You've done all you can do, it needs to go see a pro, I recommend http://www.avvid.com/
He does good work at a reasonable rate.
73, Dave

I used a SG3000 remote tuner (just like the MFJ 927 model) to tune up the rain gutter on my house. It is aluminum seamless type gutter and is over 200 ft long as it loops around 3/4 of the house. It is also NOT grounded, there are plastic irrigation pipes at the end of each down spout going into the ground. Plus the gutter is screwed not to wood but a concrete based product used to trim the house. The tuner was mounted just under the eve of the house and a ground rod and wire installed too.
It would tune up on 80 thru 10 meters OK and I could make some contacts. It was not a great antenna, several dB down from a normal dipole at the same height but better than nothing. Later I tried a random length wire (108 ft) connected to the tuner which runs up the TV antenna pole about 20 ft and then across the roof to the far side of the house where I support it off some black painted PVC pipe about 18 inch long mounted to the rain gutter. The wire is black and the roofing is black so you can't see it from a distance. My XYL didn't even notice it for 3 months until one day I had to make an adjustment and she was out in the back yard. Still using the wire for now, works better than the gutter. Also using a small vertical dipole for 20 to 10 called the Bravo 5 from N6BT (www.n6bt.com) it works VERY well! I use the wire for 80 & 40 now.
73, Dave

I have a 2001 Coupe. After several years of study it looked to me like the best antenna option is the Larson on glass dual bander. I put mine on about 2 yrs ago, it works very well. You must be very careful where you put it to miss the defroster and AM antenna wires in the back window. I'd be happy to send you pics of my install if you want them.
I put my Kenwood TM732 in there with the remote mounted faceplate. The radio is under the driver's seat. The face plate is just in front of the gearshift.
Drop me a PM if you want some pics...
73, Dave KD5FX

Just picked up a used 746PRO but it came with no power cord. Can I use the one from my IC-706MKIIG?

73, Dave

My first HF beam was a TA-33M that was at least 15 years old, I kept it up for another 20+ years! It survived many Oklahoma wind and ice storms. I had to fix a couple of minor things here and there along those years but nothing major and all the parts are still available from Mosley. If you can get it cheap enough (under $300) then that is a good plan.
On the other hand, I also had a 5 band hex beam which I build myself. I had that after the TA-33 when I moved to another house. It was a very nice beam also, smaller but about the same performance with the extra 2 bands. Cost was around $500 to build it myself and they are over $600 for a kit now. I don't think you'll find a used one on the market for cheap so that would be in the favor of a cheaper used TA-33M.
Either way, both are good antennas and will perform very well for you. Get them up as high as you can afford! Use some low-loss coax too.
73, Dave

Did you see this month's QST (Aug. 2011) Vintage Radio article? There's a picture and description of the station antenna for the Brooklyn Children's Museum back in 1907. It was 5 wires spaced 1.5 ft apart and 250 ft long! So? What is that? Did they feed it against a ground or radials or something? How would an antenna like that work? You certainly don't see anything like that now days....
73, Dave

Very good articles! I had looked on Cebik but I guess I missed those!
He says:
Any vertical antenna--ground-plane or dipole--becomes directional if one adds a slightly longer antenna of the same sort 1/4 wl behind the driven antenna. The ultimate in rearward nulls occurs if we use a carefully pruned phasing line between the two elements. However, good gain and adequate front-to-rear response occur if we make the reflector about 3-4% longer than the driven element or if we inductively load the reflector to an equivalent electrical length.
I think I'll start there!
73, Dave
KD5FX

This IS what the National Electrical Code says. There was a recent article in QST all about this! Check it out....
See page 53 of the Jan. 2011 QST...

I have used dual RG-8 coax, tied together with just some black tape. You use just the two inside conductors to connect to your balance line outside the building and then ground the shields together and to ground. This forms a 100 ohm balanced line, if you use twin 75 ohm coax (RG-6) then you have 150 ohm line.
We ran about 40 ft of that from the inside of a mostly metal building to the outside wall and then 450 ohm from there on out to the 135ft doublet at 50 ft. It works VERY well!
You can google 'dual coax for balanced lines' to see many articles on this, The Wireman even sells this line already made up for you. I just used some old surplus RG-8 for mine.
73, Dave
KD5FX

Has anyone ever experimented with two verticals? One driven in the normal way, the other a passive director (or reflector)? Like on a yagi antenna. If so, what formulas did you use? I found an article on yagi beam design that said the reflector should be about 5% longer and the director should be about 5% shorter than the driven element with a spacing of about 20% of the wavelength. Would that work on verticals too?
So, I have a small backyard but there is room for two side by side verticals on 20 meters and above. I have been using them based on the MFJ telescoping antennas so they would are easy to adjust the length. They would sit east and west of each other so you could leave the driven one where it is and adjust the other for either a director or reflector depending on the time of day! In the morning, when you want to work mostly to the East it would be a reflector (assuming it is West of the driven vertical) and in the afternoon/evening it would be a director.
What do ya think? Anyone ever done this?
73, Dave
Don't tell me about phased arrays, I don't want to mess with those.

I've had a 2001 Coupe for over 5 years now. I've tried several dualband type antennas. The one that works the best is a Larson thru the glass dualbander on the back glass. It is tinted glass but I am not having a problem getting a signal through it. You must be very careful when mounting the antenna to avoid the AM antenna wires and defroster wires in the glass. I can send you a picture of my installation if you wish.
73, Dave

I had a TA33 for many many years and I still have a digital copy of the manual if you want a copy. Email me directly if you would like to see it.
73, Dave
www.kd5fx.com

I've been using a rain gutter antenna for a few months now. Working quite well! Not as good as my old dual band dipole at 40 ft and Mosley TA-33 tri-band beam I had at the old QTH but can't do any of that here. I'm using an SG-3000 remote tuner connected to the gutter and a ground. This is just like the MFJ-927 tuner but cheaper, available from ebay.
This is a metal gutter and is only 2 years old so all the connections are in good condition. It's the 'seamless' type too so the only connections are in the corners. I have not added any extra bonding wires between sections. The gutter is mounted to something called Hardie board which is a mix of concrete and something, it looks like a board but is non-conductive. Also, the downspouts are isolated from ground so the whole gutter and downspouts radiate. Total length is 210 ft.
Of the back side of the remote tuner I have a ground running to an 8 ft ground rod and two 25 ft radials, that's all the room I have for radials, it's a narrow and small yard.
Pictures and here:

http://www.kd5fx.com/gutter.html

73, Dave
KD5FX

Reviews on the isotron can be found here:
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/311

The 20/15/10 is just 3 different isotron antennas all combined on the same feedline. I did an extensive comparison of the 80/40 models vs. an 80/40 dipole at 20 ft. The dipole won by several S units. I also compared the 20 mtr version vs a hexbeam, both at about 20 ft. As you can guess, the hexbeam won by a wide margin. Why? I was about to move into HOA land and couldn't use the dipole or hexbeam after the move so I needed something.
I tried the 80/40 combo once I moved and compared them to the rain gutter antenna, (remote tuner tied to a 210 ft rain gutter) and the guttertenna won. I do see that sometimes the 20 mtr isotron at 25 ft is better than the guttertenna so I left it in place and sold the 80/40. Plus the lowband isotrons are VERY NARROW banded. While the guttertenna will tune up anywhere 80 to 10 mtrs.
I have also experimented with other antennas here in HOA land and have decided that a vertical of some sort out in the yard even with just a few ground radials is better than all these other antennas. See if you can figure out a way to get one out there in the yard somehow. Flagpole type or stealth S9V junior or something. http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/8102 Don't forget the radials! Of course, the hexbeam at 30 feet or more would be ideal! But that's another story.
73, Dave, KD5FX

Perfect timing! This subject is covered in the Jan QST (which just arrived in the mail today) on page 53. It says the NEC Electrical Codes REQUIRES the two to be bonded together and refers to Section 810 of the code.
He also explains the reasons why they should be connected together for safety reasons.
I've seen this topic covered several times in QST and online. It's not just a good idea, it's the electric code!
73, Dave