Base hiding suggestion only: My 33 ft.vertical(wire) also in maple tree about 10 ft. out from trunk drops directly down into the top roof of a medium size bird house that is mounted on a 5 ft. high 4 in. post,tuner is inside bird house and accessable by door I built,it's on my side lawn and nobody except me and my xyl knows its an antenna.

   Check it out: Stealth Cam (brand) 12V DC lead acid battery pack at Wall Mart and other sporting goods stores  $40-$43.Add a small cheap maintenance type solar panel and with the exception of pure backpacking portable ops your good to go.

   Depending on age/type of rotator control box in your shack the first and easiest thing to check is the wiper and contact points for tightness,clean,corrosion,electrical etc.If ok then the hard part,the elctrical and possible loose gear slippage in mast unit.It might help to be more specific with your make/model of controller/motor.FWIW I had similar problem and found two broken off nylon gear teeth in the mast rotator motor unit.

Re: N5RWJ

      I don't know what effect a new model FT 817ND would have in the QRP market but can guarantee it would have quite a large effect here in this QRP forum.

   I want one too,witch wench is better built,weighs less and has low maintenance cost?I'm recently divorced and thinking about picking one up.

Re: W4HIJ
     
     You might as well take off your flame suite as your post did not really leave anything said to be fired at.The usual few who will attempt to pull the trigger are just target practicing with blank loads and generally miss at that.

   Any truth to the rumor of the FCC considering a new Hi-Tech class license? I hear it will be restricted to the use of out of the box plug and play appliance radios,commercially built antennas,tuners, power supplies and amps along with a two part license test consisting of basic rules & regs, and a technical section to determine your ability to read english and comprehend the contents of an operators manual.

 This ought to be interesting,especially after the previously heated debate in the(Save a lot of money on a hex beam) thread in this same forum.

FWIW dept.:My 40m new Carolina (type) windom at 28 ft. coax fed on 15m,1.6:1 bottom to 1.2:1 top of band ,no tuner no problem.

Re: KU7I
            
        Actual operation results: Although I was expecting more distinct directional advantages, I found the main difference between the two was that by switching, usually one was more quieter than the other.Being a qrp/cw operator this means I can most always make contacts even in unexpected directions  that I would not otherwise hear with a fixed single wire antenna. Short of a rotateable 30m hex,this is my best 30m experiment to date and am very happy with it.These results are from my QTH conditions,propagation paths and 28 ft. height,other QTHs will no doubt vary.If I had the space I would have also tried WB6BYU suggestion or inverted U(yew) only rotateable on mast or hanging from tree limb.  Anchors Aweigh!

     What bands of interest? My 20m hex is well camouflaged at 25 ft.,but I wanted a dedicated 30m antenna with a little directional ability so ended up with 2 30m inverted Vs at 90 degrees switchable by a cheap 12v dc relay,my lot surrounded by trees on three sides so the 30m Vs are also hardly noticeable.

     Also plenty of solid wood bookcases to be found at a Goodwill or used furniture stores in various sizes cheap that can be cut down by you or someone else to fit your needs.

Re: ZENKI reply#8
         Other than your accepted and noted cure for the visually impaired I would be most interested in your cure for your own shaky hands and to those of us due to possible physical impairments or just plain older age who experience the same and are also interested in building with SMT.     

     I completely agree with WB6BYU,I also found it impossible to stuff my hex and mast into my own backpack (now considering a LARGE size ALICE pack and frame)  and ended up using a homebrew efhw from the beach in LaJolla with what I call amazing similar results with qrp.I think our little secret is out.

     Congrats,another testimony as to the qrp'ers love affair with hexs who for various reasons do not have a 60 ft. tower with an Optibeam.Just wish more stateside qrp operators would consider them. I envy your 45 ft.,mine is limited to below 30 ft. but am very happy with my dx results so far.