During a temporary teaching gig in Bellport, New York in 2014 I was limited to an indoor dipole and a KX3, which I ran on its internal batteries hence never over 5 watts. The 20M dipole was waist high on the second floor of the house we rented, tied with string at each end to doorknobs at opposite ends of the hall. Great fun earning the KMPW -- 1,000 miles per watt -- among other things. The antenna elevation was about 20 feet AGL and about 25 or 30 ASL.
I had a 2L yagi for a few years as a boy in the 50s, but haven't had anything other than wire fastened to trees since 1960 or so. 100 watts (until recently) and nothing but dipoles and inveretd vees, and almost no time to get on the air, snagged 198 confirmed and very close to 5BDXCC, and one card away from 5BWAS. Hardly major leagues in this crowd, though done with no aluminum whatever.
The wire in Colorado is a bit higher than it was on Long Island -- most of it is still not much over 40 feet AGL. But it's at 8,640 ASL. Typical cost of my antennas (excluding feedlines and baluns/chokes, remote antenna switch, lightning protection, and land acquisition) I would estimate at about $25 per band.
Efficient? No. Aesthetically unobtrusive and XYL friendly? Yes. Cheap and near zero effort to maintain? You bet.
It helps, of course, that what goes to and from the antennas these days connects to all-Elecraft gear.
Ted, KN1CBR
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