Hi Andy, Excellent site. The antenna info certainly helped me. I have been operating 160m with a homebrew helical up at 40' for over a year now. I have made many "inter G" contacts. I was delighted to be able to contact Canada & the USA with this antenna on the dx window. My secret weapon for noise reduction is a 3' copper hot water tank, buried 4' in the ground & connected up to the antenna ground system. It has reduced my background noise level by 2 s points on Topband. The homebrew loop works a treat on 20m & 17m.
Main radio here is a kenwood TS870 with a TS830 of 1981 vintage as backup. I purchased a TS480SAT in 2006 for mobile. Apart from the homebrew antennas I have a full size 80m Carolina Windom. I can be found most evenings on 1.972 from 18.30 hrs.
Regards,
Phil. m0vey