DX Commander All Band Vertical HF Antenna Build & Review
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- Опубліковано 14 лип 2024
- The DX Commander is an All Band Vertical HF Antenna that covers 9 bands from 80m through to 6m. It is an economical and efficient way of getting on every HF band easily with a nice compact vertical antenna.
The antenna is basically a fan dipole, but rather than horizontal, it is vertical quarter wave elements in parallel on a common driven element base with short ground radials. Of particular interest in this design is the fold over on the 40m element, which acts as a 5/8th on 15m.
The antenna is a breeze to put together and in this video I show my build and review from Callum M0MCX - the DX Commander.
Check out my 6 month update video here 👇👇
• DX Commander Vertical ...
Buy DX Commander products here. If you do, please give a shout out to this channel when ordering from Callum:
www.m0mcx.co.uk/
The antenna used in this video is available here:
www.m0mcx.co.uk/store/product...
DX Commander UA-cam Channel:
/ dxcommander
Callum M0MCX's Quick SWR Calculator:
www.m0mcx.co.uk/quick-swr-cal...
DX Commander Auto Tune courtesy of Sterling @N0SSC:
/ @n0ssc
⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️
00:00 Introduction to the DX Commander ABV
01:20 What do you get in the box?
03:48 How does this antenna work?
05:05 "DX COMMANDER!"
08:02 Cutting the wire
11:27 Crimping the elements/radials
12:33 Placing the pole and attaching guys stays
16:42 How the antenna goes together
21:50 Adjusting the antenna to funky music
23:44 Time to raise the antenna!
25:12 SWR Tests
26:51 Summary
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Hayden, this is the best video I have seen on the DXC build since Callum made the antenna available - just great. Mine has been in my garden for 2+ years and is still perfect. Great editing and fun to watch. Brilliant mate.
Thank you Tom, really appreciate your comment and glad to hear your DXC is working great
Back into the hobby after 20 yrs - this video has made my mind up on my antenna choice - I’ve started saving already! Great video De G0TUZ
That’s great to hear and welcome back to the hobby!! You’ll be very happy with the DX Commander. Give Cal a shout and he’ll sort you out 👍
Mine is on order target date is 10/09/2023. Love that jungle vibe you have going. Kookaburra's sound tropical ya know. Thanks for the great instruction. I will be comandeering the kitchen area to have room to string the wire out for the elements. I will get creative. Magnets, clamps and spindles and dowels come to mind...
I assembled my identical antenna yesterday, I probably made the job more difficult by doing most of it indoors. Great to have plenty of spare parts in the kit. Your video did add some clarity to the tensioning of the 40m element.
Thanks and I hope you're happy with your antenna! Mine is currently on the the ground after a QTH move, I'll be putting it back up shortly, maybe I need to do a follow up video
@@HamRadioDX, enjoy your new home, it's always stressful moving...73
Haha, I did the same thing my my hand when setting up the pole.
The little metal eyelet hurts!
The edits on this were funny!!!
Thanks Josh! I didn’t think it was my best video, so your auto tune helped heaps 😜
Great timing for this video, I'm in the process of building mine that I received a couple weeks back. I agree the wire is super nice, I'm thinking about getting another roll of it to build a end feed to keep in my bugout bag.
Thanks Hayden great build! I love mine. Need to fix my elements due to a hurricane and tornado stretching them out, but it still works. Thank you!
That was going to be my question, how does it do in a wind load? I don't get hurricane force winds here in the Mojave Desert of SoCal. But can expect gusts up to 80 on rare occasions, usually sustained winds in the 20's!
Good video, we call them hose clamps here in the states too. And your Para-cord, you should burn the ends to keep them from fraying. 73! W2QLH
@@chucktedeschi9333 you should do fine. Mine is guyed at two heights and it works great! My elements are stretched due to it blowing so hard over, but it never fell or snapped. Pretty harsh winter also.
Your video just came up on my feed just when I've started building my DXC Classic - for once the algorithm worked, great video and very informative.
Excellent! What do you think and how is the build coming?
@@HamRadioDX Today is Big Build Day, all the elements have been made as well as radial and driven element plates and spreaders. Announced it yesterday on the club net - this is the first DXC in the county and it looks like I’ll be hosting tours 😀
At resonance, a quarter vertical is about 35ohms. Now a 50 ohm coax is connected, you need an L-matching network to deal with this mismatch.
Err-- nope. All SWR is less than 1.5 on all bands here.
Awesome video I was a little worried about construction but this videowas a big help in deciding if this will be added to my ham radio arsenal and yes it will! Ordering one later today...
Nice! I think you’ll enjoy the antenna 👍
I ordered mine just couple of days ago. Looking forward to putting it together and may also create a video covering my build and installation. 73 / Steve / K4SRF
Awesome video as this will be my Xmas present to myself and my Januray project!
Cheers Patrick 👍
Excellent. I had a similar idea for this type of antenna after using fan dipoles. Never got around to it as life got in the way of the hobby.! Looks well built and designed and a fair price . Was also thinkin of a vertical with 1 variable length wire element. Maybe Callum could make one! Spool of bare fine strand copper wire at bottom. wire goes up and over the top of pole and back down. DX Commander uno!
B-roll is insane
Subscribed!
Thank you!
Great sound by the way. Love that Bass rift that starts up at 21:50.
Excellent tutorial. Well done and thanks.
Nice Job Hayden , you will like it !
Just watched this again all the way through. Really damn fine video. Feel very comfortable now to complete the build this weekend. Thanks !! Mark. M7MSR
Thanks Mark. I have to put mine back together after a recent move. Please let me know back here how you go this weekend 👍
Made the 1000th like for this video. Thank you for doing this. It calmed some of my fears that it was too complicated for a simple guy.
Glad the video helped! I'm a simple guy, if I can do it, anyone can! 1000 likes, whoa... I didn't realize that. Thanks!!
Excellent Job with this build, brilliant
Thanks Mike
Excellent video, makes me want to buy one.
It's like a work of art that antenna!
Absolutely beautiful ain't it!
You make it look so simple to put together. 73 De ZS5DG in South Africa.
Thanks Daniel! It took a while but now I could put together a second in half the time - plus I’d save time not having to film!
Very nice video and a great antenna. On your guying cord, use a cigarette lighter to ball up the ends and stop the fraying and separation.
The dxc antenna is excellent in its simplicity. Nice job with the video! 73 de N2MXX
I am going to stub out my radial connections on a single wire to a powerpole connection with the radial triplet of wire into another powerpole connection. I may have to employ some waterproofing as this will be a semi-permanent installation. It will make it very easy for me to hook up the radial farm as I am unable to kneel any longer. Although gravity keeps trying to drive me to my knees, but I manage to resist and I have the bruises to prove it! Cheers
That sounds great Alvin!
Awesome mate, sure it will all turn out great. Also - CDO, OCD in alphabetical order 😂
cool, I like the video and the construction of the DX commander. SWR looks good but on AIR testing would have been GREAT. Great job mate. Cheers.
Nice job mate very detailed, i like it i do!
Excellent review!!
Excellent video! Thanks!
Thanks JA 👍
Hi. Tip:-Put the cut to size plastic tube for the hose clip in hot water to make soft. Nice tools. The G5RV sucks. Good if it's up 80 foot. Good vid man..
Thanks mate
Was going to say this too - really good tip, makes it so much easier.
You can add a top band as a kinda 1/4 wave inverted L I have one but since my garden is so small it's nearly all horizontal and in a U shape but still works surprisingly well. Since it's also only about 2-3m off the ground it's basically NVIS, but for top band that's perfect for me.
Well, the pole build is done with the HCL Ezy-Clamp and I used that silicon tape on all the joints. My guy anchors are set and this Sunday this beast goes up! Just think with this newest kit we are using stopper knots and no carabiners. My guy lines do have carabiners as I don't want to fumble around.
That's awesome! You're gonna work some great DX on that!
Had mine up for about 6 months now and it works well. Only use dipole for close in contacts. 73 n7kon
Very nice video.
Congratulations on the DXC.
I am saving up to get one also.
73's KC6CNN
Great video, I like the antenna and it will hid real well in the tree line so the HOA no antenna police don't knock on my door
Mike, I want to do.same.thing, how is tree working? de WO8USA
Suggest using a length of re-bar hammered into the ground. Then slip pole over it
For additional support.
Thanks Douglas 👍
Great build Hayden. And you beat Jason haha!
Thanks Mike!
Very good review..
Great video Hayden.
Looking at getting one soon
Cheers mate
Kevin
Thanks Kevin 👍
#MNHR
Team replay for the win
Great build, I'll have to get one of those.
Excellent! Excellent! Excellent! Fun video to watch! Great insight into building the A.B.V. I can’t wait to get my hands on one!!!
Thanks Thor! Awesome name too lol. 73
@@HamRadioDX Thank you Hayden! This video made me laugh! Great job! 73
Nice build video. Thanks for sharing. 73
Thanks!
just received my DX-Connabder Classic. I'm interested in the extra bits, like the hooks you have at the end of the guys and tension ropes. Thanks of this really great video
I got the hooks from my local hardware. The tension rope I think came with my classic kit? I can’t remember
Good video fella!
Appreciate it! Cheers mate!
Great video Hayden!
Great to see one of Callum's antennas being built in VK.
Please let us know how it performs on air.
Thanks Adam. Will do!
Great video. Calums videos are simply gold and his products are good quality indeed. Like the design.
100% agree there Mark.
I’m very happy with mine
Thank you.
Ive never read a bad repoŕt àbout callum or his aerials
The man does it all himself
Pure qualit plus the man is an utter gentleman
D X COMMANDER ALL AROUND THE WORLD
When i get my foundation this year id lòve to catch you both on air ill only b pushing 10 watts but you can do a lot with a little
Say no more ill see how i go when i get foundation then push to intermediate .
Back in 80,s i made a cb aerial about 3ft of coax coming out of midland and at end of coax 3 strips of copper wire stuck to my bedroom wall inside i had radio on bedside cabinet now it was just a straight 4 watts i got swr to 1.3 and the furthest i got was 10 miles im no exspert but that
Wasnt bad for an aerial inside a house
It will help me as i suffer severe back probs ans fibromyalgia im going to pass foundation ans ill b chuffed to bits
Keep safe god bless you alll
Aw-was hoping to hear how she did on the radio. Anyway-thanks for the install instructional.
Great !
Made in The Commonwealth. Made in Great Britain. It's great to support our friends and allies.
It's all ok but Kookaburra laughing is amazing !!!
we call them hose clamps as well here in USA land. Good vid
Thanks mate
I own the Rapide which is 20meters on up to 10M I followed instructions to make 30M ...40M. My SWR's are not anywhere near what I saw here. The only "perfect band" for me was 40M and 20M. The rest hovered closer to 2:1...........the worst was 15M. The slice of 15M I tuned for gave me a slight dip under 2:1; using a Rig Expert and 25 foot coax at the antenna site. My ground system is not using 25 foot long wires. I went with stainless steel welded fencing 36 inch wide 25 feet long going in 4 directions. Bonded at the center by soldering with a blow torch.
I can almost remember when my knees would do that.
Here in the Eastern U.S. it is still cold and either Snowing or Raining constantly.
Very well produced video. Many thanks! HNY
Nick M1DDD
Thanks Nick!
Auto tune**** "dx commander....". Going to be in my head now, all day. Thanks
We also use the term "hose clamps" in the U.S.
How very Australian having a Kookaburra laughing at you 😆.
Need to get my Butt into gear and get one of these Bad Boys myself.
73's
Brad
UK6UHF
Currently have a 125ft doublet fed with 600ohm open wire going into a balanced match box. It’s about 50ft up. What kind of difference could I expect between the dxc vertical and my doublet?
Great video. Studying loads of videos before I build mine. For the shorter elements have you done the little fold over recommended in the manual?. I could see the little loops for the clips, but could not see the fold overs. I note the 40m does not have a fold over (ie as suggested by Callum). Edit - OK get it now. NO probs
There is a little fold over on the elements so I can clip it in, but it would hardly affect the tuning of the element. The 40m element goes all the way to the top and folds back over too.
About the same as the line of Gap DX Antennas sold in the states there ok if that's all you have room for and only good for DX not very good on NVIS.Then of course if you're in a good Sun Spot Cycle most any thing will work😎😎
I’m new to this. With the 80m horizontal wire wouldn’t that work for NVIS?
Great video. Every video I watch on this antenna makes me want one more. Soon I hope. And I see something else I didn't see before. Thanks. KJ6DQ
Get one Rolland, they are great for portable too
It looks like you MUST hook up radials for this antenna to work properly. This could be a non-starter for me. I think I have room for the antenna itself, and the guy lines, but not for stringing out the radials.
I'm with you: what bands do you want to use? All of them!
question can you slide that whole mast over a fibreglass pole in the ground ? instead of the 3 guy wires
I would like to see the differences in use between the DX Commander and the Go2 Antenna, on the same radio. Why does no one do this ?
folklore!
Put the bugger on the air and let me hear it already :)
73
j
Good vid. I would like a revieww in 6 months if youm leave it up.
I am not sure you needed to cut an inch or so off an element when you could have made the end loop a bit longer.
where the loop doubles back against it self it actually ends at the end of the loop
Thanks
Thanks Dennis. On some elements they were a little long, so the loop would have been rather large, but you're right. Thanks for watching
Hi,had my dxc up few months now but was does the 80m work like?? Great video 👍
80m been working down for me, had several contacts
Great Video. I want one of these antennas. Do I have to order it from England or is there a distributor in the U.S.?
Hi Dana, Callum ships them out directly from the UK. He has lots of US shipments I believe so I think you’ll receive it quick if you order from him directly. 73
Thanks for video. Could this antenna be erected on top of a corrugated metal roof with radials in contact with roof? I have very large barn roof available but little clear space elsewhere. Thanks
Maybe try asking Callum from DXC about alternative mounting methods… I can’t see why it won’t work if the pole is sturdily mounted
11.5meters would be 11meters and 50cm, yes? I am trying to learn my metrics and to apply thought to the difference and make a simultaneous translation/understanding.
Yes that’s correct mate!
My IC 7300 will not tune the 10M band with the antenna lengths given in the instructions. Instructions call out a length of 8.4M (331"). My radio tunes up a 10M dipole perfectly, but not the DX Commander. I think the length given in the instructions are incorrect. It's my understanding that a 1/2 wave, 10M antenna should be 5.26 meters (207"). Can someone help?
Could you hide a Slim-Jim antenna inside the DX-Commander for 144-146 MHZ.
So why no baluns or matching units with this antenna?? Thanks.
I don't know, man... living down there, I'd worry about Coastal Taipans hiding inside the mast....
How does it receive international broadcast?
Did you alter the length of the radials to fit in your garden? Cheers
No I cut them as specified and just made them fit
I am very interested in buying one of these. However, the location I have in mind for it would mean I can only attach 2 perpendicular guylines. Do you think only two would be safe?
3 is probably the minimum. If you can get that third in you'll be good to go!
Is there any reason to NOT paint the pole light blue? The reason for my question is it would be harder to see if light blue compared to black. The wires are so thin people will not see them. I am asking because I live in a subdivision that does not allow antennas.
Can't see why not. Although possibly there may be some interaction if you use paint that has metallic pigments in it perhaps?
Great vid! Thanks. . Could you tell me what´s the diameter of the aluminium discs? Are those dimensions critical? Thanks in advance.
Not sure on exact measurements but they are about 200mm I think. Callum may have the info on his website or in the manual
@@HamRadioDX Oh great. I looked for it but didn´t find it. But to have an idea it´s enough. Thanks!!
@@HamRadioDX Well, I calculated it and I´m pretty sure it´s a diameter of 17cms. :)
In portable use do you have to break it down completely? Meaning take all the wires off of it. I would like to use it for POTA and Maybe SOTA if I get it but I don’t want it to take forever to put up / take down. Also how short would it be? I would want to transport it in my truck bed 6ft / 1.8m without it sticking out hopefully.
73
KH7FC
I would say yes you need to disassemble it, but you can leave the bottom plates on and even maybe the stay point. With the carabiner clips and wing nuts it makes it easier to just attach the wires and away you go, probably no more than 20 mins setup time.
@@HamRadioDX that doesn’t sound to bad then. Do you know the collapsed length?
I think fully collapsed it would be only about 1.5m long maximum. Whatever the length of the first section. Very portable friendly. That's the All Band Vertical. The Expedition version may be smaller still.
@@HamRadioDX right on. Looks like something that I might want to buy. Thanks for the help
I'm still trying to figure out the use case for this antenna. Is it a portable or a permanent antenna?
Either/or but designed and built to be portable
I wonder what is going to happen when the new Ofcom ruling comes out? in some cases, you will not be able to use these ground-mounted antennas?
Luckily that won’t affect me here in Australia. What is the new rule?
@@HamRadioDX Actually Hayden ACMA already specify similar constraints here in VK. It is mentioned in the LCD part 4 which then goes on to reference an Australian Standard. It seems to lean more to protecting the general public, just don't fry the kids :)
@@RobB_VK6ES Luckily with a 1/4 ground mounted vertical such as this, voltage maximum is at the top of the antenna, not at the feedpoint. Keeps the prying fingers away from RF burns at high voltages ;)
Stupid question… doesn‘t this antenna need an Unun? Isn‘t this kind of an end fed antenna where the impedance at the feeding point needs to be transformed?
Hey mate,
No this is just a standard 1/4 vertical, nominal impedance is around 36 ohms over perfect ground. Pretty close to our 50 ohms needed for the radio :)
You skipped a bit mate -- the whole topic of radials. My yard looks almost exactly like yours, and I haven't purchased the antenna for the uncertainty of placing the radials in the constrained space. How long are they ? How many ? And how did you route them in your yard ?
I have a playlist on all my DX Commander videos that may answer the questions you are seeking.
ua-cam.com/play/PLSuX83ay4OuiqZw3oFgnjs4tIQ5f5jzEU.html
He built (4) bunches of Five radials each and each radial was 3.5 meters long. That will take 70 meters of wire. I have a big spool of #14 AWG stranded and that's what I'll be using. Save any extra DX 10 wire left over from elements to use as repair stock. Callum has said that a 180 or 90 degree fan of radials will work as well as the 360 config. Do what you can with what you got. It will work out.
Great video! I've been looking at Callum's videos for a while now. A most innovative design, for those who can't put up a tower and beam/Yagi antenna, or for a field HF station.
The only thing I would probably suggest/recommend is to put a stainless steel washer between the crimp lugs and the aluminium plates, especially if the antenna is going to get wet.
I know that there is not a direct copper to aluminium interface (the lugs are plated), but copper and aluminum are enemies on the galvanic table, especially in the presence of an electrolyte.
Michael VK5LN/VK5ZEA
Ah thanks Michael. Actually a stainless washer is provided - I'm not sure if in the video that shows, but yes they all have washers underneath! Thanks for watching
@@HamRadioDX All good. I was looking at the video at around 17:37 and it looks like there are only washers between the lug and the wing nut. For portable or temporary installations, it's probably not overly critical... but I've seen some horrific electrolysis after only a few months of being exposed to moisture. :-)
How come all the decent radio videos are from UK and virtually none from USA?
You realize this isn't from either country, right?
Geometry fail: It's turned 180 degrees! 🙂
? 180, that would be an upside down fan dipole
@@HamRadioDX QED. (I trust you will put a flame to the ends of the shock cord. Those frayed ends look awful.)
At about 26:08 you said one to one or one to zero . huh ? one to zero doesn't exist, best value on swr is 1:1 to 1 .
Oh yeah. Do you love me? 😍💋 💝💖❤️
No I don’t, but become a ham radio operator, you’ll enjoy it!
Chinese fibreglass pole with some wire up the side and radials, not rocket science.
So why didn't you design it?
@@M0RMY Marconi as probably got the credit for the 1/4 wave ground plane, so the design if that's the right word was already out the bag.
@@G0ogs Science is established. Engineering is the result.
@@G0ogs It's called engineering Steve. Get over yourself - you've been trolling me for 4-years. Go and do something useful in your life.
Yay..... today we reinvented the wheel
Great video! de W2CSI
Thanks mate!