The new ones are good if you change all the plastic washers and other hardware to metal.
My buddy bought one from H&Y and it worked half assed till we swapped out the hardware.
mojo, if you have described what you have done specifically in this regard already, somewhere else, please give me a link. I have been out of power here in Houston for about two weeks and am behind on the flow of this thread. I am just curious how changing the hardware might possibly result in making this antenna go from half assed to superior, as you suggest, I think?