Thanks! The R7 worked well for me and later for my mom. I had it up on a ten-foot mast in Zion, IL. A nice op up in Kenosha, WI about twelve or thirteen radio miles to the north also had an R7 up on his garage and we could just about pin each other's S-meters on 40 with 100 watts. The tornado storm caused a big tree to fall on one of the 3/16" Dacron guy ropes and the antenna bowed severely, but I was able to fix it (the insurance paid for a new one!).

At some time during one of several Navy moves the counterpoise spokes and the x-hat rods were lost. I ordered replacements from MFJ and it took them five months to get the parts to me. A local ham has advised me to wipe the aluminum a few times per year with WD-40 against the salty air here on the Gulf. One concern is the longevity of the fiberglass base insulator in the South Texas sun, and I am contemplating coating it with roof tar. Any suggestions along this line are most welcome.