"Would it help if I attach a horizontal wire 50ft long to the top of my vertical to form a inverted L? "

---------
Of course. Did you see the long post I made to you on the subject of extending a 43 footer to 50'? These verticals need a lot of help on 80/160.

I used mine, still at 43', last night on 75 meters and made only a few Qs using 100 watts. No Europe worked! Didn't bother to try 160 to scream at Canadians.


Hey, since you have your Zerofive up now, are you working everything on the first call like the reviewers say?  

"If you want great performance with a vertical, look into Zero-5 antennas. I don't own one, but I plan to."
------

Wow, a glowing testimonial from a guy who doesn't own one!

I'm considering converting my 43' vertical and tilt base into a guyed mast to support an inverted V at 45-50'. Or return to using multi-band dipoles in trees which always worked well for me.




 
 

"Diameters of vertical radiating element tubing-
First 18' is 2" dia. x .125" wall (1/8")
1.75" dia. x 24" long x .125" wall coupler
Second section is 1.5" dia. x .058" wall 12'
Third section is 1.375" dia. x .058" wall 11'
Fourth section is 1.25" dia. x .058" wall 5'

Fourth section can be removed or set to any
length in order to acheive [sic] height of 41-46'"

----------------

Why 35'?
Perhaps just because that's what you get after removing the third section. Unlike other "43 footers" this uses very long tubing including a monster 18' of .125".

I don't think this sturdy antenna is overpriced. But  one made from shorter/thinner/lighter tubing would suit most hams better. Wonder how much of a military/commercial market exists for these?

"I'd be curious to know about the heavily-advertised $299 43-foot vertical that also requires a $119 "balun." What is the SWR at the input to that "balun" on each band 160-10? "

Don't forget the expensive in-shack tuner and length of top quality coax to the shack

Very rough SWR estimate
160M >Don't ask
80M  60:1
60M  1.4:1 quarter wave on 60
40M  10:1
30M  24:1
20M  18:1
17M   8:1
15M  15:1
12M  17:1
11M  1.7 Good dual band antenna...60 meters and CB
10M  3:1

I had never heard of Gulf Alpha antennas. They have several beefy-looking HF verticals and vertical dipoles. Unlike Zerofive and the others, they make no claim for 160 meter operation for their 46 foot tall "43 footer." Intelligently, they recommend using it only on 80-30 meters, plus on 20 meters with the antenna shortened to 41'.

Note this statement: "(even better results on 20 will be obtained when next lower section also removed making overall height 35')" Why 35 feet?

Tilt base looks like a heftier version of the very adequate DX Engineering base. Excellent photography, by the way.

http://www.gulfalphaantennas.com/Product%20Page%2041%2046%20ft%20hvy%20duty%20multiband%20ver.html  
       

Best CQWW tip for your situation:

Get on 40 two to perhaps three hours before dark on Saturday night from your W1-Land QTH. Conditions are often best at that time and it will probably be too early for the rest of the country to have good propagation to Europe. It's an hour long private DX party for New Englanders.

That's one (of many) reasons the East Coast does so well in contests.

THEY DON'T CALL IT THE FIRST CALL AREA FOR NOTHING. Most W1'S can work everything in Europe on the first call  

Want real DX?

Get on during the CQWW CW contest in late November. You should be able to work tons of Europeans from the first call area on the second night (Saturday) of the contest when the big stateside boys have worked out the common DX.

During the CQWW, DX can be found as high up as 7070 with fewer callers. Some DX stations will have huge antennas so they will be able to copy your QRP signal easily. Skip any station that has a pileup; most won't by late Saturday.  

"I have been using 40m at night from 6-9pm."

40 is mostly an nighttime band for long distance communications. It would still be daylight on the west coast when you're operating. Try a little later. Better propagation and more stations on air after they have dinner.

You might be able to finds some Europeans and Caribbean stations around 6-9PM though.

"I really don't keep my emails.."

Unbelievable!

"exactly the same as the Hy Gain version, but the MFJ version is $40.00 cheaper. Go figure. "

--
Well, here's what <<I>> figure: Since neither is in production or being sold yet apparently, they haven't figured out what to sell them for. Both are in the "trial balloon" stage.

Guessing too that Hy-Gain has a better reputation among experienced hams/DXers. I associate MFJ with little heavily compromised antennas targeting newbies. Hy-gain is famous for big sticks like their 204BA, 4 element 20 meter Yagi.

Aren't both verticals, MFJ and Hy-gain, identical in every way except for the "name plates?"
       

"DX Engineering came out with an almost identical twin which uses a 1:1 balun rather than a 4:1 balun."

DX Engineering uses a 4:1 balun also. Their Thunderbolt model ($449) comes with the balun. Their MBVE-1 ($299) doesn't.

The DXE verticals are about 45' tall maximum versus the Zerofive which is more like 41' tall, I believe. The shorter height is probably better on 20 meters and worse on the lower bands. You can always telescope in the sections to make the antennas shorter.



 

My company had once thought of delaying product shipments for a day to give people a chance to change their mind. We've had a tiny number of customers get mad when we shipped TOO FAST. But our experience is that far fewer than 1% cancel or alter an order, even when the product is back ordered.

---
I was waiting for WA8MEA to chime in on this tread:
"No wonder ***everybody*** is moving their business overseas...."  

AIG was a leader in doing that (mostly to Bermuda). You can probably get a tax credit for moving your operation to Iceland now and a nifty TF call in time for the CQWW.

Tell customers you only accept gold bullion or fish in payment.

In other words, to work all 40 zones what is the fewest number of countries one would have to work?

Clue: Portions or all of Zones 1 thru 5 are in Canada. Those five zones could be worked by only snagging Canadians. Similar situations exist elsewhere in the world.

"I knew a ham years ago whose sole goal in the CQWW was to get all 40 zones in a weekend"  

"Did he do it?"
---------------------------------------------
The guy I was referring to wasnt a contester but he enjoyed trying to make 40 contacts in 40 zones (quiz: how many countries would that likely be?). He told me he did it once and came close a few other times. He was a typical 1960s old geezer with a big beam and amp on 20, and no other antennas.

=======================================

http://www.cq-amateur-radio.com/4CW%20WW%20Res%20Sept02ALL.pdf

Look at the USA Multi Multi scores from the (randomly chosen) 2001 CQWW. All of the top six stations got 40 zones on 20 meters and two of them also got WAZ on 15.


 

I knew a ham years ago whose sole goal in the CQWW was to get all 40 zones in a weekend. Now THAT'S hard!

A much more interesting question is what was your last zone for WAZ. Mine, I believe, was zone 24 with a VS6 on 40 CW about 20 years ago. No BYs to be had in those days.

I have no idea what the rarest zone would be today. There were periods in the 1950s and '60s when zone 23 was virtually impossible to work.