I think you will be surprised aswell after running a wire and may forget about spending more money on the other antenna. As I said Ive made contacts off a wire that I couldnt believe myself.
That Kenwood TS-50 is an outstanding radio. I have one aswell with the matching AT-50 auto tuner Ive had it for years and my wife use to run it mobile and it worked like a champ. She has been running a Yaesu FT-857D the last 2 years so I have the Kenwood in the house setup for 10 meters.
LMAO!! Im often told I have it pretty good to have a wife thats n operator. I have 4 kids which 2 years ago my 15 year old daughter and 14 year old son also went in and got there ticket. My youngest is my daughter Mariah and she is 10 she is studying for her tech while the wife and other 2 hamsters are going for there next ticket.
My oldest daughter shows no interest but will graduate and start college next year and I think she will then realize that a better way to make contacts then running up a cell phone bill will be a good idea and more reliable to boot.
Alot of the guys in the groups I talk on or in get a kick out of the fact we do this as a family. As a matter of fact the Fondulac Wisconsin amateur radio club where Kim and the kids tested and I tested to upgrade had loved the fact we were doing this as a family and took a pic of us after there testing and did a write up.
I just think theres so many people who dont understand the hobby or its benifits and doors it opens for these young kids when it comes time to decide there future in what they plan on doing for a living, let alone the fact that its truly amazing how fae we can talk on an inverted V or dipole wire setup made of simple materials.
Some of these new 2 meter and dual band handhelds are so small one can put them in a purse a couat or shirt pocket ETC. I have alot of my kids that are friends with my kids ask about this hobby and there really entrigued by it so after the kids up grade I am thinking about asking the kids school if we can maybe use a room to have a weekly study night for kids intertested in this.
I enjoy it and I enjoy talking on the 11 meter Tuesday night LSB net where I started there are some older fellas that are happy with 11 meters and have no interest in Amateur radio and I respect that I just chose to broaden my horizons and they also respect that.
The biggest difference in the shapes of that bazooka will be polarization, the 'V's are going to be horizontally polarized, the 'L' will be vertically polarized. That alone can make quite a difference in what you might hear. I think there are two things that are going to prevent you form being entirely satisfied, that's the antenna being indoors, and it not being as high as it could be.
As far as that SWR is concerned, if your tuner will handle it, don't worry about it. It's much more important to make the thing resonant (get it close to the right length for the band of use).
That Buddipole or Buddistick, if used indoors, will both be about as good/bad as that bazooka, and for the same reasons. Anything used indoors isn't going to turn out better, or as good, than if it was outdoors, that's just a fact of life, nothing you can do about it.
So, just about anything will be better than nothing. How much that "better than" is, is sort of debatable.
- 'Doc