Category: DX Commander

Not sure how they make these so cheap – but it has FCC certification and seems to work!
This is the link they sent to me:
https://www.amazon.com/XHDATA-Aviation-Weather-999Channels-Outdoors/dp/B0DGG4YW6G

I made a 14m / 45-ft ham radio mast from scaffold tubes using a "falling derrick". This is how I did it and these were the top questions that were asked many times:

1. No gloves. Correct, I can always let go rather than get tangled in clothing
2. The slot at the base is fine there is no sideways or twisting pressure here only downward pressure
3. The lines will be changed once I have prototyped this (read description!)
4. G- 450 Rotator has a spec of 200kg downward force. Create RC5-1 is 400kg. We’ll fix the Create
5. Marine hardware and pulleys are better. Yes they are (cost!) but this is a cheap prototype
6. You don’t have help? No – what would the other person do other than get in the way?
7. Edge-trim. Now sourced, thanks.
8. The music is listed below
9. Twisting pulleys will get fix on next upgrade
10. Still worried about the rotator? Don’t be
11. Yes – some day we’ll get a winch. Hang on
12. Detuning the mast from 40m – won’t coax and ethernet cock calculation up? Maybe – but I still need to detune the mast.
13. Yagi is off by 1.8 degrees. Yes – not checked before lift. Fixed next time it’s down
13. Does the PoE Ethernet up the pole generate any noise? No.

Music at end is "Celestial Spheres – Ave Air" [found on Epidemic Sound]

https://youtu.be/-wsx-ml69xE – Raising ther tower
https://youtu.be/BYuIEu9KOrE – Yagi Project – Full Build here
https://youtu.be/O_pQN0pMvmA – Guys and Rotator Fitting
https://youtu.be/SbMy_82XRDM – Mast Guy Foundations

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcC64tNkZB7yRBNMcXCPeOvxLR305kQpx – COMPLETE TOWER PLAYLIST

Let me know if there’s anything else you need.

Just having some regular Ham Radio fun remote to Holly Farm.

We’re raffling this one off for $1 dollar (well, £1 actually). Here’s the link:
https://raffall.com/370203/enter-raffle-to-win-dx-commander-classic-hosted-by-callum-mccormick
Get in early. Last time we did this, we were sold-out in hours.

Just testing HF again

I just built this new antenna. Does it work?

24-Hour Stress Testing 2-Stations, the new Yagi and the new Band-Pass filters. 20m is currently on this antenna: yagi:

Last time out, we had a successful first lift and have had it guyed and upright for a week before fitting the control cables for the rotator.

Before that, we broke the Create Rotator. We fished out the Yaesu G-450 and did a successful "launch" with a 6:1 pulley.

This is a 12m tower project for an HF Yagi / Quad etc. long story.. *BUT* the guy points are dual-use as both a 40m 4-Square switchable antenna array – as well as the tower. ALl lines will be replaced with Dyneema after we’ve sorted it all out.

There will be 4 vertical antennas coming off each guy point. Accuracy is mandatory for both the 4-square (impedance matching and gain etc) and you’ll see shortly in another video why they need to be spot on because when we move to a non-stretch Dyneema rope, all 4-guys need to have same tension when the tower is lowered and raised.

Further, the tower needs to be totally detuned from 40m so we have a fibreglass insulator to change the resonance to around 9MHz. We COULD add a further insulator above the rotator to move that to about 24MHz. More of that in later video. There will be a temporary yagi going up on the top of this tower which will give me time to develop the multi-band quad antenna.

The G-450 rotator will eventually *have* be replaced. The vertical force specification on the G450 is 200Kg. I broke the Create RC5-1 which had double that. There are no sideways loads on the base of the tower so I only need to worry about vertical loads.

The start of the construction is here: https://youtu.be/SbMy_82XRDM

"Part 1" is this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_pQN0pMvmA

The "disaster" video is here: https://youtu.be/4eiEd00N5GU

We covered the planning of this tower on a previous video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmgUGuoudb4

We also made a video about Quads – which is the target of this tower: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3r9ff32j9Yo

And here is some information about 4-Square antennas which will surround the tower (tower will be de-tuned off 40m): https://youtu.be/joWUH2PgGZg

Next video in this series is the full-blown QRO test.

Finally, we will lay the radials down for the 4-square and connect up the control box.

Enjoy. And Subscribe you b*ggers! Or even just give me a nice comment!!

I’m currently "remote" and I can’t turn the yagi. I have a project in hand to be able to do that soon but I left the Yagi facing WEST to NA and also possibly long-path to VK. Anyway, that’s the fun I am suggesting we have.

Some DX sound-clips from Friday’s stream.
Full video out Sunday 10th November 2024
https://youtu.be/3m7Oo76hPtw (Premiere)
https://youtu.be/-wsx-ml69xE (Previously)