My shack parameters:
I have tall trees behind the house that I could string an antenna up in. The problem is that anything QRP would likely lose the signal in the feed line. (~200 ft worth of feed to be safe)
My 'shack' would be on the second story so anything ground-mounted would be going down ~16 feet. That being said I can hang things from the eves of the house.

Because the squirrels constantly eat through the rope - and the wire antennas keep falling. I finally am giving up on that. I was also using one of the neighbors trees - a 70' Monterrey Pine that he is most likely going to cut down this summer as its starting to die.

But that 40M dipole up 65' was a very good antenna while it lasted . . .

....
I have used a L and many many many hams use a L  with good success on Top Band, they do  work. From what I understand if you wanted to work more USA you might want the L over a T
 .
But for dxing , I will stick with the T for now. The claim is a T receives better than a L . I have no clue . I use lots of Beverage antenna but then again the T does receive signals very good.

I am no expert on this subject but this my understanding of the antennas and experience I have had.

What I would really recommend is a four square as close to the salt water as possible.  Sink pressure treated 4X4s at the four corners as a base and mount a crappie rod or bamboo pole on each 4X4.  Run a wire along the support.  It will only be a bit over 16ft tall.  8ft 4X4 with ~5 ft above ground + 11-12 ft fishrod It could be a few feet less if needed just use top loading.  This way you will get some gain and some directivity which can make all the difference if you have some trouble hearing due to QRN/QRM.  It might even make one of those LP+SP uber-rare DX CW 30+WPM multipath signals that are ringing like crazy become more decodeable.  Even a two element 15m vertical array would be obviously better than a single vertical or trying to make a 40m/15m combo compromise vertical.

N4OGW wrote:

There are NO individual band honor roll categories; only mode categories.
73,
Chuck  NI0C

AA6YQ wrote:

I'm not sure that ARRL has a formal Honor Roll listing for individual bands, but it would be nice if they did.  In any event, these are all worthy goals to strive for!

73,
Chuck  NI0C

0145 UTC, just barely hear a whisper of them on 21016.

On my quarter-acre lot there's not much more I can do other than go significantly higher, which I can't really afford. No space for Beverages, my K9AY is in one corner, an inverted-L for 160 over top of the driveway, tower in the middle. About all I could do would be a vertical in the furthest corner of the yard, but I can't see to what end. I already hear as well as possible on 80 given local noise levels, and can work everything I hear, plus I'm an alligator on 160--and I don't see a way of improving my 160 RX, but I'm sure open to ideas on that front. I've got a reliable range of about 4000 miles on 160. Anything beyond that and it's a crapshoot and relies solely on the quality of the build on the DX side (missed Peter1, 7O6T and a host of other big-name operations beyond that limit).

Huh? Solid wire is a total pain in the ass to straighten out and keep from coiling back up. Secondly, I have found no difference from soldering stranded or solid. Brazing? Totally overkill.

When I connected my ground radials, I soldered a lug to them, and the the solder connection is permanent. I occasionally removed the lug to wirebrush it out and then reattach to antenna.

It's fairly simple. Don't overcomplicate it and make the person do unnecessary work.

Same wire. #14 stranded. Put  lug on the end and use a long nail to hold it in place. DX Engineering sells lawn staples. Dogs and opossums will dig up any wire.