Worked the World From W7 on a 24' 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.

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."

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.

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.

"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."

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.

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

• N3FTO works the Western Pacific with 100W and a 20′ vertical
• AF1RO works every continent on FT8 with 50W and a 20′ flagpole
• Do I really need a tuner at the base of my Greyline?

73,

Jon, KL2A — Greyline Performance

Sun Valley, Idaho · 435-200-4902

Ham radio is fun again.