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Hey thanks for the flowers. I also was frustrated with especially running the 40m element over the top and figuring out the 40/30 deal. I should do another short blerb video and show how I added a little snap on device that slightly holds the element out three or so inches out from the pole about half way back down to where it connects to the bungee clip from the 30m section. It seems to keep it from wrapping around the top of the pole as I stand it up. I have no idea if it improves anything except it makes my OCD feel better because things are neat and orderly. I used to wind electric motors in my youth and everything had to be neat and organized because electrons would have a wreck and the factory packed smoke would come out. Have fun! I so miss going out. I have been suffering from some health issues and haven't been out doing POTA and now the weather isn't so hot I am going to try and brave it and go out. I love this antenna.

It's lots of fun and I do hope it at leas gives another view of the antenna. I always thro a couple of plastic saw horses in the truck and even though you don't need them I like them as bending is really hard for me these days so since I have the room I take them along. I havn't used it for a bit but I am going to soon. Spent time getting Kemo and such in the last year and am feeling better than I did and can't wait to set it up again.

This is a 3D printed dual paddle Morse code key. It has a spring return, is non adjustable.

Thanks Robert . Since I am no longer very flexible I use sawhorses to set it on and put it together which i have room for in the truck, they are the plastic collapsable ones and I throw a small piece of scrap plywood across and use them as a table for my POTA operations. Just dont push down on the pole or to try and move it around while it is sitting across anything. I broke a section of the pole about 3 sections down and I was shocked at how easy it broke. otherwise it has been a blast to use and gets out really good. They only sell the complete pole but I gladly bought one and am back on the air with it. Also put the clamps just barely above the joints/just touching the joint! Dont Overtighten the clampe or they will crush the pole.

@@bruceweight7319 once again thanks Bruce, I'm waiting for the arrival of my classic ,but like you when I don't understand what instructions I like to see the pictures or video. Of course you took care of that with your video so 73's and be safe god bless

Thanks for watching. I now need to get all the contacts checked and sent in. 73 DE KB7CQ

I had fun doing it! Thanks for the useless comment!

I'm not quite sure how to answer your question? The IC-7300 is a CW transceiver and of course SSB and digital transceiver as well. The MFJ-464 Keyer Reader is just that; a Keyer Reader. you can plug your Morse code key of several types into the keyer reader and it will when properly connected to the radio provide the key connection to the radio. However the radio can do the key function without the MFJ-464 keyer. The MFJ-keyer also does the function of listening to the sounds of CW coming from the speaker jack of the radio and decoding it into words. The keyer is not a perfect device to de-code the signal in all conditions. It needs a clear signal with very little static or interference on the incoming signal. The keyer needs clear and concise Morse code with proper spacing and even clarity sent to it in order to decode accurately. In reality not everyone sends code clearly. Some send in a walsy fashion and others run their words together. I will say nothing compares to the human brain for listening to a weak un-even signal in a thunder storm next to a power line and decoding it completely. I mainly use this keyer to practice sending. If you cant send accurately, it will help you get it right, sometimes you have to send a word over and over to get it to come up right, like the word "The" it will come up as "the" if you get it right, or "6" if you get it wrong. You can use putty terminal program to send with your computer keyboard and or a special keyboard made to plug directly into the keyer. Overall I like having it and use it all the time to practice and once in a while while the incoming signal I listen to and decode it and it works quite well with the IC-7300 using the noise blanker and noise filter.

I cant wait to get out and put it up again. I had a whole bunch of things crop up here at the house and havn't had time to get out again. I have had some physical problems and am worried I will have an impossible time doing the setup but by golly I am going to try. I am going to try and get a few more shots of the setup going together. I really need to buy some more elastic cord and ends and re-do some of the tensioning lines. I have stuff labeled and that really helps but I do need a little more organization to get it right, so I can get it put up quicker. I am now getting a Raspberry pi4 put together so I can do digital when I am out.

Hey Terrence if you put your email on QRZ If I get time I might be able to find more information on it but you can find displays on ebay as well as the resistors they are all smd's and all four 220 value. you may have to measure them to see what size they need to be. the display is common and I have bought them for a couple of bucks for other projects off of ebay as well. you need to have small solder, some flux and a fine tip soldering iron.

Look this up on eBay LCD 1602 Blue screen with backlight display 1602A 5v module for Arduino; and the resistors. Use wire from junk box small probably 24guage any color will do and a 104 50 volt capacitor. You might as well buy a kit of these capacitors as they only are a couple of bucks more and you will wait for what seems forever. Capacitor Ceramic 10 Values 104-106 50 Volts Accessories Assorted Electrical.

@@bruceweight7319 called mfj they do not have the resistors, give me an idea where to find the resistors thanks

I got them all from Ebay You will also have to get a new 16 X 2 lighted display green or blue, and 4 ea. 220 smd resistors and also a 50 vdc 104 pf ceramic capacitor. I got them all from eBay. If I can get time I can try and get a link for you to the specific parts. use the diagram in the manual which you can find online.

You can get them on eBay.

Thank you! I am going to suggest one more thing that I am going to do. I have a tool bag that I put all my stuff in wires coax ground steaks etc. What I am going to do is get a loop of rope and stack all of the clips and nylon spacers on it and put them in the order they go on the pole, that way I can get the pole stretched out and just slide the whole stack on the pole in proper order and put them in place Last time I had to slide several of the bottom ones off as I got them out of order? What a pain. Since I have plenty of space in the truck last time I went out I threw in those nice but light plastic saw horses in that you get at Home Depot and used two of them to hold the pole waist high so you don't have to reach for the ground level so much. You can put the small parts on the bottom shelf. If you have space it worked like a charm. I may make a table top and make them (saw horses) double as a table for my portable situation. I could put batteries and stuff on the bottom shelf during operation. I got spoiled with the vertical as I had a pileup on my first activation using it. Lots of far away stations all over the place on 20 meters. Yes the sun spots were good and the solar flux levels up the day I went out. It was a blast.

Thanks for the question because I did have a problem there! What I did was put a small wire tie through the little loop and make it small and trim the excess end off of it and leave it on the pole so that I could pass the blue loop through it on the end of the pole. That is a problem, and I need to think about some more ideas for an adjuster and come up with a closure that will snap on the end of the wire. What ever you put on the end can't be too big because it may jamb up the sections when you take it down. You could actually put a swivel snap that goes on the end of your fishing line and use it to hook it to the little loop and hold the wire. (Good idea Bruce.... I will have to dig into my fishing stuff?)

To be honest I didn't notice it? What it might be is a notation for the keyer switch under the cover. If you take the cover off there is a micro switch with a lever that you can use the tip of your finger instead of a key. I suppose in an emergency you could take the cover off and use it. I contemplated making a push button to operate it but didn't do it.

1.1 to 1.3 on all the bands except 40 which is 1.1 at about 7.100 and a little high on the upper side of 40 I had to do it that way to keep 15 meters good in the middle of the band. It could probably use a little more tweeking but overall I believe it is a great antenna. I could shorten 40 some and use a tuner to touch it up on 15. It is a little time consuming to put up but easy. That 30 foot pole was a lot easier to put up than I thought.

i realize I'm kind of off topic but do anyone know of a good website to watch new movies online?

@Zev Lorenzo Flixportal xD

@William Madden thanks, I went there and it seems to work :D I appreciate it!!

@Zev Lorenzo No problem xD

Yep. I did the same. Building this antenna taught me a lot. Thanks Cal.

The spreader plates cannot pull down over the joints as they fit quite tight. If you put the clamps below the plates the antenna can collapse down inside of itself and the spreaders can wander all over the place. Putting them above the plates makes the spreader plates so they cannot go either up or down. I did find you need to get the clamps at the in between sections right on the joint so it wouldn't slip down and come loose. I suppose if I have the spreaders all down one joint from they should be then you are right because they would slide down, but the way I have them the elements seemed to fit right and the spreaders cannot move either up or down.

You might be right if I am putting the spreaders one joint too low, then you would have to have them below the spreader. Yuck I would have to re do everything!

@@bruceweight7319 Like you I watched a lot of Callum's and others YT vids just to make sure I got it right, as Callum would say " no school boy mistakes" The clamps do prevent the pole sections from collapsing due to temperature changes.

@@amsoiltek Hey Rory, I think I did reply again but was reviewing my comments and couldn't see that I did. If I didn't say it you most likely are right about the clamps below the plates. If the clamps are placed right below the joint it would give the clamps two thickness of mast to tighten down on which would make it less likely to break the tube. I had envisioned pulling the sections up and putting the clamp just on and above the joint thus keeping it from sliding down and figured what the heck I could just put the spreader between. The spreaders would be able to wander around while you are putting it together though. next time I put it together I will give put them below and see how it goes; hopefully it doesn't change the fit too much? I didn't have to tighten the clamps very much to hold the sections from sliding when putting it together above the plate. My reasoning was as slick as the tubing is, I wasn't sure how well the clamps would hold by tightening them down on top of the joint Anyway? I don't think it matters too much but I do appreciate your pointing this out as it always good to learn options. Since there were no drawings, and the instructions didn't point out the location of the clamps I can hopefully avoid the wall of shame!

@DX Commander Thanks. I think my problem is that I am a bit old and creaky and forgetful so I have ended up making a few trips up and down the pole. The first POTA activation I did I was mainly on 20 and 40 meters and it was like shooting fish in a barrel. I had a major pile up. compared to my horizontal wire at home I was having fun with contacts all over the place. Thanks again!

The KC9ON website has a lot of info on it and the software which is only half chinese half English.

Yes I had fun putting it together. I did have the same problem with the forked connector's, they were perfect for me elements but not for the radials. I cut all six elements exactly to the cut lengths in the cut chart. There was exactly enough wire for 19 but not 20 radials. I added a length of MTW 18ga which is huge compared to the 24 guage supplied, but works. I found that the whole antenna seems tuned high on all bands with the charts. My location was close to my stations wire antennas and a metal shed like resonate at 7.260 MHz I will be getting it out to a representative location and work on the tuning Not sure what I will do to add wire on as I literally used all the wire, every inch no waste at all. The kit needed probably at least 20 meters more. I believe it is going to be a great antenna once I get it tuned up.

@@bruceweight7319 I also used all the wire making everything up but I ordered the extra spool in case I want to try 80m or needed some extra radials. So far it's all been preparation and I'm planning to put it up on the weekend. I have my Advanced (Extra) assessment on Saturday and didn't want to get too distracted. Y

How much does the extra spool cost? You did the right thing. Shipping is expensive. If I have to I can get some wire that will work but be just a bit less flexible. I may get 500 feet of it.

@@bruceweight7319 It's an extra 34 pounds sterling (whatever that works out to be in US dollars). I figured that the shipping cost to Australia would be the same so I might as well include it as part of the order. Y

@@bruceweight7319 I used DX Engineering premium antenna wire (150'@ $30) for the elements, with some left over. I used the supplied DX10 for 7 sets of radials (4 in each connector and very low SWR.) at 11', with some left over. 73's. K8JAZ.

One thing I figured out was the attachment of the 40 element to lift it up so it won't bend the thin upper part of the pole. The instructions say to use about four inches, but I would use six to eight inches down for the support shock cord. Four inches is too close because the end hooks are over an inch long and your assembly is so short that it has no stretch left.

@@bruceweight7319 good point I'll have another look at that. Y

@@bruceweight7319 It's been a while so I thought I would give some feedback having out everything together and operated the antenna. It wasn't difficult to put the antenna together but I did find it quite fiddly to get all the cords and pieces of wire cut and arranged. As said elsewhere, some clear diagrams would go a long way to simplifying the build. If you have limited horizontal space manhandling the assembled antenna can be tricky. That said once it's put together it's easy to take up and down. Rather than using tape or heat shrink to secure the wire loops I used thin HDPE garden tubing which has enough friction to hold the wire but can also be moved and adjusted. The 40m element was a pain to tune and ended bing much shorter than I expected, in the end I put a plastic T-piece from my garden watering system on the end of the pole to loop the wire back with a spacing of about 65mm to match the last oval shaped spacer. I ended up connecting the ends of the 20m and 40m elements with short/para cord to simplify the rigging as they tension each other. SWR on all the bands was fine, in fact lower than I expected. In terms of performance the antenna is similar to my off centre fed dipole but being vertical can have more QRM. Comparing 20m on receive, it's one to two S points less sensitive than my simple horizontal dipole which is also quieter. The sensitivity could be due to additional elevation of the dipole. On transmit reports have been mixed but it doesn't appear to be definitively better than a dipole. So overall the conclusion the DX Commander doesn't seem to offer any significant advantages of other options at my QTH apart from perhaps the flexibility of having so many bands available from one antenna. On positive note I have had some interaction with Callum and he's excellent to deal with. Delivery was super fast, even all the way to Australia. Y

@@yamakawa511 Thanks Yamakawa. I have not operated mine in the field yet as I am putting together a portable station and that is what I bought the DX Commander for. I figure you are right as a dipole tends to be quite but NVIS and the DX commander should afford you some Good DX but one has to remember that the antenna goes up from the ground and is not high in the air which does change quite a few things. I also couldnt get 40/15 perfect as when I got 15 at a good SWR in the middle of the band 21.200 or so then 40 was way low like below the band in the tune. I then put a standoff about 18 or so inches down to hold the wire out about 2 inches and about as far as the top 2 hole spreader and that did wonderful things but still not perfect. I ended up a very low SWR in 15 probably 1:2 at 21.200 or so and `1:1to one on forty at about 7.095 but when you go up to lets say about 7.240 it was about 1:7 to one so for cw and the lower part of the band lets say where my buddies hang out at 7.155 it is still a good tune probably 1:2 to one. I should get a video of the standoff.

You will need to get a soldering iron and build the cable. That is what I did; I cut the RCA off one end and put the stereo jack on in its place.

@@bruceweight7319 Bruce in this video this operator has a shop bought cable th-cam.com/video/jy8hTGmTVR8/w-d-xo.html I have ordered a stereo jack plug which will accept a rca plug in the end and i also got a male to male rca cable i hope this works .What kind of keyboard are you using is it an old AT style like mfj recommend or ps2 with an adaptor .You would think the mfj would update this unit to acept a modern usb keyboard as they still make this 464 and have done for years .

I don't have a keyboard. I use a serial cable and putty terminal program and the keyboard of my pc. She doesn't say that it is a shop bought cable, however I suspect someone on ebay may be making them and selling them. You will maybe have to look around and see if you can find one. I made all my cables to fit my needs. Can't remember for sure but I think I had to get an external speaker to plug into the 464 so that the audio would pass through, as when you plug in the cable to the speaker jack it turns off the radio speaker.

@@bruceweight7319 Hi Bruce got the the 464 to work ok with a ps2 keyboard and an adaptor and it seems to send ok but there were not many decent signals today and the few faint ones were just showing up as mixed letters on the screen , i have my 7300 set to straight key and wondered if there are any other settings that i need to alter.What about the cw pitch.

@@saltire546 make sure that the pitch level on the IC-7300 is set the same as the MFJ-464 IE both at 700hz or 500hz I use 700 hz I cant remember the menu setting on the 7300 but it ends up being used with the push button knob on the upper right of the display. There are several lists that work with that knob such as the power level. I want to say it is the code pitch on the MFJ-464 they do need to be the same although the Keyer reader is 701 hz for some reason. Also play with the notch settings as you can narrow it up a little and also try using the Noise reduction function and noise blanker. Experiment with different levels. I believe I use 6-7 on the NR

It is 12 volts DC I used light strips made for 12 volts DC if you use LEDs you will have to calculate the resistors for it. Probably around 500 ohms 1/2 watt you can find online calculators for that. I bought 3 meter rolls of LEDs from China for about 5 bucks. Cut 3 led segments which is the smallest you can go. You then have a bunch of leftovers for the shack.

@@bruceweight7319 Ok, thanks! I do have plenty of those types of LED strips from my RC Airplane hobby. Good ideal to light up the meters. I may try that myself.

When I get a minute I'll try and do another video so I can show you how to do it. I did say it wrong about the jack on one of my posts but it does need to be a stereo jack on the one that plugs into the radio. Make sure the radio is set to CW mode and you can narrow up the filter settings on the 7300 with the upper left knobs or using the three filter level settings. Also set the noise filter to about 5-7 and use the noise blanker as well. The volume on the radio had to be high enough to trigger the mfj 464. It has a level setting screw if it is set too low you will have to have the 7300 volume up way high to get it working. You can play with the two so you don't get blasted out by the volume of the radio. Mine still needs some tweaks. Summertime is not so good as lightning noise really messes things up with it's ability to decode. When I get a minute I'll try and do another video on it.

@@bruceweight7319 thank you so much in advance.I will try to do it again like what's u advice. Another one problem... Is I have a mistakes also.. I say in my other comments that I can transmit using my keyboard. But yesterday I joined the JIDX CONTEST I saw It doesn't transmit /come out my cw TX into my rdo. It's in the mfj 464 only. I'm so sad with this device. Maybe I just don't know the wiring and the set up of both units. Looking forwards for your vedio. I will wait for it. Again thank you very much.

If you look at my videos I just added a hasty made video with a little bit more on using the MFJ-464 Noticed that I had the radio set at 95 watts! Don't do CW at that level 35-40 watts is all I would do; otherwise you might smoke the radio.

How is your keyboard connected? Or what is it connected too? The MFJ has a menu item called "OUTPUT". You must set OUTPUT=ON on the IC-7300 you must push the BK-IN button to on it will show BK-IN on the left side of the display. Turn it on and off so you can see it go on and off on the display. Is the keyboard connected directly to the MFJ-464 or the computer?

@@bruceweight7319 How is your keyboard connected? OUTPUT OF KEYBOARD TO INPUT MFJ 464 KEYBOARD OUT. Or what is it connected too? The MFJ has a menu item called "OUTPUT". (I CANT SEE IT IN THE MENU OF MFJ- THE OUTPUT) You must set OUTPUT=ON on the IC-7300 you must push the BK-IN button to on it will show BK-IN on the left side of the display. (DONE.IT TURN ON ALREADY.) Turn it on and off so you can see it go on and off on the display. Is the keyboard connected directly to the MFJ-464 (YES NOT IN THE COMPUTER) or the computer? (THIS IS WHAT I WANT NEXT BUT AS OF NOW I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE RX AND TX IN CW USING THIS DEVICE MFJ 464....THANKS FOR YOUR HELP.

What program are you using? I am using "Putty" terminal program connected to a serial com port on the computer which is connected to the MFJ-464

th-cam.com/video/bep8wEHiuUg/w-d-xo.html this is a bit more on using the MFJ-464 with the IC-7300

What equipment do you have? I have a IC 7300 connected via key jack (#8 on ic 7300) with 1/4 mono jack connected to the ic7300 set in single key mode CW mode key function = on connected to MFJ-464 output set to echo keyboard off, radio echo on (experiment with which setting you like). 1/8" serial port on MFJ connected either to USB to serial adapter or 9-pin serial connector to computer. Computer needs a "terminal program" such as Putty terminal program that I am using. Check the manual of the MFJ-464 as there's a jumper that may need to be changed to match the keying polarity of the ic-7300 I can't remember if I had to change it. You may have to study carefully the ic-7300 and the MFJ-464 manuals to check the settings recommendations for each.

Just to emphasize for sure use a 1/4 metal mono jack to go in the ic-7300. Check how you need to connect to the MFJ-464 stereo or mono and I believe sleeve and tip.

​@@bruceweight7319 hi bruce...please help me how to set the mfj-464 on received aspects? the device cannot read cw clearly. what must be the proper setting on TONE and on VOLUME? so this device will read very will. Thank you.

How do you have your keyboard hooked to your radio. There would be no way to help you unless I had an idea of how you were connected to the radio and how you were trying to accomplish it. one important detail; if you are using a keyer such as an MFJ-464 you have to use a mono jack to connect it to the IC-7300 and the IC-7300 has to be set to straight key mode. The "MFJ-464" keyer (output) has to be set to "on" You have to have a terminal program on your computer if you are using a computer. If the keyboard . If you have a keyboard connected to the MFJ-464 you have to go over the settings in the MFJ-464 manual very carefully one line at a time and also the manual for the IC-7300 I pretty much read the IC-7300 manual from front to back when I got the radio so I would have in mind the capabilities of the radio and then would reference the specific need by using the index. Download the online manual full manual on line. Also I did the same for the MFJ-464.

@@bruceweight7319 thank you for your advice. i will try to read the manual of mfj-464. thank you again. 73 de 4F7FLO

I never figured out how to use a paddle style key with my rickmite, just able to use a straight key. I think there is a way to do it but someone needs to figure it out. I also connected the program cable and it worked ok. There may be a program feature in the settings but it is not in English so very hard to figure out. No instructions on it. You may have inadvertantly set it to streigt key mode.

Thanks I will try this. I think I have them all shorted when I turn it on and it goes into streight key mode but I will have to try your idea to get it in automatic mode

Bruce Weight If this works on your model (and mine is the”51” model) this would avoid you the need to pull and plug the power jack. BTW, on their “paddle” mode (on mine) if I want to make a few dashes I need to press them one by one, same for dots. It’s not like I press and hold and it does a sequence of signs by itself. With a slow speed though, if you type a few repetitious dashes or dots faster than the actual emitting, the machine will produce the sequence in its own speed even after you have stopped keying... Weird :D

After reading your piece I am going to have to do some experiments I think i had the ground shorted to middle and tip when I power up and then end up in streight key mode

. i dont even know i make it right or not. my 2 led seem not working , the paddle seem work fine , no antena to test

Many thanks, sometimes these amps may put out 13V or so at those wires, so to help protect the new regular bulb or LED, should I use one rated at 13V? Also is it AC or DC at the bulb wires at the meter? Thanks again.

It is DC voltage at the wires, yellow is positive.