Mike,
Okay from me.  I only wish I could have arrived at a definitive answer to my original question.  Even so, I learned a lot from the discussion and maybe others will also.  I plan to continue trying to understand and optimize my random wires in this fashion - it is fun and challenging.  The final result may be that there are too many variables and influences on measurements and therefore an empirical approach is best - i.e., just try stuff until something seems to work.
Dave W0DCX