Gene, I second the comments Chris made in his post.  You are not intruding at all.

Let us know what you find as the culprit, Gene. 

I had this happen in 2008, and I discovered that some QSO's were missing from LoTW that I had uploaded.  ARRL said it did not (and could not) happen, but I had the records to prove it.  So I uploaded those again (when I found out which ones they were, by comparing band by band) and the totals matched.

Gene, thanks for your comments.

I always remind my wife that today's youth are providing me job security.  I don't worry much about age discrimination, because the 20-somethings are not willing to work as hard or commit as much or do what it takes to accomplish the goal.  Maybe it's my military training, but when I hear the 20-somethings around me at work always whining about the travel or having to work past 5 PM, I just smile and think "Kid, I am SO happy you are working here.  I may cost more than you in terms of health care $$ and a bit more in salary, but when it comes to measuring output...they're gonna keep me cuz I don't complain and I get the job done without any hassles to management."

Agreed.  Great job on BOTH accomplishments!

Chris, that's kind of a selfish comment.    (Just teasing, of course..and I do understand your points about QSLing via the buro.  You put together a well-written discourse as I read it).

Why don't kids have any interest in amateur radio?  Is it not hip enough?  Are they more enthralled with cell phones and tablets?  Well heck, the SDR would be the thing that entices them!

I am 48.  Been a ham since I was 13.  I am an Electrical Engineer and into computers, but also enjoy teams and project management (I am not anti-social).  But my brain is analytical at its core.  I "get" math and science, esp physics. 

I don't see many kids interested in engineering and math subjects that would tie in with electrical engineering and radio.  I think it's more about the dumbing down of our society.  A lot of them seem to be going for the touchy feely and basket-weaving types of degrees that require no hard math or science...but consequently won't land them a job upon graduation (and THAT is why they move back in after grad, no skills and no confidence/motivation/pride). 

Also, there's a lot of quick attention captures (similar to ADD) that if it is not shiny and impressive, it gets boring quickly.  Most kids I talk to today (and a lot of adults under 30) have no grasp of world geography, could care less about international politics and ramifications like the Middle East (like Iran and the nuke threat).  Ask them about where we have troops, they are clueless.

It's all about "what is in it for me." 

Sorry for the rant, I know adults talked about me like that when I was a kid, but it's different this time.  I think the decrease in youth in our hobby is symptomatic of the problems with our society.  And you are right, Chris...adverts won't help our hobby.  Even if Bar Rafaeli is in front of the rig.

Let's also discuss the intent of a 1:1 current balun.  With "balanced" antennas like half wave dipoles (and even "unbalanced" antennas like a vertical), we want to prevent common mode currents (current running back along the outside/shield of the coax).  The 1:1 current balun does this for us, and is useful for all antennas.  Common mode currents are wasted energy and undesired RF radiation from the coax, plus possibly RF in the shack. We want the RF to maximized at the radiator.

A good article from W8JI - even "balanced" antennas like dipoles should consider common mode issues.

http://www.w8ji.com/common_mode_current.htm

Another consideration is coax losses.  6:1 SWR on coax is a LOT of heat and wasted RF for a length of something like 100 feet of commercial grade cable.  6:1 on ladder line?  WAY LESS LOSS.  So we can live with a mismatch with the ladder line.  (For the history buffs, ladder line was used by ALL hams way back in the day.  It was only after WW2 when we had surplus of coax hit the market that we started using it).

Another personal note is that I never really worried about common mode RF with my dipoles back in the day with my tube rigs, until I got "nipped" when I touched the transmitter while running it into a dipole that was not cut for the specific band.  I then built one of those cheap radio shack RF field meters from a kit, and started sniffing around the shack.  There was a LOT of undesired RF in the shack!  But I was learning.  This was back when I was 13.  Maybe that's why I am the way I am today?

WB6BYU, how about submitting that writeup to QST?  Well done.

Thanks for the update, Chris

TV commercial idea:  Or even better, put Bar Rafaeli at the controls of a rig. 

Remember that CQ Magazine calendar from a few years ago?  It had some young girl posing in front of the ham gear (I don't think she was a licensed ham).  My dad sent that to me as a joke for the ham shack. 

My XYL said she felt such pity for that poor girl in the calendar, said that model was humiliated and scarred for life and probably quit modeling after that and ended up on skid row as a result of such a traumatic experience.  Posing for a ham radio calendar.  Why would that be so  traumatic?   

http://lh4.ggpht.com/-7y_DaFZ07jE/TnmVW5unTII/AAAAAAAABKo/o86JyBXIVpo/03-yl-hamradio_by-m0eeg.jpg  I don't think this was the girl, she had dark hair as I recall, but I cannot find the calendar online.

What about that GoDaddy commercial?  instead of that chubby kid with glasses, put me in there with a CW paddle and a headset, then let me rip it off and kiss Bar Rafaeli.  Now THAT would be a great commer....whoops, XYL just walked in.

BEST.  COMMERCIAL.  EVER.

K2CMH, do you have an SWR meter that indicates the mismatch?  Without that, there's really no way to know how much loss there is (just to be in the know).  Remote tuners for high power are WAY more expensive.  How long is the coax run?  It might be cheaper to just replace the coax with some DX Engineering 400 Max which is lower loss than 213, and just accept the higher SWR and thereby eliminate any worries about SWR losses.  But again, no way to know for sure without the SWR meter.

I have my ZF 43 footer in central NC.  5 years.  LOT of winds.  Never an issue.  Both models should be of good quality, both companies have excellent reputations.

OK, good info.  I love the 480, esp receiving and the NR2 on CW

Thanks for the encouragement, fellow hams.  I guess I should not listen to the predictions, and just get on the air.

OK, this is PURE HERETIC talk, but I am going to take a look at the 590.  I have been SO happy with the 520S, then the 570, and the 480.

Yes, I am a very satisfied Flex 3000 owner, but you guys (and everyone else) keeps raving on and on about it with facts and observations to back it up.  I think I need to take another look.  I do use the 480 and 570 occasionally, so...