Bravo! Great video on how to arrange the elements. Following individual elements from radiating plate to the end without flipping back and forth top to bottom really helps. The 40m element descriptions others have given have left me scratching my head. Yours is excellent! Thanks for the video!
Hey thanks for the flowers. I also was frustrated with especially running the 40m element over the top and figuring out the 40/30 deal. I should do another short blerb video and show how I added a little snap on device that slightly holds the element out three or so inches out from the pole about half way back down to where it connects to the bungee clip from the 30m section. It seems to keep it from wrapping around the top of the pole as I stand it up. I have no idea if it improves anything except it makes my OCD feel better because things are neat and orderly. I used to wind electric motors in my youth and everything had to be neat and organized because electrons would have a wreck and the factory packed smoke would come out. Have fun! I so miss going out. I have been suffering from some health issues and haven't been out doing POTA and now the weather isn't so hot I am going to try and brave it and go out. I love this antenna.
Thanks Bruce. I just got box 1 of 2 today and 2 of 2 is the pole on Monday. I have watched a lot of video on this antenna and the new Unified Manual that DXC has has lots of drawings to help you see what is happening, like where each element goes on the driven plate for 3, 4, or 6 elements. Much better than the manual you had in 2021. I am doing the 80 meter option by replacing the 30 meter with a 63ft wire and taking off at the top double spreader to a 13ft fiberglass crappie pole that I will clamp to a fence post. I don't do 30 meter right now anyway. 73, maybe catch you on the air. KN6ZVI
It's lots of fun and I do hope it at leas gives another view of the antenna. I always thro a couple of plastic saw horses in the truck and even though you don't need them I like them as bending is really hard for me these days so since I have the room I take them along. I havn't used it for a bit but I am going to soon. Spent time getting Kemo and such in the last year and am feeling better than I did and can't wait to set it up again.
It was nice to see the support lines and how they worked out for you. I’ve been making the parts for my home brew version but I am closely following the Classic design. I’m building it today cause I finally got my wire shipment from TheWireman yesterday. I’m just using a shorter collapsing 10m spider pole for travel. So, thanks for the up close view, most just skim over those details.
I cant wait to get out and put it up again. I had a whole bunch of things crop up here at the house and havn't had time to get out again. I have had some physical problems and am worried I will have an impossible time doing the setup but by golly I am going to try. I am going to try and get a few more shots of the setup going together. I really need to buy some more elastic cord and ends and re-do some of the tensioning lines. I have stuff labeled and that really helps but I do need a little more organization to get it right, so I can get it put up quicker. I am now getting a Raspberry pi4 put together so I can do digital when I am out.
Thanks Bruce, that is helpful. I've been looking at Callum's instructions and the tying off section s a bit vague. I didn't have the same interpretation as you for the first attachment of the 40m element (on the way up), but I'll have another look. A sketch of the completed arrangement in Callum's instructions would certainly be helpful. I spent a bit of time cleaning up the sharp edges on the aluminium plates with a metal file and a deburring tool. For the tapped holes I gently used a chamfer bit to take the edges off although you have to be careful as the aluminium is so soft. I used some 800 and 1200 grit wet and dry paper on the plates to give them a satin finish, not necessary I know but they look good now. I found Callum's supplied spade connectors (only one type) weren't large enough for the radials so I've ordered some speaker cable connections which I'll screw down and solder before fitting. I have used some graphite based conductive grease for the bolts and wing nuts to help keep water out. Y
One thing I figured out was the attachment of the 40 element to lift it up so it won't bend the thin upper part of the pole. The instructions say to use about four inches, but I would use six to eight inches down for the support shock cord. Four inches is too close because the end hooks are over an inch long and your assembly is so short that it has no stretch left.
@@bruceweight7319 It's been a while so I thought I would give some feedback having out everything together and operated the antenna. It wasn't difficult to put the antenna together but I did find it quite fiddly to get all the cords and pieces of wire cut and arranged. As said elsewhere, some clear diagrams would go a long way to simplifying the build. If you have limited horizontal space manhandling the assembled antenna can be tricky. That said once it's put together it's easy to take up and down. Rather than using tape or heat shrink to secure the wire loops I used thin HDPE garden tubing which has enough friction to hold the wire but can also be moved and adjusted. The 40m element was a pain to tune and ended bing much shorter than I expected, in the end I put a plastic T-piece from my garden watering system on the end of the pole to loop the wire back with a spacing of about 65mm to match the last oval shaped spacer. I ended up connecting the ends of the 20m and 40m elements with short/para cord to simplify the rigging as they tension each other. SWR on all the bands was fine, in fact lower than I expected. In terms of performance the antenna is similar to my off centre fed dipole but being vertical can have more QRM. Comparing 20m on receive, it's one to two S points less sensitive than my simple horizontal dipole which is also quieter. The sensitivity could be due to additional elevation of the dipole. On transmit reports have been mixed but it doesn't appear to be definitively better than a dipole. So overall the conclusion the DX Commander doesn't seem to offer any significant advantages of other options at my QTH apart from perhaps the flexibility of having so many bands available from one antenna. On positive note I have had some interaction with Callum and he's excellent to deal with. Delivery was super fast, even all the way to Australia. Y
@@yamakawa511 Thanks Yamakawa. I have not operated mine in the field yet as I am putting together a portable station and that is what I bought the DX Commander for. I figure you are right as a dipole tends to be quite but NVIS and the DX commander should afford you some Good DX but one has to remember that the antenna goes up from the ground and is not high in the air which does change quite a few things. I also couldnt get 40/15 perfect as when I got 15 at a good SWR in the middle of the band 21.200 or so then 40 was way low like below the band in the tune. I then put a standoff about 18 or so inches down to hold the wire out about 2 inches and about as far as the top 2 hole spreader and that did wonderful things but still not perfect. I ended up a very low SWR in 15 probably 1:2 at 21.200 or so and `1:1to one on forty at about 7.095 but when you go up to lets say about 7.240 it was about 1:7 to one so for cw and the lower part of the band lets say where my buddies hang out at 7.155 it is still a good tune probably 1:2 to one. I should get a video of the standoff.
Hey Cal Mr. DX Commander I have been locked away in the cold winter and mud using my wire antenna's and I keep thinking some of the distant stations would come in so much better If I had my commander just outside the window and setup. Just dreaming of warmer weather and a chance to get out and put it on the air again, especially with the sun spots getting more active.
Good antenna but my friends and I were scratching are heads with the instructions. I think a big improvement would be to have everything labeled already when you receive your kit on both sides so no confusion.
Yes I had fun putting it together. I did have the same problem with the forked connector's, they were perfect for me elements but not for the radials. I cut all six elements exactly to the cut lengths in the cut chart. There was exactly enough wire for 19 but not 20 radials. I added a length of MTW 18ga which is huge compared to the 24 guage supplied, but works. I found that the whole antenna seems tuned high on all bands with the charts. My location was close to my stations wire antennas and a metal shed like resonate at 7.260 MHz I will be getting it out to a representative location and work on the tuning Not sure what I will do to add wire on as I literally used all the wire, every inch no waste at all. The kit needed probably at least 20 meters more. I believe it is going to be a great antenna once I get it tuned up.
@@bruceweight7319 I also used all the wire making everything up but I ordered the extra spool in case I want to try 80m or needed some extra radials. So far it's all been preparation and I'm planning to put it up on the weekend. I have my Advanced (Extra) assessment on Saturday and didn't want to get too distracted. Y
How much does the extra spool cost? You did the right thing. Shipping is expensive. If I have to I can get some wire that will work but be just a bit less flexible. I may get 500 feet of it.
@@bruceweight7319 It's an extra 34 pounds sterling (whatever that works out to be in US dollars). I figured that the shipping cost to Australia would be the same so I might as well include it as part of the order. Y
@@bruceweight7319 I used DX Engineering premium antenna wire (150'@ $30) for the elements, with some left over. I used the supplied DX10 for 7 sets of radials (4 in each connector and very low SWR.) at 11', with some left over. 73's. K8JAZ.
Hey guys when you get real excited to test this thing for the first time with the test instruments. SLOW down and remember to connect the radials. I am telling on myself. The first time I was like "this is crap" what did i do?? SWR 10:1 and then I realized I and left off half the antenna! Whew what a relief didn't even have to chew on Rolaids' and hover over the instructions for the analyzer and the antenna! Beautiful Fix!
Outstanding and great way of doing it. Have got have mind up yet. Because of physical reasons for a while. I got said Outstanding job. And when you put it up what was your stanging wave on your bands and how much trimming did you have to do to get it to where you want it thank you 73 KQ4CD Paul
1.1 to 1.3 on all the bands except 40 which is 1.1 at about 7.100 and a little high on the upper side of 40 I had to do it that way to keep 15 meters good in the middle of the band. It could probably use a little more tweeking but overall I believe it is a great antenna. I could shorten 40 some and use a tuner to touch it up on 15. It is a little time consuming to put up but easy. That 30 foot pole was a lot easier to put up than I thought.
Thank you! I am going to suggest one more thing that I am going to do. I have a tool bag that I put all my stuff in wires coax ground steaks etc. What I am going to do is get a loop of rope and stack all of the clips and nylon spacers on it and put them in the order they go on the pole, that way I can get the pole stretched out and just slide the whole stack on the pole in proper order and put them in place Last time I had to slide several of the bottom ones off as I got them out of order? What a pain. Since I have plenty of space in the truck last time I went out I threw in those nice but light plastic saw horses in that you get at Home Depot and used two of them to hold the pole waist high so you don't have to reach for the ground level so much. You can put the small parts on the bottom shelf. If you have space it worked like a charm. I may make a table top and make them (saw horses) double as a table for my portable situation. I could put batteries and stuff on the bottom shelf during operation. I got spoiled with the vertical as I had a pileup on my first activation using it. Lots of far away stations all over the place on 20 meters. Yes the sun spots were good and the solar flux levels up the day I went out. It was a blast.
The spreader plates cannot pull down over the joints as they fit quite tight. If you put the clamps below the plates the antenna can collapse down inside of itself and the spreaders can wander all over the place. Putting them above the plates makes the spreader plates so they cannot go either up or down. I did find you need to get the clamps at the in between sections right on the joint so it wouldn't slip down and come loose. I suppose if I have the spreaders all down one joint from they should be then you are right because they would slide down, but the way I have them the elements seemed to fit right and the spreaders cannot move either up or down.
You might be right if I am putting the spreaders one joint too low, then you would have to have them below the spreader. Yuck I would have to re do everything!
@@bruceweight7319 Like you I watched a lot of Callum's and others YT vids just to make sure I got it right, as Callum would say " no school boy mistakes" The clamps do prevent the pole sections from collapsing due to temperature changes.
@@amsoiltek Hey Rory, I think I did reply again but was reviewing my comments and couldn't see that I did. If I didn't say it you most likely are right about the clamps below the plates. If the clamps are placed right below the joint it would give the clamps two thickness of mast to tighten down on which would make it less likely to break the tube. I had envisioned pulling the sections up and putting the clamp just on and above the joint thus keeping it from sliding down and figured what the heck I could just put the spreader between. The spreaders would be able to wander around while you are putting it together though. next time I put it together I will give put them below and see how it goes; hopefully it doesn't change the fit too much? I didn't have to tighten the clamps very much to hold the sections from sliding when putting it together above the plate. My reasoning was as slick as the tubing is, I wasn't sure how well the clamps would hold by tightening them down on top of the joint Anyway? I don't think it matters too much but I do appreciate your pointing this out as it always good to learn options. Since there were no drawings, and the instructions didn't point out the location of the clamps I can hopefully avoid the wall of shame!
@DX Commander Thanks. I think my problem is that I am a bit old and creaky and forgetful so I have ended up making a few trips up and down the pole. The first POTA activation I did I was mainly on 20 and 40 meters and it was like shooting fish in a barrel. I had a major pile up. compared to my horizontal wire at home I was having fun with contacts all over the place. Thanks again!
A little question, the end of 40/15 meter wire, with the loop and blue heatshrink, they pass in the ring on top of fiberglass pole? or you pass it before close the end of the wire? Second question, is only heatrshrink? how you close the end of whire? 73 iu1lcu
Thanks for the question because I did have a problem there! What I did was put a small wire tie through the little loop and make it small and trim the excess end off of it and leave it on the pole so that I could pass the blue loop through it on the end of the pole. That is a problem, and I need to think about some more ideas for an adjuster and come up with a closure that will snap on the end of the wire. What ever you put on the end can't be too big because it may jamb up the sections when you take it down. You could actually put a swivel snap that goes on the end of your fishing line and use it to hook it to the little loop and hold the wire. (Good idea Bruce.... I will have to dig into my fishing stuff?)
Thanks Robert . Since I am no longer very flexible I use sawhorses to set it on and put it together which i have room for in the truck, they are the plastic collapsable ones and I throw a small piece of scrap plywood across and use them as a table for my POTA operations. Just dont push down on the pole or to try and move it around while it is sitting across anything. I broke a section of the pole about 3 sections down and I was shocked at how easy it broke. otherwise it has been a blast to use and gets out really good. They only sell the complete pole but I gladly bought one and am back on the air with it. Also put the clamps just barely above the joints/just touching the joint! Dont Overtighten the clampe or they will crush the pole.
@@bruceweight7319 once again thanks Bruce, I'm waiting for the arrival of my classic ,but like you when I don't understand what instructions I like to see the pictures or video. Of course you took care of that with your video so 73's and be safe god bless
Bravo! Great video on how to arrange the elements. Following individual elements from radiating plate to the end without flipping back and forth top to bottom really helps.
The 40m element descriptions others have given have left me scratching my head. Yours is excellent!
Thanks for the video!
Hey thanks for the flowers. I also was frustrated with especially running the 40m element over the top and figuring out the 40/30 deal. I should do another short blerb video and show how I added a little snap on device that slightly holds the element out three or so inches out from the pole about half way back down to where it connects to the bungee clip from the 30m section. It seems to keep it from wrapping around the top of the pole as I stand it up. I have no idea if it improves anything except it makes my OCD feel better because things are neat and orderly. I used to wind electric motors in my youth and everything had to be neat and organized because electrons would have a wreck and the factory packed smoke would come out. Have fun! I so miss going out. I have been suffering from some health issues and haven't been out doing POTA and now the weather isn't so hot I am going to try and brave it and go out. I love this antenna.
Best yet on the DX Commander, excellent work.
Thanks Bruce. I just got box 1 of 2 today and 2 of 2 is the pole on Monday. I have watched a lot of video on this antenna and the new Unified Manual that DXC has has lots of drawings to help you see what is happening, like where each element goes on the driven plate for 3, 4, or 6 elements. Much better than the manual you had in 2021. I am doing the 80 meter option by replacing the 30 meter with a 63ft wire and taking off at the top double spreader to a 13ft fiberglass crappie pole that I will clamp to a fence post. I don't do 30 meter right now anyway. 73, maybe catch you on the air. KN6ZVI
It's lots of fun and I do hope it at leas gives another view of the antenna. I always thro a couple of plastic saw horses in the truck and even though you don't need them I like them as bending is really hard for me these days so since I have the room I take them along. I havn't used it for a bit but I am going to soon. Spent time getting Kemo and such in the last year and am feeling better than I did and can't wait to set it up again.
Thank you Sir. This is the 'Missing Link'. Thank you for your time and efforts. 73's. K8JAZ.
It was nice to see the support lines and how they worked out for you. I’ve been making the parts for my home brew version but I am closely following the Classic design. I’m building it today cause I finally got my wire shipment from TheWireman yesterday. I’m just using a shorter collapsing 10m spider pole for travel. So, thanks for the up close view, most just skim over those details.
I cant wait to get out and put it up again. I had a whole bunch of things crop up here at the house and havn't had time to get out again. I have had some physical problems and am worried I will have an impossible time doing the setup but by golly I am going to try. I am going to try and get a few more shots of the setup going together. I really need to buy some more elastic cord and ends and re-do some of the tensioning lines. I have stuff labeled and that really helps but I do need a little more organization to get it right, so I can get it put up quicker. I am now getting a Raspberry pi4 put together so I can do digital when I am out.
Thanks Bruce, that is helpful. I've been looking at Callum's instructions and the tying off section s a bit vague. I didn't have the same interpretation as you for the first attachment of the 40m element (on the way up), but I'll have another look. A sketch of the completed arrangement in Callum's instructions would certainly be helpful. I spent a bit of time cleaning up the sharp edges on the aluminium plates with a metal file and a deburring tool. For the tapped holes I gently used a chamfer bit to take the edges off although you have to be careful as the aluminium is so soft. I used some 800 and 1200 grit wet and dry paper on the plates to give them a satin finish, not necessary I know but they look good now. I found Callum's supplied spade connectors (only one type) weren't large enough for the radials so I've ordered some speaker cable connections which I'll screw down and solder before fitting. I have used some graphite based conductive grease for the bolts and wing nuts to help keep water out. Y
One thing I figured out was the attachment of the 40 element to lift it up so it won't bend the thin upper part of the pole. The instructions say to use about four inches, but I would use six to eight inches down for the support shock cord. Four inches is too close because the end hooks are over an inch long and your assembly is so short that it has no stretch left.
@@bruceweight7319 good point I'll have another look at that. Y
@@bruceweight7319 It's been a while so I thought I would give some feedback having out everything together and operated the antenna. It wasn't difficult to put the antenna together but I did find it quite fiddly to get all the cords and pieces of wire cut and arranged. As said elsewhere, some clear diagrams would go a long way to simplifying the build.
If you have limited horizontal space manhandling the assembled antenna can be tricky. That said once it's put together it's easy to take up and down. Rather than using tape or heat shrink to secure the wire loops I used thin HDPE garden tubing which has enough friction to hold the wire but can also be moved and adjusted. The 40m element was a pain to tune and ended bing much shorter than I expected, in the end I put a plastic T-piece from my garden watering system on the end of the pole to loop the wire back with a spacing of about 65mm to match the last oval shaped spacer. I ended up connecting the ends of the 20m and 40m elements with short/para cord to simplify the rigging as they tension each other. SWR on all the bands was fine, in fact lower than I expected.
In terms of performance the antenna is similar to my off centre fed dipole but being vertical can have more QRM. Comparing 20m on receive, it's one to two S points less sensitive than my simple horizontal dipole which is also quieter. The sensitivity could be due to additional elevation of the dipole. On transmit reports have been mixed but it doesn't appear to be definitively better than a dipole.
So overall the conclusion the DX Commander doesn't seem to offer any significant advantages of other options at my QTH apart from perhaps the flexibility of having so many bands available from one antenna. On positive note I have had some interaction with Callum and he's excellent to deal with. Delivery was super fast, even all the way to Australia. Y
@@yamakawa511 Thanks Yamakawa. I have not operated mine in the field yet as I am putting together a portable station and that is what I bought the DX Commander for. I figure you are right as a dipole tends to be quite but NVIS and the DX commander should afford you some Good DX but one has to remember that the antenna goes up from the ground and is not high in the air which does change quite a few things. I also couldnt get 40/15 perfect as when I got 15 at a good SWR in the middle of the band 21.200 or so then 40 was way low like below the band in the tune. I then put a standoff about 18 or so inches down to hold the wire out about 2 inches and about as far as the top 2 hole spreader and that did wonderful things but still not perfect. I ended up a very low SWR in 15 probably 1:2 at 21.200 or so and `1:1to one on forty at about 7.095 but when you go up to lets say about 7.240 it was about 1:7 to one so for cw and the lower part of the band lets say where my buddies hang out at 7.155 it is still a good tune probably 1:2 to one. I should get a video of the standoff.
Hey Cal Mr. DX Commander I have been locked away in the cold winter and mud using my wire antenna's and I keep thinking some of the distant stations would come in so much better If I had my commander just outside the window and setup. Just dreaming of warmer weather and a chance to get out and put it on the air again, especially with the sun spots getting more active.
Good antenna but my friends and I were scratching are heads with the instructions. I think a big improvement would be to have everything labeled already when you receive your kit on both sides so no confusion.
Yes I had fun putting it together. I did have the same problem with the forked connector's, they were perfect for me elements but not for the radials. I cut all six elements exactly to the cut lengths in the cut chart. There was exactly enough wire for 19 but not 20 radials. I added a length of MTW 18ga which is huge compared to the 24 guage supplied, but works. I found that the whole antenna seems tuned high on all bands with the charts. My location was close to my stations wire antennas and a metal shed like resonate at 7.260 MHz I will be getting it out to a representative location and work on the tuning
Not sure what I will do to add wire on as I literally used all the wire, every inch no waste at all. The kit needed probably at least 20 meters more. I believe it is going to be a great antenna once I get it tuned up.
@@bruceweight7319 I also used all the wire making everything up but I ordered the extra spool in case I want to try 80m or needed some extra radials. So far it's all been preparation and I'm planning to put it up on the weekend. I have my Advanced (Extra) assessment on Saturday and didn't want to get too distracted. Y
How much does the extra spool cost? You did the right thing. Shipping is expensive. If I have to I can get some wire that will work but be just a bit less flexible. I may get 500 feet of it.
@@bruceweight7319 It's an extra 34 pounds sterling (whatever that works out to be in US dollars). I figured that the shipping cost to Australia would be the same so I might as well include it as part of the order. Y
@@bruceweight7319 I used DX Engineering premium antenna wire (150'@ $30) for the elements, with some left over. I used the supplied DX10 for 7 sets of radials (4 in each connector and very low SWR.) at 11', with some left over. 73's. K8JAZ.
Hey guys when you get real excited to test this thing for the first time with the test instruments. SLOW down and remember to connect the radials. I am telling on myself. The first time I was like "this is crap" what did i do?? SWR 10:1 and then I realized I and left off half the antenna! Whew what a relief didn't even have to chew on Rolaids' and hover over the instructions for the analyzer and the antenna! Beautiful Fix!
i realize I'm kind of off topic but do anyone know of a good website to watch new movies online?
@Zev Lorenzo Flixportal xD
@William Madden thanks, I went there and it seems to work :D I appreciate it!!
@Zev Lorenzo No problem xD
Yep. I did the same. Building this antenna taught me a lot. Thanks Cal.
Outstanding and great way of doing it. Have got have mind up yet. Because of physical reasons for a while. I got said Outstanding job. And when you put it up what was your stanging wave on your bands and how much trimming did you have to do to get it to where you want it
thank you 73 KQ4CD Paul
1.1 to 1.3 on all the bands except 40 which is 1.1 at about 7.100 and a little high on the upper side of 40 I had to do it that way to keep 15 meters good in the middle of the band. It could probably use a little more tweeking but overall I believe it is a great antenna. I could shorten 40 some and use a tuner to touch it up on 15. It is a little time consuming to put up but easy. That 30 foot pole was a lot easier to put up than I thought.
I just bought one and this video made me clear lot of doubts Bruce. Thanks, good job!!
Thank you! I am going to suggest one more thing that I am going to do. I have a tool bag that I put all my stuff in wires coax ground steaks etc. What I am going to do is get a loop of rope and stack all of the clips and nylon spacers on it and put them in the order they go on the pole, that way I can get the pole stretched out and just slide the whole stack on the pole in proper order and put them in place Last time I had to slide several of the bottom ones off as I got them out of order? What a pain. Since I have plenty of space in the truck last time I went out I threw in those nice but light plastic saw horses in that you get at Home Depot and used two of them to hold the pole waist high so you don't have to reach for the ground level so much. You can put the small parts on the bottom shelf. If you have space it worked like a charm. I may make a table top and make them (saw horses) double as a table for my portable situation. I could put batteries and stuff on the bottom shelf during operation. I got spoiled with the vertical as I had a pileup on my first activation using it. Lots of far away stations all over the place on 20 meters. Yes the sun spots were good and the solar flux levels up the day I went out. It was a blast.
I see you have your hose clamps in the wrong place, they should be below the spreader plates.
The spreader plates cannot pull down over the joints as they fit quite tight. If you put the clamps below the plates the antenna can collapse down inside of itself and the spreaders can wander all over the place. Putting them above the plates makes the spreader plates so they cannot go either up or down. I did find you need to get the clamps at the in between sections right on the joint so it wouldn't slip down and come loose. I suppose if I have the spreaders all down one joint from they should be then you are right because they would slide down, but the way I have them the elements seemed to fit right and the spreaders cannot move either up or down.
You might be right if I am putting the spreaders one joint too low, then you would have to have them below the spreader. Yuck I would have to re do everything!
@@bruceweight7319 Like you I watched a lot of Callum's and others YT vids just to make sure I got it right, as Callum would say " no school boy mistakes" The clamps do prevent the pole sections from collapsing due to temperature changes.
@@amsoiltek Hey Rory, I think I did reply again but was reviewing my comments and couldn't see that I did. If I didn't say it you most likely are right about the clamps below the plates. If the clamps are placed right below the joint it would give the clamps two thickness of mast to tighten down on which would make it less likely to break the tube. I had envisioned pulling the sections up and putting the clamp just on and above the joint thus keeping it from sliding down and figured what the heck I could just put the spreader between. The spreaders would be able to wander around while you are putting it together though. next time I put it together I will give put them below and see how it goes; hopefully it doesn't change the fit too much? I didn't have to tighten the clamps very much to hold the sections from sliding when putting it together above the plate. My reasoning was as slick as the tubing is, I wasn't sure how well the clamps would hold by tightening them down on top of the joint Anyway? I don't think it matters too much but I do appreciate your pointing this out as it always good to learn options. Since there were no drawings, and the instructions didn't point out the location of the clamps I can hopefully avoid the wall of shame!
@DX Commander Thanks. I think my problem is that I am a bit old and creaky and forgetful so I have ended up making a few trips up and down the pole. The first POTA activation I did I was mainly on 20 and 40 meters and it was like shooting fish in a barrel. I had a major pile up. compared to my horizontal wire at home I was having fun with contacts all over the place. Thanks again!
A little question, the end of 40/15 meter wire, with the loop and blue heatshrink, they pass in the ring on top of fiberglass pole? or you pass it before close the end of the wire?
Second question, is only heatrshrink? how you close the end of whire? 73 iu1lcu
Thanks for the question because I did have a problem there! What I did was put a small wire tie through the little loop and make it small and trim the excess end off of it and leave it on the pole so that I could pass the blue loop through it on the end of the pole. That is a problem, and I need to think about some more ideas for an adjuster and come up with a closure that will snap on the end of the wire. What ever you put on the end can't be too big because it may jamb up the sections when you take it down. You could actually put a swivel snap that goes on the end of your fishing line and use it to hook it to the little loop and hold the wire. (Good idea Bruce.... I will have to dig into my fishing stuff?)
Thanks Bruce, really helpful KG5ZLO
Thanks Robert . Since I am no longer very flexible I use sawhorses to set it on and put it together which i have room for in the truck, they are the plastic collapsable ones and I throw a small piece of scrap plywood across and use them as a table for my POTA operations. Just dont push down on the pole or to try and move it around while it is sitting across anything. I broke a section of the pole about 3 sections down and I was shocked at how easy it broke. otherwise it has been a blast to use and gets out really good. They only sell the complete pole but I gladly bought one and am back on the air with it. Also put the clamps just barely above the joints/just touching the joint! Dont Overtighten the clampe or they will crush the pole.
@@bruceweight7319 once again thanks Bruce, I'm waiting for the arrival of my classic ,but like you when I don't understand what instructions I like to see the pictures or video. Of course you took care of that with your video so 73's and be safe god bless