Assembly Documents & Installation Guides | Greyline Performance
Setup & Support
Assembly Documents & Installation Guides
Your Greyline is designed for a clean, fast install. One person, one Allen wrench, 30–60 minutes to assemble. Everything you need is below. If you get stuck, call us: 435-200-4902
Start Here: The Quick Card
Four pages, one per step, lots of white space. Print it and keep it on the bench; this page has the detail behind every line.
Download the Quick Card (PDF) → View online →
Want a hand on install day? Most towns have a ham radio club, and members love an antenna raising. Find a club near you (ARRL) →
Have a Tilt-Up Base? Its own one-page card.
Install, lower, and raise, for the standard and XL bases. The one rule: loosen all four bolts, remove the second bolt down, and leave the top one in. Tilt-Up Base Instructions →
I. Core Assembly Manuals
Download Your Manual
12-28 ft | All Current Models
DXF & DXV Flagpole / Vertical
One manual for every current model: 12, 16, 20, 24, and 28-foot, all 2 in OD top to bottom. Same design, same assembly. Note: the PDF shows an earlier joint design; current antennas ship with each splice already bolted into its section — follow the Section Order and Step-by-Step below for the current build.
Download PDFLegacy 28 ft | 2.25 in OD
No Longer Built — For Existing Owners
The original 28-foot model used 2.25 in OD tubing — a different antenna from the current 2 in OD 28. If your 28 predates the current line, this is your manual. The XL Tilt-Up Base is built for this antenna.
Download PDFExperimental 32-44 ft | Guyed
Same 2 in OD Design, Taller
Experimental verticals follow the standard manual above — the added 4-foot sections repeat the same splice pattern. GUYING IS REQUIRED, 32 feet and above. Rig your guys before you raise. Guying kits: DIY or your favorite vendor.
View the Experimental Line →Which Section Goes Where
The Section Order, Bottom to Top
Every splice is already bolted into one end of its section at the bench and fit-checked there. The splice belongs to the section above and slides down into the tube below. To join sections, remove only the exposed bolts on the splice, slide the next section down over it, line up the holes, and put the bolts back. Never remove the lower bolts that hold a splice into its own section. If a hole does not present as a full circle, stop and re-index the section rather than forcing the bolt.
1. BASE: the section whose fiberglass insulator has the feedline slot. It goes into the PVC sleeve (or the tilt base), slot just above the sleeve so the feedline can exit. No holes on its bottom end — nothing attaches below it.
2. FEEDPOINT SECTION: the one whose insulator has two round holes. The ladder line runs up inside sections 1 and 2 and out those holes, one wire to each side of the dipole. That insulator is the electrical break between the two halves of the antenna; it belongs there.
3-5. STANDARD SECTIONS: interchangeable. On a flagpole model, one carries the halyard cleat — place it where you can reach the cleat.
6. TOP: the shorter section with holes on one end only. Holes go down; the plain end is the top, where the flag truck threads in. (Taller models add standard sections in the middle.)
II. Installation Requirements
What You Need
| Requirement | Detail |
|---|---|
| Assembly time | 30–60 minutes, one person. The ground sleeve’s concrete wants 24 hours or more of cure first. |
| Tools required | One 5/32" Allen wrench (hex key) — that’s it. Snug tight is the spec; these are not torque-critical connections. |
| Ground prep | Standard 3-foot fence post hole, 10–20” diameter, matching the included PVC sleeve |
| Feedline to the shack | Not included — you choose the line and the length. Most owners run coax from the adapter at the base; ladder line and buried twisted pair are the other options, and the Feedline Loss Calculator compares them for your run. For coax, measure radio to feedpoint and add about 15% for routing and service loops. Assembled Times Microwave LMR and Heliax runs are on the site, terminated and weatherproofed; 10% comes off when coax rides with an antenna order. |
| Pro tip | Use antenna grease (Noalox) on all metal-to-metal connections — available at any hardware store for about $5 |
Before You Dig
Step 0: Run a Noise Audit
A Greyline stands on a 2-inch pole with nothing on the ground. A traditional vertical’s radial field can run hundreds of feet on 160 meters — toward every noise source on the property. A Greyline goes where you put it. So before you dig, find the right spot.
The Noise Audit — 10 Minutes, Massive Payoff
1. Grab a battery-powered AM radio — no connection to house wiring, that's important.
2. Tune off any broadcast station so you hear only noise, no signal. Daytime for less noise, evening for when everyone is home and everything is on.
3. Walk the property — front yard, back yard, side yards, corners.
4. Note the quiet zones (away from the meter, HVAC, neighbor's panel, LED lighting).
5. Note the loud zones — near anything switching or motorized.
6. Install in the quietest spot your lot allows. Your on-air experience will be much better for it.
Footprint. Noise. Smart, Strong, Elegant.
III. Configuration & Feedline
System Configuration & Feedline
Getting the feed system right is where most questions come from. The short version: the tuner does the matching; the 1:1 choke in your box handles common mode — at the feedpoint, or on the radio side of a remote tuner; and no 4:1 or 9:1 belongs anywhere in the chain. These resources cover the rest.
Coax to the Shack — Assembled, Not a Bag of Parts
Genuine Times Microwave LMR-400 and LMR-600 and Andrew Heliax hardline, cut to length, terminated with PL-259 or N, weatherproofed and labeled. Measure radio to feedpoint and add 15%. Ten percent comes off the feedline when it rides with an antenna order.
Coax Feedline →Your RF System, End to End
Visual overview of the complete antenna system, from feedpoint to radio.
View Guide →Feedline Kit Install Guide
Ladder line, choke, and the ladder-line to PL-259 adapter, step by step with images.
View Guide →Parts Visual Walkthrough
Pictures of every part of the flagpole antenna — identify components before you start.
View on Google Drive →Do I Need a Tuner?
Remote at the base or desktop in the shack — answered directly.
Read the Answer →Sample Assembly with Video — Alaska Install
Real-world assembly walkthrough with video from a field installation in Alaska.
View on Google Drive →Every feedline configuration → | Feedline Loss Calculator →
IV. Customer Installation Examples
Proven in the Field
See how other operators have installed their systems — useful for planning your own approach.
N6RPG — 28’ HOA Flagpole Install
Customer video tutorial, great detail on the 28-foot model.
Watch on YouTube →KQ4EXO — ARC Radio Club Presentation
Custom install walkthrough with helpful pictures. 12–28’ models.
View Presentation →Step-by-Step
Building the Flagpole Antenna — Assembly Order
Before you start: Confirm you have the total height of your antenna plus an extra 3 feet for ground insertion. All hardware should be pre-attached — there should be no loose hardware in the box. You will also have a Feedline Kit and, for DXF models, a Flag Kit.
Section note: Follow the section order above: where a model uses heavier-wall sections, they go at the bottom. Each section has its splice bolted to it. Remove only the top two bolts (not the lower two — they hold the splice into its own section). Lower the next section down, line up the holes, and re-fasten. Tighten all bolts.
Noalox vs. Loctite — Two Different Jobs (and One Trap)
Noalox is an anti-oxidant grease for the metal-to-metal mating surfaces (Step 4): it keeps the aluminum junctions electrically clean and corrosion-free. Buy a fresh tube — old ones dry out.
Loctite is a threadlocker against wind-loosening (Step 5) — and the grade matters. Blue is the right one: medium-strength, holds against vibration, breaks free with hand tools. Red is the trap: it is the permanent formula and takes a torch — several hundred degrees — to release. Red on antenna bolts turns your first season check or whip swap into a blowtorch project.
Keep the two apart: surfaces get Noalox, threads get Blue — never both in the same spot. Grease on the threads defeats the threadlocker.
How tight? These are not torque-critical connections — snug tight with the 5/32" Allen is the factory answer, and 18-8 stainless into aluminum wants snug, not maximum. For the spec-minded: the industry torque tables put 1/4"-20 stainless, dry, at 63.6 in-lb — treat that as a ceiling, not a target.
Top of the Pole
The Truck, the Whip, and the Flag
Every Greyline — flagpole and vertical alike — ships with a flag truck at the top of the pole. It threads in where a gold ball would sit on an ordinary flagpole, and on ours it does double duty: it is the mechanical top of the pole and the electrical junction that receives the 9-foot DX Whip. Bench-tested and proven in the field.
Flagpole (DXF) owners
The truck’s pulley carries your halyard, and the flag flies from the pole below it. Adding the whip? It threads into the truck above — by hand, no tools. The flag and the whip fly together; nothing about the whip displaces the flag. The storm rule: when the forecast turns, flag down, and nothing on top. Anything at the tip of the pole in a blow is a sail on the longest lever arm the antenna has. A flag light belongs at the bottom, aimed up — it lights the flag, meets the Flag Code, and keeps the antenna inside its warranty.
Vertical (DXV) owners
Your antenna ships with the same truck — just leave the pulley empty. No rope required, and it works great: the whip threads in exactly the same way. If you want a cleaner look, we are making a premium machined cap right now — sleek, no pulley, and it receives the whip identically. It will be available as an optional swap; call to get on the list: 435-200-4902
V. First Tune-Up
Tuning Your Antenna — The Step That Makes Everything Work
Your Greyline is a non-resonant antenna by design — that is what gives it 160M–6M coverage. It depends on your tuner to make the match on every band, and a tuner that has never been commanded through a tune cycle has never made one. The symptom is unmistakable: one or two bands seem workable, everything else seems dead. Nothing is broken — the tune cycle simply has not run. This is the single most common support call we get, and it ends the same way every time: the operator runs the procedure below, and the whole spectrum opens up.
Remote Tuner (RT-100 Class) — You Don’t Hear It, You See It
1. Confirm the control box in your shack has its 12V power connected and its light on. The tuner at the antenna is powered through the coax from that box — no power there, no tuner, period.
2. Pick a band, find a clear frequency, select a steady-carrier mode (RTTY, FM, or key-down CW), and set power low — 10 to 20 watts.
3. Key the carrier and, while transmitting, press the Tune button on the control box.
4. Watch your SWR meter: the reading starts high and falls as the tuner cycles, settling low within a few seconds. That falling needle is you “hearing” the remote tuner. Unkey — the match is now stored in memory for that band.
5. Repeat once per band you work. After that, the tuner recalls its memories instantly and you just operate.
Shack / Desktop Tuner (Manual or Auto)
Same principle, your side of the coax: re-tune at every band change. Auto tuners: press Tune with a low-power carrier flowing. Manual tuners: adjust per your tuner’s procedure until reflected power dips to its minimum. A manual tuner never tunes itself — a band you have not tuned will look dead, and it is not.
Remote tuner won’t respond at all?
Check the DC path. Anything in the coax line that blocks DC silently kills a power-over-coax tuner — and most lightning arresters and surge protectors are DC-blocked by design. If you run one, it must be the DC-pass type. Verify “DC pass” on its spec sheet, or call us: 435-200-4902
Grounding: The Antenna Floats, the Station Is Grounded
The antenna is a dipole — nothing in its RF circuit connects to earth — so the antenna and remote tuner float; mount the tuner on a non-conductive post at least six inches up. Your station should surely be grounded, per the ARRL’s recommendations: for example, a grounded bulkhead entry panel where the feedline enters the building, bonded to the service ground, and surge protectors along the coax, each bonded to ground. Ward Silver’s Grounding and Bonding for the Radio Amateur (ARRL) is the reference we point owners to.
VI. Hardware Replacement & The Fall Checkup
Replacing Hardware the Right Way
Wind works fasteners loose over a season, and every antenna eventually needs a bolt replaced. When you replace one, replace it with stainless: hardware-store fasteners are often zinc-plated steel, which looks identical the day it goes on and rusts within a few winters — and a corroded clamp bolt is a joint that loosens under load. Stainless kits are on the site; this is how the bench does the swap.
The bolt, published so you can source it right
1/4"-20 x 1/2" button-head socket cap bolt, 304 stainless (18-8), fully threaded, 5/32" Allen. Eight per joint: 24 on a 12-footer through 56 on a 28-footer. Any hardware store 1/4"-20 gets you standing again in a pinch; put the stainless back in after. Within reach of salt air, 316 stainless lasts longer.
The Swap, From the Bench
1. Prep the joint. Green Scotch-Brite on the tube ends and splice; light sandpaper only if you must. Acetone, paint thinner, or denatured alcohol to clean. Chase the threads with a cheap 1/4"-20 tap in a drill, especially where old thread locker is stuck.
2. Grease the joint. Noalox on the mating surfaces (Step 4 above). Any normal grease beats nothing.
3. All loose, then snug. Start every bolt before tightening any — one-at-a-time can leave the joint out of line.
4. How tight is tight. Wrench-tight on a standard 5/32" Allen — pull hard by hand and stop. The 63.6 in-lb figure above is the ceiling. Never an impact driver or a breaker bar; you can blow straight through the hex.
5. The one never: no thread locker into the helicoils at the fiberglass insulators. It can lock the bolt to the helicoil and back the coil out of the fiberglass — then the only way apart is cutting the bolt head off. Blue Loctite goes into aluminum threads only.
6. After. Check it once a year and eyeball it after bad weather.
Stainless or plated? Rust is the verdict, the magnet is a hint
304 stainless is mildly magnetic — a light pull on a magnet is normal, especially on cold-formed button heads. Plated steel grabs hard, and it rusts: white bloom first, then red, at the heads and where they meet the tube. Anything rusting gets replaced with stainless before the snow. When in doubt, replace with known stainless; it is cheap and it settles the question.
Extension kits and older antennas
Wall thickness and splice diameters have changed by production era. When you order an extension or replacement section, tell us the year your antenna was built and the bench sends the connector that fits the first time.
Stainless hardware kits, base sections, and tilt hardware → | Coax feedline → | The Fall Checkup →
Need help? Call us.
We’re operators. We know this system inside out. 435-200-4902 or the contact form. We’d rather spend 10 minutes on the phone than have you frustrated on the bench.
A second pair of hands? Your local ham radio club is the best help there is — members love an antenna raising, and many will come out on install day. It is also how newer operators and anyone installing for a spouse or friend find their footing. Find a club near you with the ARRL club finder →
Related
Assembly Quick Card →
Tilt-Up Base Instructions →
Common Questions →
Where the Choke Goes →
Indoor vs Remote Tuner →
Where to Mount It →
Coax Feedline — Times & Heliax, assembled →
Order Status →
Contact Greyline →
Ham Radio is fun again! Pass it on… 73, Jon KL2A