Projects - 18m pole set-up improvements

I use a variety of antennas and poles/masts when /P. The 12m HD Spiderbeam is the most compact one I have and is easy to set up in the field without any supporting structures. The bigger ones I normally attach to the car one way or another or to any suitable construction I can find around the place I am going to be active from. My favourite and most versatile antenna pole is the Spiderbeam 18 HD fiberglass pole. I use it almost every /P activity. Preparing for a tour through LX I decided to implement some improvements that make the pole even more portable.

Guying the 18m Spiderbeam pole
I have twice set up the 18m HD Spiderbeam pole on my own using an ingenious structure with all the 6 guy lines extending while I pushed out the segments. That took quite a bit of time so I looked for another option. When I set up the pole using the car or a supporting structure I find that I do not use any of the supplied guy lines - so it should be possible to find a much simpler configuration to set up this pole in the field.

I decided to try and set it up with only the lower segment guyed. That would allow me to simply set up the pole while it is still collapsed and then push out the segments without worrying about any other guying arrangement.

Borrowing from the idea behind the clamps Spiderbeam supplies for keeping the segments extended, I bought a hose clamp and applied rubber lint that I crimped in place. I cut some of the rubber away so I could add three rings. So now I have a permanent feature on my Spiderbeam pole: fixed guy rings. 

Securing the base
You also need the bottom part to stay put. Before I would use a large peg with some soft (insulation) material around it. I would just position the pole over this peg. However I have found this is not a very solid construction - e.g. it does not allow you to keep the pole standing while it is still collapsed. With the set up I just came up with, I need the collapsed pole to stay upright while I attach the lower guy lines. So I replaced the peg with this:

The center hole fits around the pole while the other holes can hold pegs that secure this little box in its place. Trying it in the field it turned out to work well - the Spiderbeam pole kept upright while I attached the lower guys.

With these two changes I can set up the pole in no time without needing any supporting structure, like so:

I used this a couple of hours with the pole extended 18m holding an efhw wire. Granted, it was not very windy that day. I will have to see if this is strong enough in higher winds.

Practical segment clamps
One last adjustment I made to the configuration is a replacement of the clamps that hold the segments in place when extended. The default clamps provided by Spiderbeam require a spanner or wrench to open and close. That is inconvenient and so I really did not use them often. I either extended the segments to the point that they stuck (with the risk that the antenna would collapse during a QSO) or I would use duct tape (that is quick to apply but not so easy to take off). 

So I bought clamps that have butterfly tightening tabs. I added rubber strip on the inside that I crimped on the clamps to protect the pole (like with the original clamps). I tried them and they work well.