Your answer is called H-E-L-I-A-X 

I'm a T8 owner and daily user.  I live in a valley and have ridges to my east and west. I like my T8, it has been up 6 years with no issues and I have 316 countries worked and get great reports with it. It was not an expensive antenna to buy and it gives me 5 bands.  I rotate it with an inexpensive Yaesu G800 rotor. It has been kept up in my lowish wind area with a 3 section crank up tower at 50 feet with a house bracket at 20 feet.  What's not to like?  Do yourself a favor and do not use a hex beam.

Mike,  AB3CX

It's Tuesday, 10/2/12 at 10:45 Z, this is my third day in a row on 80M at sunrise and just before. On 9/30 they were operating, but I couldn't hear them on my vertical. The next two days, no activity.  I have themn on 40, and 17 through 10 multiple modes, so it's been great, but I'd love a good crack here on 80 meters. Maybe there is just too much noise there for them to invest much time in this band?

4cx800A, not 3cx800A

All I have to say is that the guys who put contest stations together don't always operate them themselves. They bring in all sorts of good ops and ringers to run the pileups for them.  Hoew is that fair??  Not sitting at the key for 48 hours straight, it should be illegal to win, right?  So now those super ops or wannabes can rent a remote station for a while, and to some hams that's intolerable.  I know some of the hams involved in this new aspect of the hobby; if you think they didn't sit down with their lawyers and study every aspect of this endeavor in advance, you are not too perceptive.  This discussion probably sounds exactly like what was being said when logging programs started sending CW.  Some people think their way is the old way and the only way; those fellas just get huffy, it's OK.

I have an FT-2000 with IF-2000 and SDR-IQ.  I have had it for about 3 years.  The software is great, pretty easy to install; I have a dual serial port card in my computer (COM 1, 3) and I then use a program called VSPE  (free, Eterlogic) to create a splitter (COM1 to COM2)  This allows my rig control and SDR-IQ to run on the same COM port, so the PAN display is clickable, I retain logging program rig control and I can QSY anywhere pronto by clicking.  You can't use COM5 with the SDR-IQ, I cant remember why but rename COM5 some other number if your computer assigns that number to any serial port. I use 100 kHz bandwidth. Very weak signals may be audible but not visible on the PAN.  I have not used any other PAN system, but it's hard to imagine anything better than this one.  The other plus is that you can take the SDR-IQ anywhere, put an antenna on it and a serial port to your laptop, and you have a great radio for listening, ham band or general coverage. The SDR IQ is very likely a better receiver than what most guys are using.

I was recently forced to work the 7O6T DXpedition amp free due to my amp's issues; it was doable, but everyhting took alot longer, and I did not get 40 SSB which I really wanted.  My PAN is fun but really is more useful for quickly assesing band activity or whether it's open. I can do that in a flash.  Everyone talked about seeing the DX listenening frequency in the pileup with SDR or PAN displays; in my experience, there are so many people calling randomly in a pileup that in general the PAN is useless for that.  To me, PANs are very useful in contesting for finding holes in the band to run on, and for spotting outliers in search and pounce mode.

I like active noise reducing headphones to eliminate room noise, the family TV, phones ringing and the amp fan.  They are wide spectrum but his does not seem to be a problem for me.  I use a pair of Sony but the other big audio names market them as well.

  I live in central NY, and I'm completing work on two towers. I want 2 inch mast 1/4 inch wall, 15 footers. Who is the best dealer best price best shipping for me to get them from?

Like most people, hams begin to enter their second childhood aroung age 55-60 and become interested in the things they enjoyed as children and teenagers.

Spending time in a pileup trying to work DX in the WPX CW is OK if you are doing the contest for new ones, but it's a recipe for losing the contest.  The winning formula from the USA is working EU on 40 and 80, EU/SA DX on 20/15/10 and NA whenever they call in, making high rates to DX areas so long as possible, emphasizing the low bands whenever it's working (6 pts per non NA DX QSO 40M, 80M and 160M)

E4VB and 6O0CW are both workable, skilled and fun, but will be mostly bandfill operations for many. I had to laugh, I was calling 6O0CW on 20 SSB last night for 45 minutes with 5 watts, not realizing it, could not work him, then got through first call with 100 watts...

You have great numbers, congratulations. Persistence and long hours over many years at the key! I have 9 more to go to get to your level, obviously very dependent on expeditions schedules. 7O6T came out of nowhere, though, and was a nice surprise for everyone. I had to learn some little pistol patience this month, with my amp out of line for repairs, I'm running 100W again and spending a lot more time in the pileups.  It's doable for many bands, but a 9 band sweep was not.  I'm sure you will get Auckland. Do you need Myanmar? That looks to be available soon.

Did not say that TT8ES was invalid, but I did say that my QSO with TT8PK was invalid, unfortunately.  When you upload your log to ClubLog, you will get a "Feedback" report. If any of your QSOs are with invalid calls, or have the wrong country assigned to them, or have been made with known invalid contacts for DXCC purposes, you will get that information back in an eMail.  Club log is great for that as a "check" against your own log, check it out.

I wonder how many of us are not in the log due to working "slims"?  Last night I got a 30M QSO CW which was definite, but not in the log, and my 40M CW QSO is not in the log from a few days ago...unless they are having selective logging update issues, someone is fooling someone. I'm in the log for a bunch of QSO's but it's time to strike while the iron is hot.