Category: DX Commander

A lot of new people have joined the channel recently, so I thought it was finally time to do a complete walkthrough of the antenna field here at Holly Farm.

From the switching system and remote-control setup, through to the four-square, delta loop, verticals, rotating tower, receive antennas, tilt-over masts and future 160m plans – this is how the entire station fits together.

We cover:

Antenna Genius switching
Rotator Genius control
Remote desktop operation
The 40m four-square
Delta loops & receive antennas
DX Commander verticals
Mast #1 and Mast #2
The tilt-over “falling derrick” system
Future 160m tower plans
Radials, grounding and experiments
The upcoming 15m beam project

There are separate videos covering many of these projects in detail throughout the back catalogue.

Enjoy the tour!

73,
Callum M0MCX

00:00 Introduction
00:37 Antenna switching system
01:52 Four-square control
02:37 Rotator Genius system
03:10 Power supplies & networking
04:10 Shack-to-field cabling
05:31 Loop-on-ground receive antenna
06:44 Delta loop receive antenna
08:43 Scrap-built 20m vertical
09:39 The 40m four-square
10:58 Mast inside the four-square
11:27 Four-square control box
12:03 Yagis on Mast #1
12:38 Winch and tilt-over system
13:33 Rotator & bearings
15:07 160m transmit plans
17:32 80m / 160m fan dipole
18:37 Main DX Commander vertical
19:36 Tri-band vertical project
20:12 Mast #2 overview
20:35 Orphan guy system explained
22:19 Future 15m beam project
23:12 Previous antenna experiments
24:10 Winch anchor point
24:49 Winter contest plans
25:12 Future shack tour teaser
25:29 Closing thoughts

#HamRadio #AmateurRadio #DXCommander #HF #Antenna

Tower #2 is slowly becoming a proper little engineering project now. In this video I’m upgrading the guy spreaders to stainless triangular plates, replacing temporary hardware, sorting the orphan guy stakes, and generally trying to make the mast stronger, cleaner and easier to maintain before the 15m Yagi goes on top.

There’s also a bit of discussion about guy tension, shackles, turnbuckles and why getting the foundations right matters before adding antennas and weight. And yes… after nearly losing the tower recently, I’m double-checking everything now 😅

Next episode: the 15m 3-element Yagi build and why I managed to get a near-50Ω direct feed without a gamma match.

Enjoy the video and enjoy your radio!

Last night, Mast #1 taught me another expensive lesson! I was checking the remote camera during some rough weather when I noticed one of the top guys flailing around in the wind. At first I thought a rope had snapped, or another shackle pin had worked loose. By the time I got up to the field, the weather had gone absolutely wild.

Turns out the culprit was a turnbuckle that had gradually undone itself under load.

This is exactly why I test things properly. You don’t learn much lowering towers every time the forecast looks a bit lively. You learn by discovering the weak points, fixing them properly, and improving the design.

In this video:

– Remote camera footage of the storm
– The moment I realised something was wrong
– Why the mast survived
– What failed
– Why the prototype 160m top section probably increased the wind loading
– What I’ll be changing next

Sometimes experience comes from books. Sometimes it comes from nearly losing a tower at night in a storm.

Enjoy the video guys.

#hamradio #amateurradio #tower #antenna #yagi #engineering #dxcommander

If you’ve ever wondered how I hinge over scaffold poles or build simple tilt-over masts? Over the years I’ve experimented with all sorts of ideas – from homemade prototypes to heavy-duty mast couplers – and in this one I show a few of the solutions that have actually worked for me.

We look at:

* Simple scaffold hinge ideas
* Using telescopic poles as sleeves
* Key clamp / scaffold fittings
* Heavy-duty stainless mast couplers
* 48.3 mm scaffold tube sizing
* A few lessons learned after years of building and lowering antenna masts

Nothing fancy here – just practical workshop chat and a few ideas that might help with your own antenna projects, tilt-over poles or portable mast systems.

Search terms worth looking up:

* Key Clamp
* 48.3 mm scaffold fittings
* Scaffold hinge coupler
* Mast coupler
* Tilt-over mast

Enjoy your radio – and thanks for watching.

Today we’re lowering the 40ft / 12m mast again so I can finally finish things off properly – fit the Rotator Genius magnetic sensor, run the coax, tidy up the guys, sort the handover system and generally make the whole thing operational.

This mast is basically a smaller version of the big 19m / 62ft mast further down the field and uses the same idea:

– falling derrick
– pulley system
– ropes and orphan guys
– 12V winch
– and a fair amount of trial and error

Real-world engineering, knots, shackles, lowering and raising the mast, routing coax and solving problems as they appear.

We also:

– test the Rotator Genius magnetic sensor
– discuss guy geometry and rope stretch
– cut the coax slot into the mast
– run Messi & Paoloni coax
– talk about the future 15m Yagi

and listen to some very noisy sheep at Holly Farm.

Honestly, this was just a lovely day in the field.

Chapters
00:00 Finishing off Mast #2
00:50 Sorting the falling derrick handover
01:50 Orphan guys explained again
03:58 Mast prep
04:45 Tower going down
06:32 Plans for the 15m Yagi
06:55 Rotator Genius magnetic sensor
09:34 Rotator wiring explained
11:30 Cutting the coax slot
13:34 Messi & Paoloni coax
15:30 Mast going up
16:44 Future 15m plans
17:21 The sheep interruption 😄

If you’ve ever wanted to:

– operate a big HF station
– experience 10m or 20m from a proper tower
– chat antennas, coax, towers, verticals, filters or radio in general
– see the station in person
– or simply spend a few hours around fellow radio amateurs…

…then come along to our Open Day August 16th 2026, we open at 12:00 and finish at 16:00.

There will be demonstrations during the day, operating stations available, RSGB attendance, satellite demonstrations and Loki will also be running special Open Day discounts in the shop.

IMPORTANT:
Please don’t just turn up on random days as we’re not a shop and I may not be on site. But if you genuinely want to visit outside the Open Day, just send me an email and arrange it with me first – I’m always happy to help serious radio amateurs.

Open Day:
Saturday 16th August 2026
12:00 to 16:00

Hope to see you there!

73,
Callum

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