MFJ-1796 - Part Deux

Yesterday, the new MFJ-1796 arrived. By the end of my lunch break I had it half assembled. By last night, I had it almost completely assembled sans mounting the capacitance hats and connecting the cable. 

I need to get it outside to finish assembling - it's too big to get through the door in one piece. 

Observations:

- The manual isn't great and doesn't entirely reflect the product; I suspect that the antenna design has been revised but the doco hasn't. For example, the manual refers to moving the wiring between the coils out of the way and is complete with pictures to show you what it means. The coils on mine however are actually connected by metal strips prefabricated and already attached. 

- The mounting ring for the spokes may have changed. The manual tells you about using the screws to mount through the holes on each ring, which is used to clamp down beside each spoke. There are 4 spokes on each plate, each spoke with 2 holes - so 8 holes per ring, and 8 rings. These holes are not threaded - they need nuts. The entire is supposed to come with "spare" screws of suitable size. The entire kit only has 20 nuts of that size, and uses all bar 4 of them before you get to this point. In this case, I wound up buying out Bunnings of M3 12mm screw/nut combos - which they only had.. in packs of 8. 

- The picture of where the coax plate mounts on the bottom of the mounting bracket has an orientation that no longer works. 

- The manual makes the build look far more daunting than it is. Once you lay it out and take a look at it, it starts to make a lot more sense. 

- The mounting bracket is fairly limiting - when the manual tells you it'll support up to 1 1/2" diameter mount, it means it. Your mount is going to need to sit between the nuts of the clamps on the other side that hold the antenna. 

- A quick look at the coils showed me one had been impacted at some point with the insulation knicked. I'm guessing this happened due to the fairly average packaging in a needlessly large box. It looks otherwise OK, but I've put some coax seal around it to help give it some protection. 

- The pack supplies 10 hose clamps. The doco tells you this is how many they provide. If you look at the design - including their image, you need 12.  Actually you need 15. I've had to revise this twice now (and I need to run back to Bunnings again at some point).

The balun comes pre-made - I can't say the glue job is great. Possibly work experience kid day?

The business end.. not actually attached - mostly just sitting there because it allowed me to assemble at standing height. You can see the strips that connect each of the coils.

Looking down. Excuse the mess. Yes, this is currently being held up by my treadmill, And yes, I do have junk everywhere.. and yes, there is a monitor in front of my treadmill... though it's easier to just use an iPad ;)

I'm fairly keen to push on with this one. 

In other news, my circuit board etching kit arrived yesterday - with enough etchant to do a single board. The manual is vague about appropriate materials to use to draw tracks with and my last sharpie isn't exactly working, so I brought an etch resistant pen on eBay. When that arrives, I'll get started. 

The new Sony WF-1000XM3s arrived yesterday. Ironically.. they won't turn on. Warranty claim in progress. Disappointing.