Scafdfolding Guy Stakes for BIGGEST DX Commander 

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.

Whoa whoa whoa... its not a "Nebula." It's a "Neboooola!" Or have we forgotten who we are here? 13:53 @DXCommander 🤣

Nice one Cal, n in the end u drew a Flux Capacitor,.... 😂

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...

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 😆😂

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!

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.)

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

I'm just happy smiling at the dogs

Top job as usual Callum, you never cut corners.👍

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.

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.

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

You can guy a lot of Christmas trees this year!.

the destructions say… I always say that!

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.

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.

Love the work bench Cal

Nothing like a bit of hard graft nice weekend callum

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.

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

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

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.

To attach loops to a steel post, I cut large chain links in half with my grinder and weld them where I need them.

good job cal

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.

Good work Lord Callum :)

Nice. i want one now. :)

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.

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

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.

BRILL

Having a piece of land that I could dig a hole in is a dream for me, lol 😅

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

Greetings to Mrs. Callum.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

Put up 36 ft of rohn on a tilt with the vertical on top 😊

is that the Vileda mop bucket of the misses ?

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

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.

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?

Callum I have been locked out of your web site. How do I gain access again

Easier to use ground anchors.

Looks Bostin

Camera operator

How about using a rope on the pole and with a compass walk around and find the spots with degrees on the compass.