Mosley PRO-67 B Assembly

OK...so a lot has happened since the concrete. My mom was in the hospital for three weeks and had open heart surgery. She's much better now and doing well. The Mosley PRO-67 B arrived early in February (all 3 boxes) so between trips to the hospital and work, I started assembling the antenna in my spare time. I was able to get the boom together in my garage without much trouble. After than, I went to Lowes and got a 10' stick of galvanized pipe to drive in the ground so I could mount the boom to it and make assembling the elements easier. With the weather being pretty wet, it was easy to drive the pipe in with a heavy hammer. Most of the time was spent de-burring the screw holes on the element's outer sleeves, sanding the connection points the length that inserts into the outers and applying the anti-corrosive grease. Luckily, all the elements are pre-drilled and coded for which part of the bands you want to use. The only measurement you have to do is for the spacing. The boom is color coded (as are the elements) for which position, but to make sure the spacing is correct, a quick measurement is good. I would reckon all of this took a couple of weeks to complete, but I was only working a couple of hours a day on it and that included getting everything together, getting my mind back in that gear and putting everything away. The next thing to do was the assemble the phasing lines, build the choke and terminate the choke to the phasing lines. With the choke, its critical you get strip the exact amount of shield and dielectric of the coax. I used a razor blade to cut the outer jack and dielectric and used a "greenie" to fan the braid out. Then, use the supplied lugs, solider them to the shield and center and "tape the hound" out of it. I built my choke after attaching the feed line to the phasing lines. The choke is 10 turns at a 10" diameter, taping everything together at 3 or 4 places. Then, just attach the choke to the boom. After assembly, its time to test it out. I borrowed an Yeasu FT-897 (battery powered QRP rig) from Marc, N4UFP to make things a little easier. I was hearing things I hadn't heard before with great ease. I was able to turn the antenna and check F/B easily, but took a min or two to get it turned and walk back to the radio. I conducted some on air test with Marc as well and, on the ground, I am very pleased! I cannot wait to get it up!