thanks for the info
I've found Tri-X and HP5+ to be nearly indistinguishable. HP5+ seems to have a slightly shorter straight line section, but in terms of overall tonality, sharpness and grain structure you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.
hp5 is what i expected i'd have to move to, tho having lived with tx for 20+ years, i am reluctant to give it up, even at its exhorbitant $5/sheet price .... i see that arentz has an sbr chart for hp5 in d76, so that gives me a starting point
by the way, i realized yesterday that i was already being affected by my evil master kodak when i set up to make an image and found myself asking myself if it was worth $5 or $10 just to see how it would look on film ........ making just one neg is usually good enuf for me, but for images i really want i am in the habit of making a backup neg in case of screwups (you know -- light leak, wind, bugs, dust, forgetting to stop down, kicking the tripod, mixing up hypo and hypo clear, etc)
rich