6 Shooter: I am total agreement. You make the best with what ya got.
Case in point myself. Hurricane IKE(late 90's) took out my best set-up ever here.
54 ft. free standing tower
3 element MOSLEY Classic 33 Tri-Bander @ 58 ft. +/-
Stacked 15 element Yagis for 2m above that.
@ about 80 ft. to base a 10m Ground plane
Various Dipoles and slopers/Delta Loops for lower bands.
All came crashing down after about 6 hours+ of sustained winds in excess of 60 MPH.
I have never gotten back to that point again.
I however do pretty well with my Homebrew W8JK array that I built to work 80/40/20/17m.
The Apex is up 45-50 ft. with ends between 25-35 ft. above ground and fed with a Double "L" tuner. (I can climb into the deepest pile-up) Then with my restored Drake L4B or other amps, I have restored, I can make the contact.
I am just not on the "First Call" basis like I was before
I have 6 elements on 25 ft. Boom @ 40+ ft. for 6 meters and a commercial Diamond antenna @ 48ft for 2m.
I have a few "Winter Time" antennas I put up (when mowing time is over) that do other jobs and give me something to play with.
So what it is...IS.
I have 50 Ft. of ROHN 45G due here soon, but most likely too late for this season.
That will be the new 6-meter tower (stacked 6's) @ (?)
Then the Homebrew 4 element Tri-Bander to go on the short tower (where 6 m antenna is now)
I don't complain (much
) I can hold my own with most.
You can look around here on this site and find many QSL cards I have received from all over with my very modest set-up.
I have worked many operators on a regular basis from this very Forum, and most don't struggle to hear me!~
I try to help the newer guys, to NOT make the same mistakes I have made over 40 years as an operator in this fine hobby.
The biggest deal is getting some to understand it takes some effort.
I have a hard time with this "Buy it off the Rack" and throw it up 15-20 ft. , then say "I can't get anyone to answer or chat with me "
Hey, Guys, we are not SNOBS!
...We can't hear you!!!
Enough of this.
All the Best
Gary/W9FNB