W4FT on Amateur Radio

It looks like my B&W 160-20 trap dipole is having some serious issues.  I noticed during the Nov. Sweeps contest that contacts on 40 meters were almost impossible, but 20 and 80 meters was working like a charm.  When I put the antenna analyzer on it, I discovered something disturbing.  Everything below 20 meters was 6:1 or worse! ( The match on 20 meters is still around 1:1)  Today, I pulled the antenna down and started checking it.  Everything looked ok mechanically, so I started checking for opens across the traps. Results were inconsistent, and not repeatable on the ohmmeter.

To make a long story short, OXIDATION!  I should have soldered all the connections instead of depending on just the mechanical connection of twisted wires.  The oxidation looks to be disrupting the antenna connections between the wires and the traps.  One of the 40 meter traps may be bad too. 

Now, I’m thinking that it is time to replace this antenna with something else for 160 through 40 meters. 160 is a bonus, but 80 and 40 are absolutely required.  I have 20 and up covered with a yagi.    I’ve been thinking about loops, dipoles, etc., but this probably needs to be some kind of wire antenna.  I do have several trees to serve as supports.

Throw out your suggestions!  What would you go with?

73,   W4FT