My current station in Athens, GA, uses Elecraft K3 with a second receiver, Expert 2k-fa amp, 2 el 5 band quad, an 80m doublet fed by ladderline and matched by MFJ-998. Receive for 160/80 by K7TJR 3 el array.
K3 served me pretty well. The Expert amplifier automated the station by incorporating a 6 antenna switch and automatic tuning. The ladderline-fed antenna usually worked much better than verticals, endfeds or other dipoles. At one time I added another ladderline fed dipole perpendicular to the first dipole. No large differences on 80, but on 40m the differences exceeded 10 db.
I used to have an inv L for 160m with 8 elevated 20m long radials. Initially, all baluns that I have tried overheated at high power. This is because short radials set the feed point at high potential. Eventually I made a transformer made of FT240-61 core with about 9 bifilar turns and the transformer stayed cool.
The inv L worked pretty well when the vertical part was far away from trees. When the original antenna broke, a replacement close to a tree was considerably worse.
Over time, my home QTH became polluted with radio interference from many houses and sparcing power lines. Also, my rotatable antenna was too low for good performance; local ordinances allow for tower up to 50ft. So I bought some property in 30 miles out of town, with less noise and no antenna restrictions, and build a better station.
The home station is kept intact but is not expanded any longer.
