Category: DX Commander

The final part of the Mast #2 build – and today we go for the big lift. This is the smaller 12m / 40ft tilt-over mast, a mini version of the bigger 19m / 62ft mast. It uses a falling derrick, winch, pulley system, temporary “orphan guys”, and a fair bit of Pythagoras to keep everything under control.

After the false start and redesign in the last video, this is where we find out if the geometry actually works.

There’s a lot going on in this one:

– setting the real guy lengths
– sorting the handover from temporary lines to permanent guys
– fitting the final pole
– dealing with wind, rope, pulleys and awkward geometry
– and finally getting the mast upright
– dealing with a stuck sheep(!)

Then we get to the fun question: what antenna should go on top?

Options include a simple 15m Yagi to get us started, a longer-term interleaved 15m / 6m Yagi, or maybe even a 15m and 6m cubical quad.

Vote in the comments: Yagi or Quad – and tell me why.

This has been hard work, but very satisfying. Mast #2 is up.

Chapters:

00:00 Can we get to 40ft today?
01:59 Orphan guys explained
03:02 Pythagoras and real guy lengths
07:27 Pulley and winch setup
10:14 Wind worries
12:25 First lift test
13:35 Did Pythagoras work?
16:38 Swapping temporary lines
18:21 Handover system
21:49 Time to add the final pole
30:16 Top guys fitted
31:34 The big lift
33:22 What antenna goes on top?
34:38 Interleaved 15m and 6m Yagi?
35:08 Cubical quad option
36:24 Final thoughts

Today is all about the falling derrick – getting the geometry right before we even think about lifting anything serious. If this bit’s wrong, the whole thing will go sideways… literally. This is where the real work starts.

I’m working with a 3-guy system here, which isn’t ideal for raising a mast, so I’ve introduced what I call “orphan guys”, these are temporary lines to stabilise everything and simulate a 4-guy setup during the lift.

There’s a fair bit going on:

Setting accurate geometry (yes, I get a bit pedantic…)
Installing temporary anchors
Building and testing the falling derrick
Reusing whatever I’ve got lying around
A small test lift to see if the theory holds

This is very much a proof-of-concept day – light loads, lots of adjustments, and making sure the system behaves before committing to the full 12m build.

The last attempt didn’t go to plan… so this is take two, done properly.

Next time, we go for it!

00:00 Plan for Mast #2
01:20 Marking out the geometry
03:00 Anchors and derrick setup
06:00 Fabrication and drilling
10:45 First test configuration
13:30 Adjusting lines and “orphan guys”
18:10 Test lift
19:15 Wrap-up

I start working out how to raise Mast #2 – a smaller version of my 62ft / 19m main mast system. The plan was to use a tree, pulley, winch and a small falling derrick arrangement to get the mast up safely. In theory, simple. In practice… not quite.

This became a proper design-and-failure day: fitting lifting eyes, setting up thrust bearings, testing pulley geometry, discovering stretchy rope problems, and realising the whole lifting system needed a rethink.

By the end, the plan changes completely. Out goes the tree-pulley shortcut, and in comes a proper full-size falling derrick system with a new ground anchor point, better rope, temporary “orphan” guys, and a much safer lifting geometry.

This is the sort of practical engineering I enjoy – try it, watch what fails, understand why, learn, rebuild.

Next step: getting Mast #2 up around 40ft with the improved system.

Enjoy your radio.

#hamradio #amateurradio #dxcommander #antenna #yagi #mast #engineering #homebrew

Today was one of those proper bitty field days – a bit of concrete, a bit of mast mechanics, a bit of rotator tinkering, and a lot of thinking out loud. This is technically Phase 1 of the new 15m / 6m mast project. The job started with pulling out and re-setting the hinge base so it sits straighter in the ground, then checking how practical the whole lifting arrangement is going to be with a three-guy system, a tree pulley, and some temporary side guys to stop any unwanted twisting during lift and lower.

I also dropped the main mast to revisit the magnetic sensor position for the Rotator Genius setup, looked at cable routing and choking, and did a quick real-world test of the winch rope length. That all turned into a useful little experiment in its own right.

There’s also some forward planning in here – Dyneema, splicing, possible temporary baby falling derrick ideas, and how this mast might evolve once the scaffold fittings arrive.

Not a huge “ta-da” reveal in this one – more a genuine workshop day in the field, solving one problem at a time and setting things up for the next stage.

Thanks for following along.

Callum, M0MCX

#hamradio #amateurradio #antenna #mast #rotator #dxcommander

Phase 1 of the 160m vertical project is underway… and as usual, it didn’t quite go to plan! In this episode, we:

– Lay the main mast down and test-fit a 9m extension (Signature 9 pole)
– Work out how to physically clear the surrounding trees (with a bit of improvisation!)
– Start thinking about the loading coil approach for a shortened 160m vertical
– Look at how the existing ground system (from the 40m 4-square) might be reused
– Discover some interesting behaviour in the mast under wind load…

There’s a mix of practical field work, a bit of problem solving, and yes… some questionable tree surgery decisions along the way. Technical highlights:

– ~19m existing mast used as a base for a shortened 160m vertical
– Planned loading coil (~30 turns on 4” former) to compensate for missing length
– Shared radial field (~800m of wire already in the ground)
– Top-loading effects from existing Yagis (unexpected bonus!)
– Early testing reveals guy rope stretch issues → likely move to Dyneema

This is very much an experiment in progress – real-world antenna building, not textbook perfection.

If you’ve ever wondered: Can you get away with a short 160m vertical? How much does top-loading really help? What actually happens when a mast starts bending in the wind? …then this one’s for you.

Next steps:

– Swap guy lines to low-stretch Dyneema
– Decide: taller mast vs loaded vertical
– Finalise coil tap points and feed arrangement

73, Callum.

Last week I put the 20m Yagi up… but I cut a couple of corners. This time, I let you into the real process – no shortcuts, no tidy 10-minute edit. Just proper fault finding in the field.

We start with a suspected mismatch and work methodically through the system:

– Testing the feedpoint and patch leads
– Checking continuity with a basic multimeter
– Isolating sections of coax and the choke
– Swapping components and chasing intermittent faults
– Eventually tracking it down to a dodgy section of coax / connector

In the end, I rip it out and replace the run with fresh Ultraflex 7, build a temporary choke, and get the antenna back on air – all the way over the pole into North America and Australia.

Moral of the story? Test everything before it goes up the tower… but if you don’t, this might help!

If you enjoyed last week’s longer format – this one goes deeper too.

Next up: 160m vertical… and I suspect that’s not going to be straightforward either!

Callum.

Beaming USA (initially). This is up at 62-ft / 19m high. 2-elements.

This one turned into a proper three-day station build. I started by measuring the downward load on the falling derrick so I could get a better idea of what sort of force the alloy pole is really seeing, and whether a swap to fibreglass is realistic for the next stage of the project. From there, the tower came down again so I could cut a small coax exit slot near the top of the mast – carefully placed, drilled, filed and smoothed so it would do the job without turning into a stress-riser or a coax shredder.

After that, it became one of those jobs where everything takes longer than expected. Coax runs up the inside of the mast, connectors off and back on again, snakes through the tube, joins where I didn’t want joins, new PL259s, old PL259s, seized threads, soldering in the wind, choke fitting, weatherproofing, cable routing round the rotator, and generally trying to future-proof the whole lot for 10m, 20m and eventually the 160m vertical idea.

There’s also some real-world thinking in this one about temporary compromises versus final installation – using what’s good enough for now, replacing the scrappy bits, checking bend radius, watching rope stretch in the heat, and trying to keep failure points to a minimum. In other words, this is less a polished “how-to” and more an honest look at how these big field jobs actually get done.

By the end of it, the mast is back up, the new coax routing is in place, the chokes are fitted, the system is starting to make sense again, and the next decision is what comes first: the 60m vertical, or the new 15m/6m tower project.

If you enjoy the longer workshop-style videos where you can follow the whole process – including the mistakes, workarounds and muttering – this one is definitely for you.

Software, tools, antennas, rotators, coax and assorted chaos all feature heavily. Enjoy the video, and enjoy your radio.

For reference:

Signature 9 system for future 160m vertical work
Internal coax routing through tilt-over mast
Common mode chokes for 10m and 20m
PL259 fitting, joins, sealing and weatherproofing
Falling derrick load measurement and mast planning

If you like this sort of full build documentation, leave a comment and let me know what you’d like next.

Callum.

Peak gust is 44mph (predicted)

This is Teddy who we found a home for after Junior passed away. Our old faithful Django is now tolerant of him and is enjoying being "Big Brother". They are playing in the Antenna Field.