How I "discovered" the DX Commander Concept
Ғылым және технология
In 2013, the idea came to me. But let's talk about the discovery of the fan vertical, harmonics, 5/8th, Radials - and more! 73. Callum.
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• Antennas Antennas
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• Commander World My Stuff
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Пікірлер: 107
Barry Strickland - AB4QL had an article published in the 2015 ARRL book "Portable Antenna Classics" entitled Fishing for DX with a 5 band Portable Antenna. Same concept but slightly different configuration. However it was a diy project and no one was selling them commercially, it's great that these are now available through your retail outlet - One day I might be able to afford one :)
Doing freehand diagrams in real time without getting Sharpie Marker all over the entirety of the bench and your hands is the real miracle of the DX Commander. That can't be real.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Trickery!
@mewintle
6 ай бұрын
Haha
Great discussion. Your ramblings are better than most “expert” presentations.
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Nothing like a good ramble! :)
No you didnt invent it, but you did put it a nice package and came up with your own parts to make it more convent. Some of us hams have made this type of vertical fan dipole for years. We just kept it a secret.
Sir This is proof of what i been saying your so real and very straight up !!! i am proud of you being a such a lighthouse for us Ham OPs keep doing what you do brother !!!
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you so much!
Wow what a beautiful home and property! Awesome Antennas too!
Invented or not, it is shear perfection! You put it together and made it what it is! I say it’s all you!
Callum you're a fantastic gentleman, self driven. I find your video's are like a biography. This is my favourite so far, especially the beginning on how the DX Commander was born. Bless you and thank you for giving me drive. Have a fantastic summer. 😀
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Wow, thank you! Have a GREAT summer yourself old bean!
I didn't invent sliced bread but I make a very decent living selling it!!!? Keep up your great work!!
Thank You! I don't always understand all you say but understand some of it. New to ham. But I almost always get something from your videos! I think as I learn more I will understand more of your videos.
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
You are so welcome :)
Personally, my first antenna was the DX commander Cal will tell you purchased about 4 years ago; now when I was new to the hobby, the instructions and build taught me so much. And I'm still learning but it reinforced some of the basics about the relationship between length and frequency and cutting for the best SWR. We were all new to the hobby once upon a time :). you can't change physics but you can refine the learning, quality, deployment, and build quality/ease of use and this is what this antenna did for me. The G8AMC is an online radio club but if we were Brix and morter this would be on our syllabus for every new foundation operator to build and then operate :) thanks, Callum for being part of my radio journey :) regards David M0TPT
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
David, interesting.. Many folks have told me similar stories..! Amazing discovery!
A superb video, Callum..Thank you for explaining so much in terms that we ‘ordinary’ folk can understand..Please keep doing it!..73..John..G4EIJ
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Thank you! Will do!
Callum, you are a gem! You would be an excellent teacher. I've only been a ham about four years, but I am an engineer. I watched all of Cliff Batson's videos. He's also a very good teacher and a QRP guy. He did a video on the difference between 10w and 100w and that made it clear to me that the *only* time more power makes much difference (read significant difference) is if you're right at the noise level of the other station or you're trying to break a pile-up. I think it'd be a hoot to build a flamethrower. What a great idea.
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Yes, .. "significant" is the key :)
Thank you so much, highly educative!
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hi my old mate! I run a slope dipole multi band Emtronics dipole due to small house block. But I also use a RX ground loop with an isolated gas fet amp with an inbuilt tuner for 40 though to 10 mt. As well I have a change over box on the back of my transiver Icom-718 that swithches to my multiband dipole for tx and auto-matic relay to the ground loop for rx. I find this the best system ever always hear beacons and QSO's on 10 mt as well as QRM on the chicken band (11 mt) ,the gas-fet was from a ku band downconvertor from sat tv dish. I had so much gain I had to pad the amp down with 50 ohm resistors to stop it from taking off on the HF band, now it gives me around 40 db gain with noise fig of around 0.2 db. I also turn my preamp off on the Icomm and sometimes have to use the ATT on the icom. One thing I have noticed I don't suffer a much galactic noise when using the ground loop as I do when useing just the dipole antenna. keep up the good work love your channel. VK4ZOW 😎
My elmer read an article in the 1980's about a 3 element vertical, and he built one. Wasn't called "fan vertical" at the time, but was multi-element. So, I'm not sure how old the concept really is, but is old.
I did the same thing with a fishing pole in 1998. 20/15/10 but not ground mounted. I had it on the side of the house with two radials per band. Wasn't easy to tune as the wires were too close together and there were no antenna analysers back then! It really worked though. That pole came from a car boot sale and the thick end ended up under a slabbed pathway as a conduit for coax to pass through.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Brilliant!
great info cal like all your shows i have a 600ft recieve antenna with a 4 to 1 balm
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
That is awesome!
I like the way you say things and they way you explain them. I sometimes chuckle at the difference on how English and and Americans say things. If we're ever in the others country, it would be great to meet you in person.
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Yes the language difference can be good fun!
I had an acquaintance who was running an FM pirate station as a business, with a Collins broadcast exciter that was adjustable 10-20W. The difference in quality between 10 and 20 was actually very noticeable. Maybe that's because it was FM.
Great vid! Thanks for posting! Let’s jam!
You didn't invent the vertical dipole!!! That's crazy Callum! LOL! But Seriously you've spent years fine tuning these antennas! Give yourself some credit! There's a lot of happy customers all over the world running your antenna. I think you did alright mate! Good job man.
@DXCommanderHQ
6 ай бұрын
Hey Thanks!
Your a very good teacher , an avid CBr wants to upgrade to higher bands maybe take the Tech test someday soon
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Ah! Good luck!!
On the 30M antenna you added a centre loading coil (not a trap) which electrically lengthens the antenna length by adding inductance to the equivalent circuit, therefore it resonates at both the physical length and electrical length being two different frequencies. When you folded the top of the antenna back on itself, it creates a classic folded dipole that adds whats called a J-matching section, enabling an electrically too long an antenna to be matched at a lower frequency. The technique is a classic VHF technique seen on say the old slim-Jim antennas. Also, I presume MMANA allows lumped constants (the coil) to be inserted at some point in the antenna element which would allow you to simulate and validate its positioning and effects. You could get even more interesting results by fitting a capacitor hat; well it would allow a long antenna to be shortened and drop its resonant frequency.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Yes, I suspected as much. The modelling doesn't quite show what we're after but to some extend almost replicates physical results. PS Thank you very much for your input!
Got mine put up. Found a used one in Colorado. It's working great. SWR on all bands in under 1.6/1 with most much lower. If I could find them in the USA I'd buy another.
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
We do ship world-wide! :)
@timsvids5983
Жыл бұрын
@@DXCommanderHQ I’m considering it! This one seems to out perform my OCF antenna. I need to play with it a little more.
Callum, you being so humble and down to earth is what makes you so likeable. I am really enjoying my DX Commander classic. If you ever find yourself in Maine, it would be my pleasure to buy you a pint (or three).
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Three pints! Done :)
There was an antenna that was a vertical called a Faraday beam. It was used at Ongar and Brentwood radio stations, which was on the lines as to what you were talking about. Alas I cannot find any information about it on Google. Also my notes about Post Office radio station antenna’s would now be 50 years old, so departed this world a long time ago.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Amazing. Shame google didn't throw anything up!
@petemillis4666
2 жыл бұрын
Could it be a Faraday shield antenna that you're thinking of?
I did my first radio exam in South Africa - ZR6MJ before I got my M0 call sign.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Woo-Hoo!
I spent five minutes trying to move that mouse pointer lol.
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
HAHA
I think what you call an estate car we call a station wagon. I already knew about these words. Spanner - Wrench . Torch - Flashlight. Lorry -Truck
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Oh heck, yes!
I'm new to this. Really learning alot with these videos. Thinking of the antenna design three antennas makes them more directional and helps beam the signal right? This makes me wonder has anyone tried 3 of the triangular wire antenna?
@DXCommanderHQ
23 күн бұрын
Seach "DX Commander Triangular Array" - there will be some vids.
Have you got any ideas for a small HF multiband vertical? Ever tried a helical? I have a GRP boat, only a small 23footer and I'm finding it impossible to get a decent HF set up due to size and lack of a ground. An end-fed vertical would work, but be too tall. Any ideas? :)
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Erm.. Could you squeeze a 7m very light vertical? Maybe check the DX Commander Rapide. Lay a few radials along bottom of boat.
Have you tried a capacitively fed vertical? If you lengthen the antenna length to about 110 degrees from 90 degrees the feed point will be 50 ohms restive and about 100 ohms inductive. Feed the antenna through a suitable variable capacitor to cancel out the inductive reactance and resonate it anywhere in a given band. For DC grounding use a choke who's inductive reactance is greater than 5 K ohms on the band in question to ground with suitable power handling capability and low dc resistance. I built one for forty with a VSWR of less than 1.2 to one over the entire band.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Yeah, that does sound good but I steered away due to complexity of making it multiband.
@tedclapham4833
2 жыл бұрын
@@DXCommanderHQ Using the fan dipole/vertical technique with a wide range variable capacitor and a choke giving 5 K on the lowest band should work!
i dunno .... i think it's bananas ....
Is a ground mounted vertical the best choice for a residential property ? Great if you have a big field. I still find height is king and a 1/2 wave a few metres off the ground will out perform. I’ve been experimenting with a 10m ish length of wire on a pole and a 49:1 unun, works great on 20m 15m and 10m. Need a tuner for 15m. Mounted in a tree about 5m off the ground.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 ай бұрын
That is a HUGE question.. Many folks running ground mounted verticals in back yards / gardens and in some cases right next to the house. SHortwave / HF travels through buildings very well. VHF not so well.
@justmejonboy
2 ай бұрын
@@DXCommanderHQ talking about receiving over transmitting, for me where I live, a 1/4 wave on my lawn could in no way be compared to my half wave elevated in a tree. The 1/4 is deaf in comparison.
The 3 verticals, How far apart? Which one was fed with coax
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Erm.. 3-element array? You feed the middle.
What happen if you replace your radials with radials that are elevated 2 foot above ground level?
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
You would probably not notice anything.
Thinking back to my *(dreaded)* calculus days ... if you take that to the limit and have, in essence, *_"infinite"_* radials -- by just putting in a circular copper disk, what do you end up with? *73 de AF6AS*
@DXCommanderHQ
24 күн бұрын
Less money LOL
Loved the video, but, who/what is in the background audio? Or, am I crazy?
@DXCommanderHQ
Жыл бұрын
Oh, I don't know.. If you are talking about the audio? It might have been before I fixed the hum. Also, that was a ZOOM call to a club - so maybe you are seeing that too.
why does my mmant not work?? i put in the exact same values as you and get swr 12345.....missing something ??
@DXCommanderHQ
7 ай бұрын
Erm.. Make sure the antenna is at ground zero (if a vertical) or the feedpoint is at the right place.
I'm about ready to pull the trigger and order a DX COMMANDER Classic 9-Band antenna. Now, what I got from my Google showed the price as £249. This is equal to $313 USD. Would you accept a US Postal money order for that amount, plus shipping? Thanks and 73. William Barrett/WW5MB
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
William, we can't echange those over here.. Do you know anyone that could pay for this and you give them the money locally?
Talking to a chap in the US who owns 2 Dx Commanders, best antennas/mast he's ever had, I say no more. Can I have a free sample 1 Callum for my 20ft balcony terrace 😀 J/k
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
HAHA.. Nice try :)
If that's a sinkhole in your back yard you might want to give it some serious consideration.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
A sinkhole? In Warwickshire? I hope not!
Station Wagon
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
That's it!
Your antenna rx is = to its tx if your not hearing them your tx power is excessive. Most stations are...100 watts is ample to work the world.. The rest is for local ground loss. M6DXX ...
@DXCommanderHQ
7 ай бұрын
Well, it's not actually.. COmmon wisdom tells us that but a dedicated RX antenna can often hear better than your TX antenna.. All about sig-to-noise. However, yes - turn power DOWN if you can barely hear the 100W guys calling you. That's the key. If you can't hear the 100W station, you are probably too hot. Agreed.
I would say you are the Steve Jobs of the vertical fan antenna ... you didn't invent it, but you tweaked it and marketed it and sold it so the masses can enjoy it. For those that don't know, there is very little that Apple actually invented ... MP3 player? no. Mouse? no. Tablet computers? no. Fingerprint scanners on phones? no. Touchscreen on phone? no. The graphical user interface? no. Video calling? no. Smart watches? no.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Yes, interesting!
A Station wagon?
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
And that :)
" Hide" the mouse arrow in different places each video and give prizes for those who find it🙂🙂🙂
@DXCommanderHQ
2 ай бұрын
HAHA
He didn’t discover anything. It’s almost the equivalent of a fan dipole,but it’s vertical. Even so, he sells these kits and the antennas work as well as any vertical can. So, bully for him.
@DXCommanderHQ
Ай бұрын
Bully for me indeed. Have a lovely day - and good luck with your designs.
@kd8opi
Ай бұрын
@@DXCommanderHQ Thanks, none of mine are original either. Kudos to you for the effort and dedication to make a business from the DX commander. That deserves more praise than the design.
Everything is sort of a dipole.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Good point!
Simple answer you came across the simplest form of the quarter wave antenna. From the foundation course. Their you and then ripped off all your fellow hams and laughed at them. But in fairness must of the hams have no ability to use their common sense and have a go at building a simple antenna.
@DXCommanderHQ
2 ай бұрын
You sound like a bitter man. Success is all about not lifting your head from the grindstone to smell the flowers but taking risks and being creative. You don't have a clue.
And nobody cares that you didn't invent it, you did something better, you told the world about it. In my case, HOA with Karen's, it save my hobby.
The concept has been in the ARRL handbook for decades. You discovered reading the ARRL Handbook. So what is the big deal. Many people read the ARRL handbook! Duh!
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Not read that but I'm glad you can read too. Nice one.
My 34 foot (10.5m) 1 1/4 inch galvanized pipe vertical is quieter on 3/4 wave 15 m harmonic than it is on 7m . 1.2 swr on 40m except very top end. 1.4 swr across 15m. 50 DX contacts on 15m. 100watts on all.l Thanks to you're videos, I've added 20, 17. May try 80 inverted L like you described. I'm learning to love Resonant antennas.de KI7MJU
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Very nice! Good effort. Nice one :) Join the discord server and post some pics. FOlks would love to see! discord.io/dxcommander
Very good video Great info 73 W3AzMT
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks 👍
Thanks a ton for this talk, really enjoyed it, very Interesting 73 de ZS6SI
@DXCommanderHQ
2 жыл бұрын
Glad you enjoyed it!