When I first got my Novice license in 1987, I had a Swan 350 radio and a sloping wire vertical antenna. I have very fond memories of that old rig and wire antenna. Results were pretty good, I operated it using morse code at about 200 watts. I hung out on the Novice portion of the 40 meter band - 7.100 MHz to 7.120 MHz. Back then, there were plenty of people to contact. All were friendly and speeds were manageable for a new ham.
Through the years, I operated mostly with wire dipoles with exception of a Butternut Vertical and the wire sloper. Just recently, I decided to go back to using a vertical, but was discouraged with the price of the Butternut. I thought about it for a while and decided to create a vertical out of an old TV mast. The results have been beyond my expectation. I extended the mast to 30' and loaded it using an air wound coil at the bottom. I used a glass coke bottle on the bottom as an insulator from the ground. Here are some photos of the finished product.