Toward the end of the summer I was looking to improve my vertical antenna situation. When it comes to performance, I find that is hard to beat a well-ground-radialed, resonant, quarter-wave vertical antenna.
There are many-many vertical antenna kits out there to choose from. You can spend as much as you want, and get some pretty good results no matter which way you go. I was looking for a antenna with a pragmatic mix of low cost, easy to assemble, robust, multiband and customizable.
To be clear, I have a “masters-degree” in YouTube, the well of how-to. YouTube has bailed me out on many life-situations including appliance and car repair, reviews and feedback on products and services, all of which helped with the decisions of life.
The Find
It was on YouTube that I happened upon DX Commander (M0MCX), Callum McCormick. Not only did I find Callum to be a genuinely likeable fellow, but also a kindred spirit in the art of amateur radio homebrew. Callum has come up with some great platforms for antenna experimentation. So, in digging through his website I found the DX Commander Classic.
Before I go further, Callum deserves some major kudos for doing an excellent job of sourcing materials and producing a great kit. The Classic kit is based on a 30ft fiberglass fishing-pole-like structure. It uses individual wire elements to represent each band you are interested in supporting. Callum’s kit includes water-jet cut HDPE spreaders, laser-cut formed aluminum plates, stainless steel hose clamps, wingnuts and screws, and all the wire and miscellaneous that you need to put it on the air. Feedline not included. You can find the real details on the DX Commander site.
The Classic is a very capable portable antenna. It is easy to collapse the pole, roll up the wires, and go! I set up and ran my Classic for weeks with paracord guy-ropes and tent stakes. I use 32, 16-foot ground-radials at the base of the antenna. The radials were simply fanned out on the grass and held in place with landscape staples.
The Setup
After a few weeks of testing, and negotiating with my wife for its place of permanence, I decided to commit it to a fixed installation. The installation was a two-foot deep post hole, and a 40mm fence post from Home Depot, set in concrete. The post was proud of the ground by about 1 meter, which allowed the installation to be guy-free. (Not having guy-ropes to keep mowing simple was a requirement from the aforementioned negotiation.) The 40mm post slips neatly up into the bottom section of the pole.
The ground radials were never “buried”, but were diligently stapled down every 14-18 inches. Over the period of a few weeks, and a couple of good rainfalls, the wire became completely covered by nature. We have repeatedly mowed around the antenna with a 60-inch ZTR commercial mower without incident.
Performance
The DX Commander Classic antenna has proven to be 1-2 S-units better than my Butternut Vertical (a couple hundred feet away). I have used a legal-limit amplifier on all bands with this antenna without issue, though it is so good barefoot I rarely turn the amplifier on. This antenna has seen some pretty serious winds over the late-fall in Indiana, with gusts near 50MPH. A nice feature is that one wing-nut can be loosened and the Classic slid from its mounting post and layed on the ground if a bad storm is anticipated.
Indiana winter is generally worst in January and February with ice, snow, and sub-zero temperatures. It will be interesting to see how the Classic holds up, but I have some pretty high confidence based on what I’ve seen so far.
Hope this helps someone try an antenna that they may not have considered!
Wishing all the best to you and yours, and
happy holidays, from the family of WR9R.
73