I was cleaning out a closet this morning and found a length of wire and
an old 33 ft MFJ telescoping mast that I'd all but forgotten about.
Just for the heck of it, I attached one end of the wire to the top of
the mast, walked out to my fire escape, and started raising the mast.
When fully extended, I had a 33 ft vertical antenna, with the base at a
height of about 35 ft and the top at about 68 ft. I attached the bottom
end of the wire to the 450 ohm input of an ICE matching transformer,
then attached a length of coax and plugged it into my receiver.

I guess it's a good thing I don't have anyone living above me.

This worked surprisingly well. In fact, I'd say it worked amazingly
well given that the antenna wasn't attached to a decent ground of any
kind. At least on the 40 meter band, it was worked better than my
Wellbrook. I didn't have time to do a more extensive comparison, but
the improvised vertical is still there in case I want to mess around
with it more later today.

It's always interesting to make little "discoveries" like this,
especially when they run counter to your expectations.

Steve