Steve Bonine wrote

When I read what Dave had written, it struck me that it's
an illustration of a trait that I have observed often in our
hobby: It has to be done *exactly* the right way. A 1.2:1
SWR isn't good enough. Radials have to be *buried* since
obviously they won't be as effective if they're just laid on the
ground. Yeah, several hours of back breaking work and
possibly risking your life might gain you 1 db that no
one will be able to detect . . . or maybe not even that.
We need to be a bit more forgiving of non-optimum solutions
and do a bit more cost/benefit analysis on the work it takes
to convert them to optimum solutions.

I've a different view on several points.

I didn't see Dave's message as "has to be done *exactly* right", but
simply a different way of securing the radials, WITHOUT "have to be
*buried*.

But given the amount of copper he's laid down, obviously he's intent
on getting the best performance he can muster on 160. Nothing wrong
with that, and that 1 db may be just the amount needed to snag that
last Z for WAZ Top Band, or break through the east coast curtain to
log a multiplier in the Stu Perry Challenge.

Your anecdote about the Red Cross van is well taken, but I think it
illustrates a point.

There are times when we readily accept "get 'er done" as "good
enough", such as during a disaster like Katrina, or for a temporary
setup like Field Day, or a demonstration station at the local high
school.

But when we engineer our home station (especially if we're serious
about DXing or contesting) we go to all reasonable (and yes, even
sometimes unreasonable) lengths to get the best performance we can
squeeze out. A couple db better front-to-back, another microvolt to
the receiver, more KC between the 2:1 spots on the VSWR curve, an
easier way to reduce ground losses under a Battle Creek Special, or a
better ergonomic chair for those long contests. In that regard, many
of us have no "forgiveness of non-optimum".

73, RDW