Exact situation at my QTH,my homebrew 20m hex is 22ft. it out performs my 20m dipole at 33 ft. simply because the hex is quieter and rotatable.Yes they are great antennas especially for QRP-DX nuts like me.

   Probably just the local Good Ol Boys responding to a knee jerk reaction of the Boston bombings.Hopefully it will quiet down until the next big event.Have you hung up your rifle in the back window of your pick em up truck yet along with the CSA license plate?

  Now we know that it is a dipole just refer back to Reply #2.

  As of today there are no rules or regulations as to copy/sending speeds, average or otherwise only personal opinions as posted above,the best of which is N0IU's.Start from where you are now then naturally progress,eventually you will top out at your speed at which time you can advise others in forums like this as to what you think is best.

Re:NR4C
     You are correct,just another one of my senior moments,guess I was depending to much on Spell Check to put in the correct designation.

   After soldering for easy removal,it's not unusual for me to put in the wrong resistor or wrong polarity(diode).Took me a while to learn the wisdom of checking color codes,polarities,etc. two or three times before final trimming.

 Nothing wrong with using a dipole even at 30 ft. which is about average for most hams.You will make plenty of contacts without need of an amp so it should not even be a consideration as to type of antenna you erect.

    Do you have the room to guy a push pole X amount of feet from your house peak/chimney ect.so as to run a dipole?

  I picked up an old kid's swing set at a yard sale for free last weekend (7 ft.high) then took the two A frame ends and through bolted at top with 90* leg spread then attached a large U bolt horizontally at top.I then cut down a tapered 30 ft.cedar 3 in. sapling secured with U bolt and put bottom in a 5 gal. bucket of Sakrete cement.I use this for one of my semi portable masts for my antenna experiments.

  Cut out a circle 6- 8 in. diameter from high density plastic cutting board or 3/8 in. plywood,attach appropriate pipe base flange on top center with sized bolt going down through center and hole in top of tripod transit base plate and secure with large washer and nut.Short conduit pipe mast from flange to bottom loop mount.As above properly secure legs.

  What power levels or modes are you considering starting with?

   Thanks for all your help folks.Mystery solved, KZ2QZF was right,I went back out to the shop and after 10 minutes of prying and cutting found out it was just a full length soft plastic cover that had hardened to the threads and barrel of an N type solderless connector after 20 years of storage.Now I am starting to realize the true meaning of Old Timers disease.

Re:AD4U
     Poor explanation on my part.I should add that these plugs(no markings) have a square metal base with a screw hole in each corner and appear to be used in lieu of the side coax connectors,the bottom of the base has a small round hole cut out with small pin slightly protruding.I can't post pictures right now but I've seen these on the 43 sides on the various Bird related websites.Thanks

Re:KA4POL
  Thanks for reply,yes I understand the regular freq.slug in front and the side spare holes,just do not know what the two extra yellow plastic covered knob like plug/slugs are for.

 I was recently given a 43 and can't find what the two yellow plug in slugs are for.I see pictures of them on each side of meter on the internet but no explanation.Please enlighten me,thanks.