DX Commander Build – Day 4 – fettling

So after having so much fun on 40m, I wanted to get the rest of the wires up

So far I have 40 and 30m up (the longest wires), with 40M getting the most use on FT8 (Plenty of contacts logged, and several confirmed via QRZ!)

I had two remaining shorter cables to mount, the 20 and 17. 20 was of particular interest as it has so much going on and seems busy day or night !

Before adjusting the antenna i done a quick test on 20m, and the S.W.R was way off the meter on the radio, so was very much needed if I was going to get out.

I set about re-measuing the wire and 20m required no correction thankfully and 17 only need 6cm adding, which I set about doing. I brought the mast down and rewired.

I started the transceiver and put wsjtx onto 20m. Sure enough within a few minutes, i had made contact in Poland on 20m with a very good db result.

I’ve not tested 17 yet but I’m equally confident that I will be able to get out.

As per previous exercise, here are the S.W.R. measurements with 4 elements up

MetersMid Frequency (Mhz)S.W.R.
40m7.11.52
30m10.1151.21
20m14.21.53
17m18.111.34
Amateur frequency readings after adjustments

So I am very satisified with my DX Commander – I may replace 30m with 80m, but at the moment I have plenty of frequencys and modes to work, even with 10W of power. Thank you Calum the DX Commander for this amazing antenna system !