Nebula progress 18/1/2021

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Even thou a monday, i took advantage of the pre-daytime WFH sunshine to get small amounts of progress on the antenna.

  • radials ahoy
  • 80 meter
radials and verticals

I set about alining the radial plate and spreader plates. I actually make use of the ‘DX Commander’ stickers as an easy visual way of aligning the spreader plates, whilst I do have each of the vertical holes labelled (80/40/20) its still easier to see the stickers from a distance.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3 & 4
spreader plates with dx commander stickers

I threaded the 80 meter wire thru the top eyelet, which by now was totally rock-solid on the mast.

  • top spreader
  • the the eyelet
  • down the pole
80 meter wire up and over

I also used my lunch break to attach the SO-230 – i found the tape very fiddly to work with, but nevertheless got it on to waterproof the connector. I’ve left the shield on for now. I then started on putting the tensioner loops into the 80m wire, which took me a bit longer than expected (sorry no photos!). but got the first one done at the 3 spreader.

I’m hoping the weather is ok tomorrow morning and I can get the last of the tension loops on the 80m wire in place, and all being well, get the mast vertical with the 80m wire going up it. A know the radials will take plenty of time to get out, so whilst I’m optimistic i might get a S.W.R. test tomorrow, realistically the first reading might not be until Wednesday.

Stay safe & 73 !

Alan / 2E0FWE