Scafdfolding Guy Stakes for BIGGEST DX Commander
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- Опубліковано 11 жов 2024
- I have installed 3 massive guy points using scaffold poles and lifting eyes to create an easy way of maintaining the grass, the guys - and to stop the dogs from getting tangled!
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Whoa whoa whoa... its not a "Nebula." It's a "Neboooola!" Or have we forgotten who we are here? 13:53 @DXCommander 🤣
My DX Commander (12.4) has just survived the current storm in the north of Scotland. It is 40m from house/shack on steep slope. I went up the slope yesterday to take the antenna down, but it was too dangerous to attempt this - so I had no choice but to take the risk!! I have it well guyed at spreader plates 1, 2, 3 and 4.
It has now been blowing a real "hooley" for the last 48 hours. Trees are down - roads blocked - but the Signature 13.4 remains erect. Facing further storm for next 24 hours.
The 12.4 brought me my first QSO a couple of weeks ago - a good start - flooding the airways with my nervous 10 watts.
Wow!
Top Tip: when digging holes like this use a two prong fork to loosen up the ground (if you have one of course), that's how the lads that dig up the roads to fix water leaks (and other things) do it (which I did for 7 years). My DXC will be going up at the new QTH in a few weeks, can't wait...
Hey Stu, I probably made it look more difficult for the video. Each hole was about 5-0minutes :)
You did it the hard way my friend. (For next time) Pie (3.14) x 6,5/3 Locate where your mast will go and plant it. Take a 6.5 meter string and tie it to your rattle can and walk around the perimeter to draw a circle on the ground. Pick a point on your circle and plant your guy peg. Tape measure your answer from your equation to a point on your circle. do the same in the other direction. Measure the distance between your two points, divide that answer in half and adjust your two locations accordingly. Or you can do like the rest of us, eyeball and error one from which way the wind blows the strongest the majority of the time. Hope this made you smile. Keep up the great video content. Cheers
Hang on.. That's what I did! The centre point existed. I measure the 6.5, drew and arc and walked the tape measure around. Er, maybe you didn't watch!
@@DXCommanderHQ no, but I must apologize because I wrote that before I finished watching the video. Then things started happening around here and I didn't have a chance to "take it back" Please accept my apologies Sir Callum.
That self leveling stuff really does set quick 😅 I was working with a chap one time years ago and we mixed up some in a bucket of water, carried it only 10ft and it had already set in the bucket and wouldn't pour 😆😂
Oh heck!
Nice one Cal, n in the end u drew a Flux Capacitor,.... 😂
Another advantage of guy posts, if you have a small garden like me you can not get the proper angle on the guy wires ie. normally the angle of the guy is too steep.
The guy posts effectively extends the size of the garden, as you are catching the guy wire higher up of actual line of the guy, thus making the guy come down at a shallower and more useful angle
This can be especially useful if you are guying something close to the corner of your property, just put in a guy post of the appropriate height.
Nice to see you back in the yard destructing something. Cheers mate!
Toyally!
Nothing like a bit of hard graft nice weekend callum
Hmm, good idea. Mine are on T-posts and tied on right at ground level, because T-posts are weak. Grass is always growing over them and I have to cut it down by hand, even the string trimmer catches guy wires.
Yes and the dogs, visitors etc keep cathing them.
I love watching you work.
-10c and a couple inches of snow on the ground here in Montana.
Those thread on "eyes" are nice. going to have to see if I can find them here in the states.
73 K1AUS
Look for "lifting eyes"..
Nice job Calum,
I generally prop the post with three guy ropes perfectly vertical in the hole first up so there's no mad panic trying to plumb it before it starts to set.
Particularly in the hot weather as that rapid set stuff sets very quick. 20-minute quickset in 40-45-degree day is nowhere near 20 minutes.
Been there n done that and found out the hard way that preparation will save it turning to "Facebook" if you know what I mean.
Also, I just stick the whole bag or more in and then pour the water in and have a round bar to prod and rod the mixture.
A good prod! :)
I'm just happy smiling at the dogs
When I was doing a commercial mast with stays. A circle around the mast. 120 degrees. Will give you the direction of your first stay. Another 120 degrees for second stay then another 120 degrees final direction. 3 stay points.
And where do I get 120 degrees from, the shop was completely out of them.
Colin, with concrete you can just pour the dry mix into the hole and walk away, The concrete will pull the moisture it needs to set from the soil within a few days and be just as hard had you mixed it and poured it into the hole.
Spent 20 years fencing. It definitely needs correct amount of water for proper strength.
Top job as usual Callum, you never cut corners.👍
I had a plan. I mulled it over for about 12-months - then executed it and frankly I love it!
@@DXCommanderHQ it's brilliant and super strong! 💪
I made myself a "tool" for locating guy anchors for my DX Commander Classic for temporary portable deployments. It's a piece of paracord with fixed loop knots in the ends, and a half hitch in the middle. From one end to the half hitch is R, my chosen distance between the base of the pole and the guy point. From the half hitch to the other end is R*1.732 (close enough to square root of 3), which is the distance from one guy anchor to the next.
(Being American, I use R = 10 feet, but you can just as easily use 3 meters, or whatever you like. Note this also lets me pre-make the guys, since I can calculate their length. I use paracord with arrowhead hitches at the bottom end to allow for small adjustments for tensioning.)
I put a plastic tent stake in the ground where I want the pole (which will also later serve as a "step" for the pole with the center plug pushed out of the end cap). Drop the loop for the R length segment over this stake, and walk the half hitch out in the direction in which you want to place the first guy anchor until the line is tight, with the knot on the ground, and the knot shows you where to put the first anchor (I use a metal tent stake angled away from the mast position). Put in this anchor, and drop the loop at the long end of the line on it. Walk the half hitch toward where you expect another anchor to be, and make both segments tight while holding the half hitch, and, again, the not marks the anchor location. You don't have to change the loops to find the last anchor, just walk the half hitch over to the third location.
(I erect the pole by connecting the top guys and walking the base of the pole in to drop it over my "step", easy to do alone.)
Boom! Love it.
Callum, get yourself a threaded rod cutter. Put your rod in at the desired length, pull down on the lever, chops it dead straight everytime. Use them at work, there great, not too expensive either. M7MEK.
No more tools.. PLEASE!
Great upgrade Callum. I would use some blue thread lock to stop them from coming undone.
When cutting the bolt/ threaded bar place a nut behing the cut. Cut then do a slight taper edge with a file. Then unscrew the nut off wich will make sure the thread is ok.
Ive just got a scaffold bar to pit in my garden to hold a dx commander pole but the pole is too big for it to slide over 😫🤦🏽♂️
Nice job camra lady. 👍🏽
73
I don't want a thread locker because I will probably take these on and off and there's no vibration or anything.. I did consider it. A scaffold pole will work on the 12.4 else yes, you need to come down in size to 43 / 44mm.
@@DXCommanderHQ yeah not a problem. I only mentioned it as I thought there wasn't a lot of thread. Could always use a spring washer.
You should of seen my face when I released it didn't fit. I had waited about two months for a family member to get me a short section. Ahhh lol.
Great work on the guy poles install.
I couldn't hear you when you did the steam last. I had hoped to call you using a new antenna I have got. I bought a mag loop for the attic but not sure how impressed or not I am with it yet.
73
I use 2 inch angle iron with a sharp point cut driven in with a sledge at an angle of 45 deg. This method has held my 26m Spiderpole for 3 years
Yes, I used to do that too.
To attach loops to a steel post, I cut large chain links in half with my grinder and weld them where I need them.
Oh no.. More tools! And rust :)
They used to manufacturer drills with spirit levels in them. One of those would be perfect in drilling the holes in the scaffold pole for your guy eyes.
COnfession.. I have previously glued a small spirit level to the top of that Makita..!
That jungle you show at the beginning with the “original” guy point, is exactly the challenge I have with the BASE of the antenna (already have elevated guy points). Already complained about my inability to get the antenna in regular, reliable operation for lack of the ability to install the ground radials in such a way as to be compatible to with human life sharing the same territory. Don’t know why I didn’t do this to start - will be making a brick pad at the site of the antenna base, from which I’ll exclude vegetation, enabling maintenance of all the connections at the base.
And some feed poison stuff at the base :)
@@DXCommanderHQ Ayep
Love the work bench Cal
Thanks 👍
You can guy a lot of Christmas trees this year!.
Tip for cutting threaded rod:
Put a nut on the rod first, then cut (and file if you care about the shrap edge) , then wind the nut off the end you just cut.
The nut will force any misaligned bur to be in the right place so you wont have issues threading another not on after this.
Indeed.. It's just a hassle.. And I even have a thread cutter so there's no excuse.
Having a piece of land that I could dig a hole in is a dream for me, lol 😅
the destructions say… I always say that!
HAHA
Callum grafting 🤣🤣im really jealous, because i live in a flat. No garden.... So no many option. All my antennas have to hide in the loft
I was waiting for your hood string to wind up in the rotating drill bit. You may know this, but most drills have a level bubble on them to assist in getting the drill parallel to the ground if that's what you want of course.
Most drills. Not this one. I have glued one in. And I forgot it was there!
@@DXCommanderHQ Ok. I thought I saw one and I guess I did.
@@DXCommanderHQ You can also use the old plumb bob truck too. A loop of string with a weight hanging from the drill. Many mothods or just shoot from the hip and hope for the best..
Cutting threaded bar run a nut on before you cut it that way you can run the nut off the end afterwards to clear the thread, file the cut end before removing the nut
Indeed, or use a die.. I even have those :)
Nip down to the local builders merchant or garden centre get three flag stones. Drill a hole in centre and pop an eye bolt in. Bingo! Three guy points that won't get overgrown and no digging required plus you can move them etc.
And the dogs? I think you missed the point of Django running into the guys.
@@DXCommanderHQ oops I did. Soz
you cemented in the guy poles, Did you cement in the antenna pole? I'd guess not but ... if you had not, then changing poles to use the same guys would be easy. Great videos...I watch all of them!
The guys will always be a different size depening on whether it's the 12 or the 18.
If you screw a nut on your allthread before you cut it, the thread will clean up when you screw the nut off, though drilling it is good an alternative is to use munsen rings, i used to be a pipe fitter.
Yes, that too.. Or use my wife's Amazon account and I found these! Even better :)
good job cal
You would not believe the geometry fun I used to have when I had to mark stages for sets. There is nothing like standing on stage at 2am wondering why nothing fits.
Oh my!
Good work Lord Callum :)
Legend!
Hi Cal, Can you do the Nebula with 160 as a L and 60m ?? maybe in place of some of the higher bands, as most of us that are interested in the Nebula would have antenna's for 20-10m already, thanks
The problerm with 160m is that we would need at least another 20m of wire off the top - that's a hell of a weight.. Capacitance top hat would work.. But even so would be huge.
Greetings to Mrs. Callum.
She says HI
BRILL
Nice. i want one now. :)
is that the Vileda mop bucket of the misses ?
Busted now!
Put up 36 ft of rohn on a tilt with the vertical on top 😊
Haha!!
Get yourself a V block jig for your drill press to drill centered holes into round pipe the setup should be self explanatory. Start with a small drill bit and drill straight through it may be off slightly but close enough for government work there are also hand held versions of the V blocks but the drill press is better but harder to hold up to the pipe out in the field …73 Mike K1FNX near Boston
Ah.. I shall take the drill press to the field then.. Or buy more tools! HAHA. It's OK, I got it OK in the end..
We were just in London the whole city is made out of scaffold poles looks to me as they should be free to enterprising hams @@DXCommanderHQ
Did I miss something? Instead of all that mucking around with geometry, why not pick the centre first, mark it with a stake and then measure out 6.5 metres at 120 degrees apart?
You *did* miss something. That's what I did.
@@DXCommanderHQ At 4:04 you said you didn't know how to find the centre. Why was that even a problem if you _started_ at the centre? Something doesn't gel.
I would stand at the centre and use a magnetic compass to determine the 120 degree points from there. Simple.
Callum what the hell man? Work smarter not harder. Drill a hole in vicinity of the top of a fence post and drive it in the ground. I have 4 fence posts driven in the ground with 4 guy lines going to each one holding a hex beam straight in the air.
With a Makita? No thanks. 25 minutes digging is just fine.
Callum I have been locked out of your web site. How do I gain access again
We don't know.. Something to do with CloudFlare.. I'll try and work it out. In the meantime, could you try 4G..?
Easier to use ground anchors.
Easier but totally impractical. Did you watch the beginning of the video? Maybe the description might assist. Thanks!
Looks Bostin
Camera operator
You are? FIne.
How about using a rope on the pole and with a compass walk around and find the spots with degrees on the compass.
Tape measure worked fine in the end.