Thanks for willing to perform some testing. The key thing to look for is different sensitivity to feedline/mast handling (the hand test) indicating the presence of feedline or mast currents bearing in mind SWR is not a primary indicator of antenna pattern degradation from these same extraneous currents.

As with all end-fed collinear antennas, the phasing between the lower and upper current peaks relies on proper phase delay through the little inductor between the upper and lower sections. The causes the vertical angle of the pattern to vary with frequency. This effect is measurable between 144 and 148 MHz, but is so small to be of little consequence. 156 MHz might be possible, but this likely requires twiddling with the lengths quite a bit and then maybe also replacing the stock phasing inductor with a homebrew replacement. Then there is the matching circuit in the base designed specifically for the current CP22E factors. I'm going to venture to say retune of the CP22E may well be possible, but probably not practical without some serious engineering effort.

My method is available in this article... https://www.hamradio.me/antennas/improving-the-su...

"why dont you take a look at the inflated gain figures for most american made tri-banders. ."
Gainflation is a problem with many antenna manufacturers, be they semi-professional or amateur - This is true. Have I said otherwise?
https://www.hamradio.me/?s=gainflation

"talk about being economical with the truth"
Just being truthful with the truth.

"i have read quite a few of fred judds articles on antennas, and he did know a thing or two."
As have I. I agree he is quite knowledgeable. I've never said otherwise.

"maybe you should try using your ham equipment on air,"
Ah yes the old empirical vs. theoretical argument to invalidate any reasoning not aligning with your belief system. Did you completely ignore figure 2? While not obvious from posts here, rest assured I've used the SlimJim with great effect. One example...
http://vapn.org/news/passing-arrl-field-day-messa...

" instead of disparaging people who are trying to help others make simple antennas to get started in their ham hobby. "
Have I discouraged anyone from making their own antennas... including the SlimJim? If you think I disparaged Fred Judd then you have completely missed the point of the article. Re-read it to understand Judd's article stands the test of time. It is his choice of reference antenna that has confused so many.

If you are not one who believes the SlimJim has magical gain over a regular J, good for you. If, however, you are one who believes the SlimJim merits a significant gain figure beyond that of a regular J or dipole, you have not paid attention to Judd's own article and have simply followed the herd over the cliff of reality. Reinforcing this lie does no one, especially beginners, any good.

As everyone tries to keep their QSO rates up, 80m was certainly everyone's next band to try, but that didn't open till 5 pm or so. Some were on 160m, but there are too few QSOs to really have meaningful metrics. Given this is a "contest" 60m wasn't an option, but in hindsight it would be interesting to see if it was open.

To be honest, Kevin, I'm not totally sure. I'm just going by what the various notes embedded in the various instruction sheets suggest. I will need to look into this a bit more. Stay tuned.