I've done the long wire route too. The 7030 has a high impedance
connection for this purpose. The magnetic balun is superior to the long
wire in that you can at least avoid the local noise generated at your
QTH. The wire with the balun is still a random length. You can just tap
it in the center rather than the end.

Anyway, I've gone to the Wellbrook now, so I really don't care about
inferior techniques.