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DX Commander Signature 9 Build
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- čas přidán 27. 03. 2024
- Todays video is a MAJOR upgrade to my DX Commander Classic. Time and Texas weather has not been kind to this fantastic antenna, however I have a solution that you are going to love! Tools and supplies used are down below here and in my Amazon store. I hope you enjoy and as always comment and email me with questions! 73!
DX Commander Signature 9 Antenna: dxcommander.com/product/signa...
DX Commander Radial pins: dxcommander.com/product/biode...
Ground Stakes from Lowes: www.lowes.com/pd/Greenscapes-...
✅Website: hamradiofornontechies.com
✅rumble.com/c/c-1877665
✅Patreon: / hr4nt
✅My Amazon Store: amzn.to/3sSeA1n
✅Facebook: / hr4nt
✅odysee.com/@hamradiofornontec...
✅Twitter: / hamtechies
✅TOADs Discord: / discord
✅Kit.co Product Recommendations: kit.co/ki5npl
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My Current Shack Setup:
ICOM IC-7300
Yaesu FT-2980
DX Commander Signature 9
Comet GP-9
Diamond GZV4000 Power Supply
LDG AT200 PROII Tuner
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#hr4nt
#ki5npl
#hamradiofornontechies
I got the hole in the paver idea from you. I am getting mine started today, Great video 73's
It was a bit of a pain to drill out that hole, but the end result was very nice and still looks good today months later. Best of luck on your project! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Ah, a traveling man. 73. I have one in the shed to put up as soon as I can get some tree work finished. Thanks for the video.
Glad you enjoy it! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
18:25 Repurposing those charm bracelet beads for use as durable labels is next level! Thanks!
Glad you like it. It works really well. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
Hi, The thing I like about DX Commander is he is always updating and improving his products.
At least by not concreting the post in, it will be easier for you to take in down when you move.
Nice video, I have sent a link to a friend who had just purchased one. He said it's going to be very helpful.
Best wishes David M0DUU
Yeah Callum is very customer centric and I love the quality and upgrades he does to his products to keep up with user needs. I appreciate you sharing my video! Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
My friend has just watched your video. He said some of your tips will save him some time. He also mentioned some of the instructions seemed confusing, but were cleared up with your comments.
On behalf of my friend, many thanks.
David M0DUU
I got one of the early release Signature 9's planted it in the corner of my garden amongst the trees. It tuned on all the bands between 1.1 and 1.4 to 1 (only lower half of 10m) and it has withstood everything this winter has thrown at it. It has out performed my old multi band vertical by a long way. With the trees getting their leaves back it may be time to sneak a Signature 12 in for an 80m vertical.
73 Rob
I will say this, the DXC antenna line up is absolutely worth the money and built to last. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
Good job! Nice to see you again. Keep the videos coming .
Thanks, will do! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
You are looking much better now Scott, you had a bit of a workout with this build, but it will pay you back in performance. 7 3👍
ABOLUTELY! This was a lot of work, but worth it in the end. I always love my DXC antennas. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
Thanks for posting this video! 73 all day!
-KN4KZT
You bet! Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
Scott, great build video, thanks for that. I have a 5 foot strip of land between my shed and the fence, do you think this antenna would work well in that location with radials only going out two directions and with the shed and fence so close?
I think that should work fine. The radials can be in whatever pattern you have available. It may not be ideal, but I don't think you will get any noticeable loss in performance from the antenna. I hope this helps. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Awesome video, as always! I always get a kick out of that small sword of a folder you use to open boxes... 😆
And speaking of neighbors, considering the size of both this antenna and the GP-9 you put up in another build video, have you caught any grief from neighbors or the HOA over either of these antennas?
The knife is has been good to me over the years I have had it. Cold Steel Tanto folder. As for my antennas, my neighbors are ok with it and I took the time to explain what I do and they were fascinated. As for my HOA, they are scared of me and know better...LOL In the summer the surrounding trees pretty much hide all my antennas especially with the large oaks in the area. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
Very nice video. Thank you for sharing. Just one question: is it possible to put the dx commander up in the air, or is this impossible due to the need of the radials?
73s from Germany, Uwe (DC5FI)
It may be possible, not sure it would be practical. If you have no space at the ground level, you can try it elevated and see how it performs, but 99.9% of installations are at the ground level. I hope this answered your question. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!!
When in doubt, Quikrete! When it rains, and gets windy, that clay will turn to mud, and trouble might rear its ugly head.
I thought about that and after two massive rain storms here recently that thing didn't budge an inch. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
Thanks for shedding some "light" on installing the Signature 9 , I'm thinking about getting one as long as I don't need an antenna tuner...I already have a metal mast in the ground from another antenna can I use that if the Signature 9 fits over it or will the metal interfere with SWR? 73!
The Signature comes with a mast for mounting. I think a metal mast would interfere as it would be very close to the elements. Once you tune it up, you can get that SWR down really far and close to 1:1 therefor a tuner would not be needed for operation after you configure it. I hope this helps. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!
What made you decide to redo the radials? Also, although you don't need to solder tab on the SO-239, wouldn't the locking washer be a good idea? Thanks! I hope to have my sig9 up in a month or so.
The older ones had a few that were broken. As for the locking washer, I didn't see it as necessary. I removed it on my classic years ago and never had an issue. I hope this helps. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
So how do you tune the antenna? Do you do tune and test with the antenna lying down, or do you trim (or extend), then put it back up on its mount each time and test again with the RigExpert?
Unfortunately you have to set it up, taker a reading with your analyzer then take it back down and cut the wire and retune again until that particular band is tuned before moving on to the next one. It is a task, but very rewarding once it is done. The good news is you only have to do it once unless you change out your elements down the road for maintenance. I hope this helps. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Hi Scott. I have my sig 9 just about complete. Still need to tune 10M, trying to decide what part of the band I want it tuned to. Before making all my taped parts shrink wrapped went back and looked at some videos, trying to pick up any tips or correct any errors. Everyone seems to put the clamps above the plates including yours. The manual on page 21 says, "Fit the clamps above each join and twist and turn each of the spreader plates snugly as far as they will go." This tells me, join, clamp, and then plate. What am I missing?
I have always done it the way that you see it pictured in the thumbnail and that has worked out fine for me. My best advice is don't over think it. Either way it will work, but for ease of maintenance I think doing it the way I did will be easier in the long run. Sometime the instructions that Callum has written out are not explained in the easiest way to follow, hence why i shoot these videos to help demonstrate what I did that worked. I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions. Thanks for watching and for the comment. 73!
did you later on reinstalled the 30m element? I want to buy the same antenna and need 30 mters. And how long and how many are your radials? 73 ON4VP Phil
I did not only because I don't really use the band. There would not be an issue if you kept it, but I didn't want to put in the work to tune it. The antenna works exactly as designed and advertised. Absolutely fantastic antenna. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
It's been a couple months, how are you liking the antenna?
The antenna is absolutely fantastic! Works perfectly and has held up to the wild weather we get here in Texas. I am very happy with it and its durability. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!
Do you know if the Signature 12 also comes with the fiberglass insert pole? I'd like to do that as well as guy the Sig 12 if possible. Thanks. Great video. Convinced me to buy. (Adding a question) Does your shed block any signal strength in that direction? I have a 2 story house with a metal roof that I was wondering if that will affect any signal path. Thanks again.
The 12 does not come freestanding, you have to source your own mounting pole
As the viewer below said, it does not. My shed does not seem to affect my signal at all, but my neighbor with the solar farm on his roof, that is another story entirely. The DXC seems to perform quite well despite my erratic conditions. Hope this helps. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
@@HR4NT Thanks!
Curious why you didn't just reuse the radials that were already there?
I was wondering the same, that seemed to be a perfectly good set of radials.
Some of them were broken and needed replacing, so I decided to go fresh with new ones. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
@@HR4NT Thank you for explaining, the wires looked fine, but some things are not visible on screen.
Thank you for this video. If you stated it, I missed it: Roughly how many hours did this take to complete? Thanks again, KQ4IXD
It took a few hours. If I only had this to do all day and not the plethora of other things on my to-do list, you could technically build this in a day. I am glad you liked the video. It is a fantastic antenna as always. Thanks for the comment an for watching. 73!!
I picked up a DXC Classic back in December - the one with the guy lines. Do you think I could homebrew a mounting pole out of a piece of PVC conduit, instead of schedule 40 water pipe like you had? Or, is the new pole some high-speed, space-age material? Also, is there a difference in the mast itself (i.e. wall thickness) to account for the mounting pole?
It's starting to warm up and the grass is greening here, so I will be mowing soon. I don't want to have to drop the antenna every week to mow/weedwack. I plan to bury the radials under the sod, so those won't end up wrapped around a mower blade... hopefully.
The signature mast has more robust walls than the classic poles
@@ahoward2kable That's what I needed to know. Thanks!
Looks like I'll have to find a creative way to guy the mast so I can mow around the cords.
I saw somebody put some metal posts in the ground, then tied the guy lines to the top of the post a couple of feet off the ground so that they could mow and trim under
I agree the signature is a bit more thick than the classic. Now, I think you "could" just buy the Signature pole and use it that way and eliminate those guy wires, but you need to see if the investment is worth it to you. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
@@HR4NT That's a good idea. Then, I can use the old mast for POTA.
So why does the presence of the 30M element affect the SWR of the others?
All of the elements play off each other and will affect the SWR on each band. I could have spent more time with it and micro manage the tuning and probably gotten it to work out fine. This is not a slight against Callum's antenna, but I don't use 30M much if ever, so removing it seemed to be a good idea and you saw the results after I did this. I hope this helps a bit. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!
@@HR4NT I don't do CW at all. so if I get the signature 9 I will just not mess with the 30m band.
I have on my wish list a DX Commander. I was asked on a round table net if I would ground the antenna. I have never heard about grounding an antenna like the DX Commander. What are your thoughts on this ?
Shawn
KE8UHD
I do not see the use in grounding an antenna. If it gets hit by lightning, no amount of grounding is going to help. I do not ground any of my antennas and have not had any issues to date. Thanks for the comment and for watching. 73!!!!