Wow, my buddy Mike did almost the same thing last year! He was fighting constant dropouts on his setup for weeks, just using those twist-on connectors. He finally caved and bought a cheap crimper on a whim, said it was like night and day. The picture went from a blocky mess to totally solid, just from that one change. It really proves that doing it the right way with the right tools matters more than buying expensive gear. What was the coolest part of building your own antenna?