After several attempts to thread the 1/4 inch aluminum rod, I finally gave up. For the most part the threads were crooked. However with Winter being here it was time to tackle this again. This time some better tools helped. Part of the problem was the threading die getting crooked on the rod and making threads at an angle. The picture here shows my solution. I took a 2 inch square board and drilled a 1/4 inch hole in it. Sliding it on the rod ahead of the treading die keeps the die correctly aligned and makes a nice thread.
Here is the assembled PAC 12 with a 20M coil attached. You will note there is no joint in the aluminum section. Jim Bennett originally designed this to fit in a 12 inch parcel. I really did not need that so I left rod at 24 inches instead of cutting them at 12 and adding a coupler. I have added a small tripod used for spotting scopes as a base. I have tried it on the commercial version and the work fairly well. I will test it out shortly.
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