DX Commander Nebula - Part 7
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2022
- It was time to rip off the bandaid and buy a better antenna for my home setup and to have a better efficiency antenna for my Parks On The Air setup. So I bought a @DXCommander Nebula/Neboola & a POTA/SOTA Expedition. This is a multi-part video series of my build of the Nebula.
DX Commander Nebula - www.m0mcx.co.uk/store/product...
Ground Spikes I'm using to keep the radials down: amzn.to/38K4FmB
Guy Stakes: amzn.to/3OSt5en
Blue Water Ropes Niteline: amzn.to/3su7gZh
Figure 9 Carabiner: amzn.to/3F6EjHT
DXC SWR Calculator www.m0mcx.co.uk/quick-swr-cal...
NanoVNA: amzn.to/3a97774
NanoVNA Saver: github.com/NanoVNA-Saver/nano...
Thank you to my channel supporters:
Ham Radio Dude - Sean W9FFF
Mike T.
and to my Patrons:
Santiago - Hamworldonline
Lionel
Steve - KO4AFL
Brian D.
Alek - NO4G - กีฬา
Thanks for documenting your antenna build, it was very in depth and helpful
I don't think you left anything out at all
Thank so much
Glad it was helpful! Cal makes a killer antenna kit and so well worth the money.
Great job, Carlos. Your efforts to produce this series (and thus help us all out) is much appreciated!
Glad you enjoy it! Stay tuned for the unexpected DX Commander Nebula after after video. I think I should have it ready for this coming Thursday.
Very nice series and good tips. The yard guys hit my radial when scalping the yard and it sucked in several radials. I now "mow" that area with a weed eater and I am very careful around it. I have a BUNCH of those stakes and I need to go in and double stake. That is a good idea.
I changed the setting on my mower from 4 inches to 6 inches after that. I figure if I need to mow more often there that is a sacrifice I need to be willing to make in order to keep the radials happy.
Excellent series! Thanks so much!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very nice! Let us know the outcome of adding 10M....
WECB640 had a *fantastic* idea that I'm going to see if I can use on this antenna. There is an unexpected part 8 coming out hopefully on Thursday.
Really enjoyed your videos! Did a search for " Nebula" and found you. Trying to decide between the 12.4 and the big boy. Comes down to a clean element or a loading. Did you look at the 12.4? I was also thinking about a bottom pivot mounted in concrete.
If you have the room and if you have the strength needed to lift the antenna (It is not heavy at all but "heavy" is a relative term right?), then I suggest the Nebula. Making the loading coil is a variable that will need some up/down/up/down work to get right while shortening or lengthening an element is much simpler.
The 12.4 was not available when I bought my Nebula and I considered getting one when the storm took my Nebula out but decided to just replace it with the Nebula again. It is such a great antenna.
💯🎸🎸🎸👍🙋♂️🍻
Thanks!
Great video series Carlos! Just ordered a "Nebula" myself. I intend to use it for the 80,40,20,21 and 10m bands only. Have you installed a dedicated element for the 10m band? Will be interesting to hear the results...
I did end up putting a 10m element off the "back side" of the driven plate. I'll make a short video showing what I did in a couple weeks.
@@LifeAtTerminalVelocity Thanks! I was thinking about that. Will be waiting to watch the video...73!
What did you do to solve the 80m tuning problem? You mentioned it while you were tweaking the element lengths but didn't comment on what the solution was in your closing video.
I ended up cutting the 80m element to just be an 80m element and adding the @k8mrd mod making a standalone 10m element. It doesn't have as much gain but it was loads easier to tune.
Nice series... did you get an answer for the 80m issue?
Sadly I didn't get a chance to get 80m fixed up. Check out the unexpected part 8 to the series for the full details - th-cam.com/video/NELxWwPOKJA/w-d-xo.html
Where's the footage of you using this on your radio please? Action shots as it were.
Honestly I never thought people would want to see me playing radio other than from a parachute. I might make the followup this winter.
@LifeAtTerminalVelocity We do Sir, we do! 🍻
Are you happy with it?
I'm very happy with it. This is about as low key as I can put a resonant antenna at my house and not call a lot of attention to myself. It stands up to the weather we have in the midwest very nicely. There is very little wind load to it. It is exceedingly easy for me to put up and take down all by myself. The field of radials is now invisible.
Without question I'd buy this again. Not that I'll need to.
My Nebula just came in, and unboxed - done nothing beyond that. YES, your videos are MUCH appreciated. I too asked (myself) "Why not 10m ?" So did you do it ? I even thought about replacing 30m (fairly restrictive band) with 10m. What did you do ? What do you recommend ?
I kept the 30m element because I use it for FT8 but I added the @k8mrdradiostuff mod by adding and element on the unused hole on the driven plate that does 10m on a ¼ wave.
You are going to love this antenna, it is fantastic.
@@LifeAtTerminalVelocity Thank you !
Sorry to bug you again - you wrote "I added the @k8mrdradiostuff mod . . ." -- I've looked over his large production, and can't seem locate that mod. Might you help, please ? And I'm most interested in your mods and would like links - e.g. "night line" ? Looks good, and practical. Did you find the right-angle forks ?
Not a bug. So my buddy Mike (K8MRD - www.youtube.com/@K8MRD ) made a video about a year ago ( th-cam.com/video/xeaQVapy2Wc/w-d-xo.html ) detailing how to add an extra element to a DX Commander Expedition 12m. The same exact item can be done on the Nebula/18m. Basically you make an extra element for the band you want and you tie it into the driven plate by way of the unused threaded hole.
Also, I realized I didn't answer the question about the 90º connectors. I haven't found them on Amazon, Digikey, Mouser, or McMaster. The reflective line is this: amzn.to/3o4Ck2i that is an affiliate link.