'Cuse me for being nosey, but I had to look at your "postage stamp" plot on satellite via Yahoo maps.  I looked you up on one of the callsign servers.

Forgive me for saying this, but those are good, average sized lots, IMHO. However, those are new (very recent?) homes with no trees on the properties.
From what I saw, it appears your HOA allows fences on some sort but only in the back yard.  I'm hoping they are wooden fences. 
(How tall a fence does the HOA allow?)
You could forsake your Palstar and use a remote tuner (hiding behind large, mature and dense shrubbery) and tune 30 mil black-jacketed wire along the top of the fence. From what I saw, you could string a quarter-wavelength of wire (or more) on top of the fence.
I know this is a shoot-from-the-hip idea, but it's been done by few hams.
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/antenna/hidden/fence.html
And from eham http://www.eham.net/ehamforum/smf/index.php?topic=3058.0

Much more than my 2 cents.
73 & GL
Greg, K3ANG

What's HRD??

If your 'townhouse' attic is shared with other 'townhouses' in the block (that is, there is no firewall separating units at the attic level) I would not set up an antenna in that space.  It could be a recipe for trouble.
Greg, K3ANG

I ordered this antenna in June, 2010.  I sent an email back in August, 2010 asking him what the delay is.
He said he had mailed it, but would build another.  
It is now November, 2010 with neither antenna in sight.
I have seen/read where others have received theirs, but they do not mention how long
it took to receive the antenna once they ordered it.

I will ask the moderator to delete this when/if I receive the antenna.
But, right now, I'm unhappy.
de K3ANG

Has the 830S been altered for low power?

Is this it? 
http://www.alpharubicon.com/elect/vertdipoleniet.htm.
The site's author sez it's a "coaxially fed vertical dipole."
There is a picture.

There is a variant in my copy of Dave Ingram's Easy Wire Antenna Handbook.
The alpharubicon link mentioned above uses a 1/4 wave length of pipe.
There is no mention of what type of pipe to use.
Actually, the pic there sez "hollow tubing."
I'm assuming either aluminum or copper.
Ingram's example uses a 1/4 length of bare braid of pipe instead of "hollow tubing."
He passes the coax thru it as if it was a length of pipe.
In Ingram's example, there is a note for an optional 4-turn rf coil/choke just outside the
the braid.

In both examples, they are in essence dipoles.

I hope this helps.

Greg
K3ANG

http://www.radioworld.com/article/104490.
WWVA is back on the air at 5kW on a longwire temporarily.

Greetings and welcome to ham radio.

The hamuniverse pages sez:
Hang the center of the antenna from a tree limb, or use a support as pictured. The exact height of the antenna's feedpoint is not crucial. The higher, the better. 20 feet might be considered the minimum. 60 feet is ideal. However, in the real world, 30-50 feet is average.

I emboldened what I believe is the important part.

My hope is your antenna is not 120 feet from the house.  
That would mean using a longer piece of 300 ohm feed line.  
That type of feed line is not the best to use for long runs.  
It can be done, but you're gonna lose a lot of signal.
Better to use coax than the 300 ohm stuff.
But if your antenna is only 30-60 feet tall and very close to the house,
in either a dipole or inverted Vee, go for it.

73 and hope this helps.
Greg, K3ANG
 

If you find the prices out of your range, try building.
Like the one in the pdf below.
ymmv
73
http://www.rsars.org.uk/ELIBRARY/ANTENNAS%20DOCS/160-80-40m%20End%20Fed%20%20Antenna%20G0CSK%20iss%201.1.pdf

I found this link in a Yahoo antenna group.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3646562.pdf

It's a link to a patent for a receiving antenna that is a
horizontal coil around a tree trunk.

RE:Yes, I could temporarily put up a vehicle type vertical whip by the back fence, but I'd need to take it down when not in use.

What's wrong with that??

One item you need to consider is the area you're going to backpacking thru.
Yes, a two-meter HH and a small beam are a good idea to take for hiking in case of an emergency
or even for down time.
But if you can't hit a repeater or reach somebody simplex, what's the use.
You might as well as brought an anchor.
The right (wrong?) terrain and/or foliage can be like brick walls and block an FM signal really well.
A better option would be a small, single-band QRP HF xcvr and antenna.
40 Meters would be your best bet.
My opinion only.
de K3ANG 

Must be a slow news day in Racine.

Some great ideas here too
http://www.n0ew.org/k0s/k0s_2010/k0s_2010.php
73 de K3ANG

Check this out for inspiration.
http://users.erols.com/k3mt/graswire/graswire.htm
I haven't built it, but it's worth a look.
73 AGN.
de K3ANG