Worrying about perfection with an is rather pointless anyway. Even my
old HF6V worked the world when the bands were open. When the bands are
closed, nothing works.

Ed, N2ECW

This HF9V works great on all bands but 2 meter (or is it 6). It was a bit
tricky to tune even with an analyzer. Low angle incidence on 80 though.
Makes it rough for in-state and local comms. Works a lot better on 40-10
than the 4BTV I used.

The 5BTV 10 meter SWR problem may be due to low impedance at the feedpoint.
This is typical if the ground is really good. The fence would be too far
away at 25' to make a difference in match, although it might shield some
energy. Be aware that 4BTV was made in the 60's and radios then had Pi-net
plate tuning and there wouldn't be a problem at all with up to 5:1 SWR

An external tuner really helps on 80 because of the Q. Internal tuners on
radios really fall short. A really decent internal tuner would take up half
the cabinet, so the radio wouldn't sell. Remote auto tuners are really
superior. Cuts down on coax losses. Look out for operation outside of the
design frequencies or traps will burn.

Merry Christmas all!