Open internet forums such as this are an excellent resource for potential home intruders/burglars to assess your home protection methods and thus plan accordingly."the element of surprise is......." Sun Tzu-The Art of War.

  If possible try out an IC-7200 and see for yourself.The NB does work and works well.At least read the reviews on it.

Antennas,Yes all Homebrewed wires, hex beams,mast,chokes,baluns and switches.

Radios,homebrewed and kit.Tuners, c.w filters and side swiper key all homebrew.

Rather spend my money on good coin detectors.

   My homebrew New Carolina type windom OFC vertical point support is simply a no cost tripod made with 3 22 ft. spruce saplings with a 10 ft.sapling extension at top mounted in 5 gal.rock filled plastic buckets for a total height of about 28 ft. Not pretty and if married run it by the XYL first.

  I think Dick Bash had a hidden future agenda:He saw and created a need for the future No Know hams and wisely told his children to invest in the big 3 off the shelf,plug and play appliance manufacturers.

 You might try getting it up higher and changing angle.Your ground conditions may not be the same as free space advertising hype.
  Don't get all hung up on SWR,read up on it.Did you actually get on the air and operate with your existing SWR or are you to concerned about the perfect 1:1 SWR myth? If still not satisfied heed AC2EU's suggestion and forget about the do all magic strings.GL
   

I'll admit to only LISTENING on 7.163 mornings at 0900 GMT,mainly to check out my latest antenna project since I have no desire to use SSB and have a General class license.

Cards only by direct mail,not interested in awards,green stamps or bureaus.Just self satifaction.

   Other than the comments about using the CB type amplifier on the KX3s SSB,what if any effect have KX3 owners of this type of amp set up experienced on the CW side?Or is the reference to "Splatter" mean both CW and SSB?

  Looking forward to it.I will be using my MFJ 20m Cub with Hi-per Might filter (14.060+-),Auto Jump start battery,and portable homebrew 20m hex beam from lake camp in Maine.

    Mild solution of Simple Green on outside /inside of case(Q-Tips for tight spots) it gets rid of the tar film, then mothballs on inside for a few days.Take out mothballs,and smell(mothball) will go away in a few days.

    Possible litigation is a none issue if you have successfully defended you own or family members life.However you may want to think twice about what value you put on property.

  It is also not acceptable,politically correct,nor decent to fart  in church,yet this rule is broken and done in various frequencies every Sunday.As long as there are public church bean suppers on Saturday night this problem isn't going away anywhere fast.However you do have the option of leaving the Pew(sic) area.Same applies on the ham bands.

   I always scratch/engrave my initials on all my radio gear in a inconspicuous place(never in front or a SSN).Fortunately nothing stolen to date only a few things gone missing over the years but all returned.

   Post a couple conspicuous security surveillance signs with a couple fake cameras up high that can't be easily discerned if real or not.As an alternate you could sell your high end gear then buy a KX3 which could be easily hidden under Brutus's water bowl or inside Bubba's size 16 boots when you are away from home.