That link points to a review of the book.  The link contained in the review for where you can purchase the book seems to point to a now defunct website.

Does anyone have a good link that points to where the book can be downloaded or purchased?

For close to the same amount of money, you should check out the DX Engineering 43 ft vertical.  It is well built and easy to assemble.  Their tilt-over arrangement seems to me to be more robust than other designs out there.  I can't really give you a performance opinion because I don't have anything else to compare it to other than to say I do make contacts.

Is solar an option?  While solar would not completely power your station, it may help keep you from draining the battery nearly as fast.  If you use the 817 and an adequately sized panel, the panel would have enough output to carry the radio in receive mode so there would be no battery drain.  If you are usign the 897, the panel would still help preserve your battery life.

I can't say that after reading all of the messages in this thread that I have seen information that would lead me to believe that the people that had posts removed know why.  I actually came to the opposite conclusion, that they don't know why, which is why they are upset.  Would you care to share specifically what it is that caused you to arrive at the conclusion that you did?

Exactly.  I think that is what is frustrating people, they have no feedback and thus no way to know what it is they did wrong.  Without that knowledge, they probably feel they are likely to make the same mistake again.  After all, if you don't know what is broken, how can you possibly fix it.  

Although the site owners are by no means required to do so, I think it would be in everyone's best interest if a set of forum guidelines were posted so that everyone (including the moderators) knows what to expect.  By doing that as well as letting people know why their post was removed, I feel it would lower the frustration level.

I have never had a post removed (however, I'm not a frequent poster), but what I don't want to see happen is good people that contribute get frustrated and stop posting, which would eventually dilute the usefuleness of the site.

I come here to learn, there are a lot of very informative posts by very smart people.  I want those people to hang around and continue posting.

Personally, I have pretty thick skin and don't get offended easily.  If I come across a post I don't like, I just skip through it.  I would like the opportunity to read all opinions, whether or not I agree with them.

A common theme seems to be emerging....people seem to be ticked off at not being given feedback as to why their post was removed more so than just the fact that it was removed....just an observation, not that it really matters...lol

Does anyone actually know who the 'other' users are in more specific terms than just 'government'?  Does anyone know what purpose they are using 60m for?

I'm a fairly patient guy, but come on, I have been waiting over a year for a reply to my emails...  ;-)

Not sure what the point about patience is...either they reply or they don't...the complaints don't seem to be that they take too long to reply but rather that they don't reply at all.

Contact N4ATS (http://n4ats.com), he has a good reputation on the forums for doing quality work.  I have never personally sent him anything, but have read many postings from people that have.

I can't speak for K5LOL, but I can tell you I emailed them several times over a several week period with no response.  And yes, I have sense enough to check my spam folder.  Obviously I have no way of knowing what all they had going on when I emailed them, but it was not near the 'Dayton' time of year and I would expect that they could find some time over a several week period to return the email, even if just to say that they are busy and will get back to me.  I don't see how my return email address could have been wrong or misspelled since it is configured into my email client and I have no problems with other people replying to my emails.   My point was not to bash them but just to recommend that if they are in a business that is going to demand interaction with customers that they provide a way to reliably contact them other than just email.  People get antsy when they are spending money and can't get reliable and timely support.  In my case, they lost business because I had a couple of questions I wanted answers to before purchasing.  From my point of view, if someone is unwilling to answer pre-sales questions, what can I possibly expect after they have my money.  I don't know the people in question, so I can't say anything good or bad about them, all I can do is relay the perception that I have of  the 'company' and the image it presents based on my personal experiences.

I will second that opinion.  I have sent them several emails and never got a response.  Since email is a non-guaranteed delivery system, obviously I cannot say for certain whether or not they got it, however, I can't imagine why they would not have.  Given the non-reliable state of email, I feel that if you are willing to take people's money for a product, you should be willing to take their phone call for support or sales questions.  At a very minimum, provide a 'contact' page on the website that allows you to post questions directly and avoid sending an email that apparently can get lost.

K0YHV:

That sounds like an interesting survey question, try submitting it to the survey manager on this site and it will probably get posted in the survey section.  It would be interesting to see the results.

K2CMH

I have not had to file a claim, but their sign-up process is easy and they have a very good support web site where you can add/change/delete coverage.  I did not have the old insurance, so I have nothing to compare against in that respect. 

Do you happen to have a source for the bits used to do this?  I had some rods I needed to drive and had heard this suggestion but was never able to find a source for the bit used in the drill that holds the ground rod.

>My 5BTV is used for portable ops while snowbirding.

How do you set the antenna up in a portable/transportable fashion?  Doesn't it need a substantial pole in the ground to clamp it to for support?