Looks like Ecuador has a new supplier for steel circularly polarized antennas
I guess it's not 100% galvanized steel wire. It is easily bent, but it is still very flexy. I now only have to work out how to get the bends at the right distance, and also make a jig to make it a lot easier to get the angles right at the first try!
For reference I am using a brand new 60W soldering iron. Anything less drives me crazy waiting for stuff to heat up.
Oh, and I think I got the vernier thing now. And I think it has a precision of 0.1 mm - but it's really not that precise as the moving part wiggles around shifting the measurement. Why? Cheap chinese product, cost me less than $5.