I assume that you're talking about having a dipole that instead of being say exactly north/south would have one leg pointing north and the other off at an angle from south.

If that is the case, all it alters is the directivity of the antenna. The main gain will be on an angle intersecting the horizontal angle so of the legs were bent to say 90 degrees as follows with the vertical line being north:

|
|
|
_______

Then the directivity would be NE/SW. As yours is an inverted V, the change in directivity will not be as pronounced.

I actually used this characteristic of a dipole to my advantage at a friends whose long thin yard faced E/W and therefore the wrong way for working the USA. I did it so one leg pointed East/West and the other to the South therefore putting the most gain NW/SE as the USA shortpath is NW from the UK.

They might but they only have two on each side of the DRIVEN element. Those on the reflector and directors have little effect on loss.

Seeing as nobody has answered this:

Yes, the laws of reciprocity apply. Gains for TX are also gains for RX. If your dipole is half wavelength or lower, you'll hear stations up to 3000 miles well but anything further than that will be quite poor compared to getting the dipole a wavelength high.

As for what you can hear.....

Go to this website and generate an azimuthal map of the world - it'll look very different to a normal map but it actually shows the shortest paths to places and is what you use to aim a beam antenna:

http://ns6t.net/azimuth/azimuth.html

Now print it out and draw a line on it where your dipole is pointing. Now draw an oval the shape of a peanut centered on the middle of the map and at right angles to that line. Make it so the ends of the long side of the peanut go to about halfway out from the center.

You'll end up with something like this:

http://tinyurl.com/btju5gv


Anything inside that peanut shape is roughly the area you'll cover well with your 20m dipole at 30ft. It will cover outside that but it'll be hard work and mostly strong stations you hear.

CB is great for local ragchewing without the annoyances of having to remember to follow protocols. You can discuss, rant and rave about all the topics that should never be heard on a repeater (politics, religion). It is a far more freer form of communications. When out on the road in the USA at least it is still a useful tool and you're more likely to find a random person travelling the same way to have a conversation with than you are on 2 meters.

CB has its place and fills a need like any form of communication.

Scroll through using the Menu button until you see FIL. Select filter 3 then press and hold the FIL button and it'll then get you to where you can change it.

There is only one good way to get RX and TX audio with the Icom 7000 and that's to use an external equaliser.

A quick HOWTO from Bob Heil,

Start at 43:30.
http://twit.tv/show/ham-nation/36

With eQSL you can either print the QSL card of the other station yourself or pay eQSL to print it for you and post it to you.

The point being made that although this is a valid QSO, because you can print the card yourself then apparently the ARRL LoTW programme don't accept it. Quite a strange state of affairs considering that eQSL has been on the go 5 years longer than LoTW and is used by four times more people.

Me. Living in the UK there is absolutely no point whatsoever.

You'll notice that, especially on RX. 

The gain is significantly higher than that. Modelling the one I have at 22ft in EZNEC shows a max gain of 11dBi. "Some" F/B should be at least 16dB. It will slaughter the G5RV.

Nice to see you're getting one of the best vans from Europe. Shame it'll come with a V6 engine instead of the TDCi diesel which is just about better in every single way - more torque, better fuel economy....

Also as it is an Icom 7000, it is of utmost importance that the little grub screw that holds the separation cable to the main body is used.

I'll be ordering one myself soon as well to replace my Little Tarheel II after discussing the same options with Robert @ Tarheel.

I would say that is an accurate assessment of the situation in regards to choice and efficiency.  

I don't think I'd really get too hung up with 80m. Any contacts you make on that band are literally proof QRP works even though you're throwing 100/200W into the antenna.

I don't think I'd want the Scorpion on a K400 or any other lip mount. At 13lb it is over two and a half times the weight of the Tarheel and at 28" retracted, almost twice the length.

Kenwood TS480, Kenwood TS590.

If you really don't want much in the way of menus you need to start looking at older stuff - Kenwood TS850, Yaesu FT990, Icom 775 type.