Base antenna: installed

Stopped at Home Despot this morning and picked up a few needfuls to finish the antenna:
- a 1-1/4" flexible coupler (1-1/4x1 would have been preferable, but none were to be found at HD)
- a 1x36" black iron nipple
- a bag of zip ties

This afternoon I climbed my ass back up on the roof, and checked fit. The coupler is a darn-near perfect fit for the Dish mast, requiring only a few turns on the pipe clamp to be solid. I wrapped a dozen turns of duct tape around the base of the iron pipe and slipped that into the mast, then tightened down the coupler as much as possible. There is a little play but it's in no danger of coming out.

With that done, I slipped the antenna clamp over the top and cranked it down... then looked at orientation and realized I'd put KC directly in the shadow of the iron pipe. It might not matter, but then again, it might - so I loosened the clamp up and spun the antenna around 90 degrees to put the 70cm stub facing roughly north, hopefully giving me good coverage of the metro area repeaters. (Yes, I can slide the antenna up a few inches to the very end of the mast, and may need to - but I'll test this first.)

I tossed the coil of coax over the side and started zip-tying things together...

and together ...

and together ...

I put in a pair of drip loops at the bottom, tucked it through the top corner of the garage door, and made it in to the basement... then ran out of time and had to get ready for work.

But the antenna? That's up. I should be done on the roof for the foreseeable future.

I did consider a longer piece of pipe, but this was heavy enough and got the ground radials well clear of the roof. When I'm no longer renting, I'll look at a true mast.