To learn electronics in a very different and effective way, and gain access to Mr Carlson's personal designs and inventions, visit the Mr Carlson's Lab Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/MrCarlsonsLab

Mr. Carlson never does anything half ass. Always gives it 110%. I hope he has kids. He is a perfect role model for any young man.

it was like yesterday the day i watched you install the antenna.

Mr carlson just wanted an excuse for a big blue truck!

My wife seen your truck and said,” I need one of those!” She would be snipping every twig she could see. 🤣🤣 Looking forward to your next videos.

Mr Carlon quite rightly so, You and your family live in a stunning house and gardens (yard you guys call it- that aint no yard) ...Sir your a clever man, and do amazing things that even non engineers are drawn to , esp the 'old radio restos' ....keep it up , its well appreciated

Great news. I was wondering about the receiver series. I started with a CR-91A receiver more than 40 years ago. These old receivers are greatly under rated. Cheers!

My prayers have been answered. The GRRS will continue. Many thanks Mr. C

At the 1 min mark I smashed the like button when I heard the Grand Receiver series will resume!!!

I wish you were my neighbor, because I could learn so much more from you than JUST simply by watching your KZfaq videos, (as good as those are!), because I would be regularly visiting and talking with you, and wanting to help you out with your projects and videos! It would be great fun for me, being a major electronics nerd myself!

Army field telephone wire works well for antennas....copper and steel in twisted pair configuration. Legendary toughness, hard to stretch, tinned and takes solder well. It's stiff of course and hard to strip the insulation off, but you can pretty much forget it once it's up. Comes in half-kilometer reels at hamfests! Thanks! 73 K4UIE

I have used steel electric fence wire for years for both transmit and receive with good results. As long as I have a good solder joint to the steel wire, it does a great job. I think my 80 meter dipole has been up for close to 20 years!

I used 308 stainless alloy for a wire antenna .its been working great and cheap to buy a spool

So glad to hear that the Grand Receiver Restoration is still on-going. Especially looking forward to the Collins R390 A.

Good to hear you're moving ahead with the receiver restoration project and great to see a Mr C video actually shot outside and in the daylight

At 6:19 - I noticed the "zip ties" used to retain the ropes at the insulators. These are white which generally means are not UV protected. The T&B brand Ty-Wrap black zip ties are the best for this application.

Hey Paul, Great vid! Fifty years ago, my 6th grade teacher ( Dutch W1GXY ) and I ( WN1USM ) put up my first dipole antenna ( 40 meter band ). We used Copper Weld wire-which held up beautifully-well into my college years. We stretched it between a pine tree and a back porch post. We used rope and a clothesline pulley screwed into the tree with a plastic weight plate hanging down near the trunk. During wind storms that plate used to fly up and down as the tree swayed! I was going to comment on the white zip ties, but I see many more have already. I used to work for a Photo Voltaic research company and we wired our array sensors with white zip ties. When we went to decommission the site, the zips just crumbled in our hands. I love how transparent your welding wire is, my Copper Weld was plainly visible. Nice job! George ( WA1USM )..

Mr. Carlson is the neighbor we all wish we had. Bucket truck, generator, complete fab shop, electronics guru...yeah...wonder if there are any homes for sale in his neighborhood.

I used MacLean 430 SS Lashing Wire - 0.45in stainless steel Wire is fully annealed and wax coated for ease of use. Put it up in 1988 , its still good, no rust no corrosion . Of course the the radio is in closet now because the invasion of panama was what I installed for. I got the wire off the linemen but you can buy it online. You would never need to do it again or even check it. I had tried several different types of wire before this and after time passed they all failed . Not this one

I absolutely love that truck. You are too cool. Next, if you just had your own small nuclear power generation facility, water well, underground cistern system, and septic system.... Seriously though, the truck is amazing. Thanks for another thoroughly entertaining video.

Nice Cherry Picker that a real one. Always impressed by your attitude towards Electronics ... legend you have become.

I am so happy to hear that you will be continuing the receiver restoration series, I have been waiting for it to continue.

My wire antenna was a dipole made with Copper Weld wire, with 450 ohm feeders. It had been up for many years and finally, this year, the wire rusted out at the feed point, which is up on my tower, about 18m high. Now, I am doing a lot of thinking about my climb up to it!

Great video as always. When you say it takes x2 re the project and x4 when you add a camera. What would be interesting is to do a 25 minute video but show it from conception in your mind to the upload to Pateron or YT. That would give us all a real insight into how it works 👌

Very long we have must wait, to see your antenna, now its all clear, he has an antenna^^

Yes the GRRS will continue! :) I can't wait!

Mr Carlsons lab your light blue truck with a cherry picker is awesome my friend

What a great piece of equipment to have at the ready, that bucket truck must be a dream to own. I have two 40' Rohn towers with multiple antennas, vertical's and twin stacked arrays and now find myself struggling to climb safely doing maintenance, envious for sure. Spring tension on the antenna is a great idea and yes the wire looks fine IMO. Glad to hear the restoration series is in the works, thanks as that is educational as well as enjoyable. Nice video Mr C., much appreciated. 73

Doesn't every one have a bucket truck! nope! some of us Peons still have to climb manually haha. thanks for sharing ECF

Oh joy! An outside antenna video. I'm all in! Thanks, Paul.

Woohoo! The blue bucket truck is back 😀

HOW WAS THIS PUT UP YEARS AGO?! I feel like it's been months at most! 😳🤪😅 Looking good!

Thanks again Mr. Carlson!

Ok Paul, if that is your truck, I am drooling!! 🤣 A vehicle like that makes so much of our antenna work substantially easier. Cheers and 73

Have you considered putting a common-mode choke at the feedpoint of the antenna? Without it, the outside of the coax shield effectively becomes part of the antenna. Since it enters your lab it will be prone to pick up noise there, which can then flow back up to the feedpoint and then back to the receiver. I am sure your antenna is efficient, but s/n ratio is more important in a receiving antenna.

Fantastically engineered system, I love it. Nicely done as usual.

Shortwave radio - 📻 enjoyed the video

Mr Carlson I do enjoy these videos and have for many years now..Thank you because I know camera work and editing are way more time consuming than most people realize especially to make the quality of videos that you do..

The last time I did antenna work on my tower I rented a bucket truck from U-Haul and it sure made the task much easier. I will admit the controls took a little time to get used to but all in all it was well worth it.

Sir Mr Carlson Lab very impressed! Great athleticism the way you climbed into that cheery picker and scaled it!

Thank You 👍

The breaks to see the outside of the lab are a nice touch. Zip strips, zip ties, we always called them "zickers". Nice landscaping by the way.

I love your field trips !

If you have a friend who works on aircraft, there's some .032 safety wire that's used to safetying aircraft components. I used it for a solar dryer (clothes line), and its lasted about 30 years. There's more than one type of wire. Some don't rust, and some will look tarnished, but hold up fine. I enjoy watching your content working on the old radios. I'm not much of an electronic guy, but it's interesting to see what do. Tommy

It looks like even though we're both on the same northern latitude (I'm in Maine) , you're pretty much 3000+ miles due west of me, your trees are much further into spring than here. We had about 30 inches of snow around Easter! I would love to see you do a video on modifying the MFJ-259B of yours. I've got the Nano VNA and I'm starting to use it. Maybe showing an alignment of an RCA AR-88, which requires more than basic alignment procedures and comparing the best verses the cheapest test equipment. And then, for good measure, show the VINTAGE way of aligning these communication receivers. I don't mean a complete alignment, just one section to show how the comparing how different equipment works. One thing I love best about your channel is the test equipment the you can build yourself. When you don't have to comply with U.L., factory, or FCC requirements, it is amazing how much simpler the test equipment can be! I see you have a garden and greenhouse. I would love to see a tour of these. Maybe include electronic projects around these. Just some ideas I'm brain storming (brain farting) around. I love your videos! It's nice to get outside the shop with the spring fever we've been having so thanks for bringing us up in the air with you! 73 and take care!

I would give you a million thumbs up if I could Paul. I absolutely love your channel!! All the best from Gene in Tennessee.

Thanks for the update. That's a nice little truck you have there!

Looking forward to the Grand Receiver series!

Beware white zap straps and UV. I cable tied my fluorescent lights to the rafters in my shed. One morning they were all on the floor. I then tested black and white ties from the same company, just left them out doors, the white translucent ones went brittle after a few years, the black did not. I'm guessing that the pigment in the black ones stopped the UV getting to the core. The white ones snapped like match sticks, totally cooked! Greetings from the UK, love your videos.

The antenna system looks to be holding up well. Thanks for taking us up to look over things!

My wife and myself always enjoy all of your videos. If I was a younger man, I would love to have your antenna. Can I borrow your truck? I do have a rope that I had put up 30 years ago and it is still up between two trees. Thank you again for your videos!

Good afternoon, i forgot you still had that bucket truck,great video,thumbs up

Thanks for video. Great job.

Good idea getting up there to check on the wire. Surface rust can be chemically treated later and an anti-oxidative coating applied then. It should last for several years. Lovely looking area of Canada there Mr. Carlson.

Mr Carlson never ceases to amaze me. I have a question. Who has their own personal bucket truck?

Just look at old mines you will see rusty steel baling wire laying in the desert that is still good and 100+ years old. Excellent job on the antenna tower.

GRRS will be returning, thank you Professor Carlson !!!

For people asking about Mr Carlson putting up this ariel using the cable, method he did ... I refer you to the '80's film '*The Thing*' When 'MacReady' is about to take up the chopper in an oncoming snow storm, 'Bennings' or 'Norris' says "McReady is mad taking her up in this..." 'Palmer' replies "*He knows wat he's doin...*" As does Mr Carlson...😉

Like the bucket truck! But this is a radio channel not a bucket truck channel.

Pleased to hear the grand receiver restoration is going to continue. You covered my favourite (CR88, I have an AR88 to restore) already, but would like to see the results of the others and their final comparison. Thank you for your efforts on these and fully understand the points you made on Patreon.

Welding wire is pretty tough stuff, i keep the left over wire in the whip when i change out my spool and use it in place of mechanics wire

Zip straps should be black . They are UV resistive .

Its holding up well. Zap Straps are called "zippy ties" in Australia..

Just a quick thought if you are looking for a stainless wire replacement. The lashing wire we use to hold up fiber and coax to the support strand. Tested good for decades in weather, not too expensive! Thanks for the great videos!

of course you own a bucket truck. LOL love your show. MORE GIANT AUDIO AMPLIFIERS please

24 awg magnet wire setup as an end fed half wave has been amazing for me. I've gotten cq's 5/5 from over 4,500 miles away w/ a basic 100w rig.

Being an antenna guy, (get it?) I really like your over kill on that pretty blue truck, be careful or you will be fixing everyone's antenna around you! The nylon ties can go out from ultra-violet light long before the wires rust. WA7VQR

I thought that maybe you had given up on the grand receiver restoration series. glad that you will be getting back to it!

Such a beautiful place.

Always love videos on interesting antennas! Have a video myself on my multiband dipole working so well! Also very interesting to learn about all the radio operators in Norway at the 2'nd world war being traced and killed, for whomever interested in some history lessons! Thank you so much, man, for your very good and interesting videos!! :0)

Lovely looking home

Awesomeness squared 😎 Mr. C!

You can buy stainless lock wire from places like Princess auto and harbor freight it's fairly inexpensive and comes on a spool it might be a source of corrosion resistance antenna wire I believe the largest size red tailed available is .041 inches in diameter ohh it's sold as an aviation product and is available from non aviation sources for less money

You know, because if you i just finished fixing a tek 317, then did my first AA5 this weekend. 1958 rca circuit board! Thank you sir.

Thank-you for another great video Mr. Carlson. :)

I think it's the first time I have ever seen you outside your lab.

Greetings from Reno, Nevada.

Look pretty good for how long it is outside in the weather 👍👍👍

When I became HAM in the late 1950s the preference for wire antennas was to use copper clad steel. It has excellent corrosion resistance, strength, and works best as bare wire. It is available as dead soft steel as well as medium and high strength steel cores. Insulation is subject to UV related deterioration and greatly increases wind resistance. I believe insulation also accumulates more ice in the winter. Surprisingly, copper clad steel antenna wires provide superior conductivity and less signal loss due to seemingly enhanced skin effects. I never understood this, perhaps it is related to electromagnetic properties of steel. This does not apply to DC however which can cause a satellite signal coax to fail in delivering the DC for antenna mounted electronics. Use solid copper for anything like that. Stainless steel wire has a habit of failing under conditions of constant changes in tension. There is no warning of weakness before failure either. For this reason it is almost never used in sailboat rigging. High strength steels are hard to bend. Unless the wire is long and requires high tension to reduce sagging, mild steel is a lot easier to work with and generally adequate.

Nice digs.

I have used electric fence wire for such an antenna. It's galvanized and doesn't rust. Very low cost. Very good spring tension device on yours.

Absolutely love your video's and gives me hope for my electronics projects. One thing I would say about this video is for safety only. Having had to work in one of these bucket trucks in one of my past jobs is a requirement to wear a hard hat and also a safety harness to attach your body to the bucket. I remember hearing about a poor guy who fell out of one and died. Please be safe my friend! You are obviously an electronics genius and am in awe of your talents. Jim C. from Holyrood, Newfoundland, Canada. I'm going to subscribe to your Patreon channel. Definitely a bargain for your knowledge

Super cool ! 😎

Love it Mr. C. In the past, I've always had someone else put up my antenna. Terribly afraid of heights. I think I would be okay in a bucket. Cool truck there.

Did I just see you go up in a bucket without a fall arrest harness? Naughty naughty!!

intersting things you check out, love this stuff..

I remember the first antenna I built for my Heath kit. I unwound an AC blower motor and strung the copper wire on my parents fence

Mr. Carlson is a G as in STRAIGHT UP GANGSTA

Great video Mr Carlson sir you are awesome engineer thanks for the sharing this video sir ❤😊😊❤😊

Can I bum the boom truck? Gotta trim some trees.

GREAT VIDEO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to interview his neighbors...

Hi Paul, I have this idea on building an AM oscillator detector that makes a zero beat tone when it gets a signal from the local oscillator. It will be calibrated to detect from 985 khz to 2155 khz. I don't have a frequency counter and that would make it easy but I like building test equipment and so far it isn't working. The idea is to build an oscillator from old AM transistor radio parts using the red coil and the output from the oscillator goes to one terminal of the primary of an audio output transformer. The other terminal goes to an oscillator of the radio being worked on and the output of the transformer goes to a speaker and when the two oscilators get close in frequency to each other then the speaker will start to make a zero beat tone but so far it isn't working. I think I need to build a differential amplifier instead of using a transformer. I like building radios from spare parts and the most challenging is getting the converter transistor to oscillate at the correct frequency. I built a modular FM radio and each circuit is built on a separate board and plugs in. The tuner/ comverter section is on one board and plugs into the first IF board then second IF, then ratio detect and finally the audio board with speaker and it works. All of the IF transformers and everything are made by the factory but what if for example I want to test a homemade IF transformer. I can do that by plugging the section that I made to see if it will work and that's why I built it like this. Now if I can get my modular AM radio to work. It works but it breaks into oscillation at a certain point on the tuning capacitor. I can't believe AM is giving me such trouble my FM modular radio worked the first time oh well 😁. The most challenging and difficult one to build was a long time ago when I worked at AT&T I had access to some really fine test equipment and I built a dual conversion weather band radio and it took quite a lot of experimenting. It was built all on one board. The front end had to use small signal FETs I couldn't get bipolars to oscillate at that high of frequency

Rust or not, holding up just fine! Totally agreed that restorations can be extremely time consuming. Doing a few right now... and sometimes I can't Keri on just like that, I need to take a break and do something else because things are not going as planned and I need to retrace my steps, get some parts etc. But when you get it right, it can be so satisfying.

I use electric fence wire. It holds up well.

Mr Carlson, are you a ham operator? I have always wondered that. I would really enjoy finding you on the band one day and getting you in my logbook!

Mr. Carlson, Fair Radio Sales is closing I hear. If you live close you should go pick up some goodies 😂😂.

zap straps, tie straps, cable ties, zip ties, tie wraps... hell, I even heard someone call them MOUSE BELTS!

Mr. Carlson--Comeon! Get some aluminum electric fence wire up there. Or copper clad steel. The bottom insulator needs to have the ferro dust cleaned off. HA! And then throw some lines over those pines and get something up high!

That antenna system is neat. You put a lot of pride in your work and it shows. I saw one item I would change, and that would be the white ties holding the rope. Here in FL white ties become brittle, basking in the sun, so it is recommended black, as they last much longer. . Love your videos.