On Sunday, July 24, 2011 5:52:08 PM UTC-5, Gary wrote:


Other than the obvious (he was mistaken in what he reported to me) any
ideas as to what went wrong? I don't think he will ask for any more
advice from me.

Gary N4AST

Propagation changed I bet. I strongly suspect the antenna
had nothing to do with it, and the extra wire and coils
bypassed was most likely the best system regardless of
the results seen when trying it.
It was most likely a fluke of nature, and I imagine
your antenna really was the best of the two.
If the band is kaput, nothing will work. 80m can get
really funky early in the evening. Have him try the longer
antenna a bit more at different times of day before discarding
it.. It should be fine. I have trouble seeing it being worse
than the shorter version with the less favorable match.