Worked the World From W7 on a 24' DX Flagpole

by Greyline Performance سبتمبر 18, 2020

Customer Spotlight

Cliff, K7CWC · Western Washington (W7)

Spotted Around the World on a 24-Foot DX Flagpole

Cliff installed his Greyline 24′ DX Flagpole near Seattle and lit up the PSK Reporter map worldwide. W7 is not known as a DX hot spot, which makes the spread of his spots all the more impressive. Way to go, Cliff.

In His Words

"I've made contacts from my Western Washington location to both European and far East stations on different bands."

K7CWC PSK Reporter FT8 spot map worldwide, Greyline flagpole antenna

Cliff's PSK Reporter map. The spots marked "hrs" or "mins" are stations reporting hearing him.

Reference: pskreporter.info/pskmap.html — enter his call, your call, or any callsign to see who is hearing whom, with signal strengths for your own station too.

The Install, In His Words

By K7CWC, Cliff

I ordered the Greyline 24-foot DX Flagpole Antenna plus LDG RT-600 Remote Antenna Tuner bundle. The order was processed on the Greyline webpage. I received an order confirmation and links to the system documentation.

Greyline isn't Amazon, so it did take somewhat longer to receive my antenna than I'd have preferred. When it was ready for shipment, I received an email with tracking information and was able to follow it on the UPS site within a few days. The antenna arrived in good order. The feed and flag components arrived in a separate shipment, as did the remote tuner.

"The instructions were clear, and the packing list is arranged in the order of assembly. I was very impressed with the quality of the parts, and that each antenna section was individually wrapped and labeled. The pre-drilled holes matched perfectly with the corresponding holes in the inter-section connection splices."

K7CWC Seattle Greyline flagpole HOA vertical antenna install

Cliff's install near Seattle.

The antenna has fiberglass insulating splices between the ground mounting section and the lower active section, and another fiberglass section isolating the lower active section from the longer top section. The balance of the antenna uses aluminum connection splices.

For his feed, Cliff ran the line from the shack to a choke, with a short jumper to the radio side of the remote tuner, then a coax jumper from the tuner to the coax-to-ladder-line adapter. He opted for a Palomar coax-to-ladder-line adapter rather than the supplied 3D-printed one, and supplied his own short jumpers (1 ft of MPD-400 Superflex).

The ladder line is mounted within the lower active section, isolated from the tubing by spacers, and split at the upper fiberglass splice — one conductor to the lower section, the other to the upper. As Cliff notes: mark one side of the ladder line so you can be sure the main conductor matches the upper section.

DX Flagpole base concealed within an overturned flower pot, K7CWC

The DX Flagpole base, concealed within an overturned flower pot.

Cliff used a tilt mount he had from a prior installation, shortening the supplied in-ground section to adapt it; the lower fiberglass insulator keeps the antenna from being grounded by the mount. Before mounting, he assembled the top truck, halyard, and cleat, and added a gold-colored flagpole topper — both for looks and to enhance the hiding-in-plain-sight stealth. He covered the base and tuner with a large plastic flower pot, drilled and slipped over the antenna before attaching it to the mount.

Cliff's Measured SWR

10M 1.5 · 12M 1.8 · 15M 1.6 · 17M 1.3 · 20M 1.0 · 30M 1.0 · 40M 1.1 · 60M 1.1 · 80M 1.6

"It's early with my operation with the flagpole antenna, but so far, I am pleased. I've made contacts from my Western Washington location to both European and far East stations using different bands. The antenna looks great and the neighbors are just seeing an attractive flagpole as a nice addition to my property."

K7CWC Greyline DX flagpole 160-6M HF vertical antenna in summer 2020 smoke

The smoke of summer 2020 nearly hides that elegant 160–6M DX Flagpole. Stealth, indeed.

Cliff's hints: Wear gloves when handling the fiberglass insulating splices. Mark one conductor on the ladder line so the top (long) section connects to the center conductor from your radio. (Note: this reflects Cliff's own install of the 24′ ladder-line-fed model. For the current Greyline feed system and recommended setup on your specific antenna, follow the documentation that ships with your order or reach out to us.)

Greyline Writes

That's a beautiful install, Cliff. I bet the XYL loves the clean lines in the garden. We looked your signal up on PSK and — wow — the entire planet from W7. Smooth moves. Ham radio is fun again, sir. See you on all the bands, for certain. 73 de Greyline Performance.

If Cliff Can Do It From W7, So Can You

Be Heard Around the World

Washington State is not known as a DX hot spot — and Cliff still worked the planet. A Greyline DX Flagpole covers 160–6M from a single feedpoint, no radials, and keeps the neighbors happy. Engineered to ASCE 7-10 wind standards in Sun Valley, Idaho. Free shipping.

Shop DX Flagpoles ›

What Customers Are Saying

"Real DX, 160–6M, at my HOA."
"4-Band DXCC in 3 months at my HOA."
"So pretty my XYL approves!"
"If I can hear it, I can work it."

Keep Reading

73,

Jon, KL2A — Greyline Performance

Sun Valley, Idaho · 435-200-4902

Ham radio is fun again.

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20' Flagpole review

We are very pleased with our 20' flagpole with the 9' whip. We are able to FT8 all over the world with it. I love that we didn't have to put in radials. I haven't done a lot of voice contacting but have been able to reach over 1300 miles into Oklahoma, NW Montana, and Washington state from Arizona. I'm sure I will be able to reach farther than that with a little more time doing it.

Thank you for the report — and congratulations on the contacts. Arizona to Oklahoma, Montana, and Washington on the 20' DXF with the 9' whip is exactly the kind of all-band performance the system is built for, and FT8 worldwide is the proof of concept. The no-radials part isn't a shortcut — it's the design choice that lets the antenna work where most verticals can't. More time on the bands and you'll see the DX windows open up. Welcome to the Greyline community.
73,
Jon KL2A
Greyline Performance

24 foot flagpole antenna review

First I would start by thanking Greyline for excellent communication and support. Any questions I had were promptly answered and addressed.
The antenna assembly went quick and was pretty easy to follow. I can tune <1.5:1 for 10m to 40m. 80m is hit or miss but is probably due to my older antenna tuner as it tunes 80m some of the time. WSPR tests show good propagation with some contacts in Australia and South America from California (QTH). Made some FT8 contacts with East Coast US. Ran some high power SSB tests and all good. Overall very happy with the antenna. It is well manufactured.

Hi Phillip, thank you for sharing your detailed experience! We're thrilled to hear you're happy with the antenna's performance and our support. Enjoy your amateur radio adventures! Thank you — and that's a strong report. California to Australia and South America on WSPR is the kind of low-power-out, real-propagation evidence that tells you the system is working as designed. East Coast on FT8 and clean high-power SSB rounds out the picture. On 80M: you're right to suspect the tuner. The DXF is non-resonant by design and asks more of the ATU on the lowest bands; a tuner with a wider impedance range will close that gap. Worth a conversation if you want to chase it. Welcome to the Greyline community. Ham Radio is fun again!
73,
Jon KL2A
Greyline

reply to your request for an update.

Recieved the antenna in good shape. Checked out the video and manual for assemble. Worked on where the best place to install it. In the process of Ordering support items. ladder antenna and then I got sick. Currently I am on the mend and will keep you updated.
I do have a question regarding in ground laterals that many verticle antenna need. I did not see instructions for ground laterals?
Probably a few more questions, however both the video and manual are great.
Thank You
Roger Lutz [****]. [****]

Very Happy

I'm very happy with this antenna. It looks great as a flagpole. Easy to setup and get on the air. Works and performs very well.

I was really surprised

I am not your normal Flagpole user. I was running an Icom 7610 when I bought it, 24' + 4' extension with LDG tuner, and it was the best vertical I have used. I then went digital and upgraded to a Flex 8600 with an Antenna Genius and a Tuner Genius. I was having a lot of trouble getting the LDG to work consistently with the 8600 system. In desperation I removed the LDG from the equation and installed a Balun Design 4115T 4:1 Balun to the ladder wire from the Flagpole. I was amazed that I could tune most bands to less than 1.5 to 1, but I could not tune 160m, 12m, and 10m. I then added the extension. I took the kit apart and used galvonic grease on all of the connections. I then set the length to 138 7/16 inches and use shrink wrap on all of the connectors. I had to rent a lift truck to get the extension on the Flagpole and used galvonic grease on the connection. The extension made the Flagpole not tune on 6m, but everything else was great. I do not believe in a perfect world so having a 160m to 6m antenna that did not do well on all bands in-between was not a surprise. When I cranked up the new system with the Flagpole feeding the 8600 I was stunned. I know that you might think that that is just marketing talk, but it is true. I run WSJT-X and JTAlert. Yesterday, a Thursday, I started a session around 3:00 Pensacola, FL time. I started on 30m with the Tuner Genius giving me a 1.19 to 1. I was able to get a QSO from every contact In my JTAlert list. Anyone I could see I could receive. I then tuned to 20m. For whatever reason the pattern was full. I started making contacts and was able to make 20 straight QSO's in a row, all from outside of the USA. The average distance from Pensacola to the QSO's was around 4,000 miles. They spanned from South Africa to Australia to Finland. That is a coverage area of around 18,000 thousand miles. Do atmospheric conditions work that way? If they do I have never experienced it before. You should be the judge on just how good this Antenna - Radio combination is.
73
Bill - NO4ON

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Worked the World From W7 on a 24' DX Flagpole

Spotted Around the World on a 24-Foot DX Flagpole

By K7CWC, Cliff

Be Heard Around the World

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