Save your money and build your own.
First researching what might or might not work for you is a lot of fun, and so is building.
When I look at a commercial antenna I tell myself could I build it to match and excel the quality: if yes I build, and so far I have bought only one commercial antenna.
Unfortunately newcomers are fed bad infos as wire antennas are fine but for gain you need yagis; not so, phased and collinear arrays provide as high and even higher gain than an average yagi, without the headache of the tower, rotor, and other paraphernalia.
I have almost 40 years in this hobby and I am still learning every day about antennas. I have copies of antenna engineering books from various sources, also the internet with websites as: W4RNL, W2DU, and W8JI provide great ideas for highly performing antennas systems.
Enjoy it
 

When I do not know the poster I do a mix of both.
First I am also a member of PVRC and address my concerns during meetings where most of the big guns attend.
Second I have joined this forum as one person, who's advice I respect, frequents it.
I have read quite a lot out of his website and built the twin Lazy H curtain from informations collected from it.
Now when something arise I know I stand a good chance of him interjecting and me collecting a pertinent piece of info.
For the rest it is a crap shoot.
All is in the impression one make: I have been licensed for almost 40 years and have parsimoniously offered any advice and solely on subjects I feel I have a fair amount of knowledge, not as some others knows it all and post on every subject in a style of: I am so better than thou.
Dan I live near Frederick MD and pursue some of the same activities you do so see you in the pileups, plus I enjoy the intelligent approach of your projects.
I am still very much interested in this hobby as when it comes to antennas I have often asked WHY? and any answer offered has been followed by time spent in the books to research the roots of the answer, hence I have collected a fairly large digital library which I will dig into during my next sea voyage.
My time spent in this hobby has been a long string of wire antenna experiments, and as most local guys bought their wire antenna in a ziplock bag there is no discussion available; so this web based table is by far the most titillating gathering so far.
  

I was also on this past week end and noted the absence of G-qrp stations.
Not that the propagation was not with us.
I even had a few QRO stations  coming back to my cq to let me know I was very loud in Europe.
The weather being so nice I put a few hours in the contest and decided I had better things to do outdoors before the cold sets out.
Maybe they had the same kind of weather and did the same as I did.

Jeff another good tool is HFTA if you have access to it.
It will let you know considering your terrain which heights are best for DXing.

Off the top of my head
Arrow antenna which was marketed for satellite use but does nicely for terrestrial work.

Ditto on N1MM,
I have been using it for a few years now and have been quite happy with it, and as mentioned above the price is right.
Logger 32 is being used as my daily non contest software and is also excellent.
Some believe that if it is payware it has to be better, but in the case of N1MM it is the opposite.
Try it. It take a bit to get used to as most softwares, but it is worth it.

Now in the exact same configuration as readings from the Palomar. Window line stretched to the shack
MFJ         R       X       swr       impedance        capacitance    
14000   144     273   10.8      150                     41pf              
18060    18      143   16.5      100                     61
21000    72      255   13.5      120                     29
24890    29      135   10.8      100                     47
28000    19      85     6.7        80                       66
Except for 20m the rest of the readings are fairly similar.
I would be curious to see when you modeled your double bay wide LH, even though the bands are different , if the readings interpolated would be alike.