We often focus on the rig and its capabilities and only give a passing nod to the antenna. All of the system elements are important.
As often happens we QSO a particular station several times. I had a QSO with a station in the 5 call area who was running a Kenwood TS-2000 and for an antenna was using a chunk of wire laid haphazard on his garage floor. (A whole new approach to NVIS.) He specifically commented that he was not making many contacts.
Several weeks later we had another contact, and he asked about his signal. It was about the same signal strength as our first contact. He quickly added he had just spent $15K for a new top of the line ICOM radio and was hoping to do better. Yes, he was using the same chunk of wire on the garage floor.
With the TS-2000 and a modest dipole up in the air he would be doing a lot better than with the ICOM and the floor random wire. So, before you buy a new radio think about what is at the other end of your appliance box.
Several years ago, I installed a tri-band beam antenna, and it failed (I suspect a trap issue) and at the time the XYL (now an SK) was not doing well and so fixing the problem was not on the top of the list. But I did also have a 40M inverted Vee installed at the QTH.
Quickie Solution: I converted that 40M Vee antenna to a Delta Loop simply by adding a wire to the bottom two ends of the Vee.
The total length is about 145 feet and with a homebrew tuner covers all bands. The Loop is fed at the top (not a standard feed point) with 450-ohm line, and at the base I have a Hi-Power (DX Engineering) 9:1 Balun that converts to 50 Ohms Coax into the shack. This is a great compromise antenna over not having a working beam and better than a random wire on the garage floor.
Mine is an inverted form of what is in the photo. Yes, for those purists it is not as good as the photo... but think about what drove something quick and dirty! The top of the support mast is at 35 feet. So those with EzNEC 4.0 tell me how bad my loop antenna is.
For those on furlough, I hope the shutdown gets resolved soon as this is not a good time of year to be out of work. As each day passes it is clear something is terribly broken, and the buck stops at one place.
Them that know can make things go.
73's
Pete N6QW