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Build your own DX Commander Multifan Vertical Antenna

Discussion in 'Amateur Radio News' started by W9FFF, Jul 21, 2021.

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  1. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    I got the facts just fine. Please: if someone has a useful comment to make, it doesn't give you the right to diss them. If you DON"T find it useful, then skip the comment and read some others. On the air, we have the equivalent phrase: 'spin the knob'.
    .
    Thanks.

    73
    Chip W1YW
     
    AK5B, M1WML and W9HJ like this.
  2. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    It's not a 1/4 wave vertical. He didn't bring anything electrically new to market.

    Callum pre-packaged a nice kit that is a value and saves a lot of time. Good stuff.

    No one said he invented it.
     
    AK5B and M1WML like this.
  3. NN2X

    NN2X XML Subscriber QRZ Page

    I like Callum and is Children supporting him. I bought a few items from him, namely, the DX Commander, SOTA pole, and some parts I need to build my mono band 2 ELEMENT Quad...(20M)..(And 20 Meter Mini Quad)

    Support is great, I love his Youtube channels / One can learn some!...And the DX Commander is cheap as heck...And light! I like that...

    I am sure one can build one of these, but this is a kit (From DX Commander), so there is satisfaction on putting it together...

    Cheers, 73's DE NN2X
     
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  4. 2E0TWD

    2E0TWD Platinum Subscriber Platinum Subscriber QRZ Page

    Calling it a DX Commander certainly is a slap in the face for Callum McCormick. You should apologise for that, I feel.
     
    AK5B, WA5KM, M1WML and 1 other person like this.
  5. N6TDG

    N6TDG XML Subscriber QRZ Page


    First off, let me say I own two DX Commander products, the Classic and the Rapide. I find they work well. I once emailed with Callum about constructing a version to be hung from a tree sans pole. A sort of experiment. Callum puts the element measurements for construction as well as experimentation. You found what others have found---yes, one could build their own version, or just purchase Callum's.

    Personally, I think his poles might be better than what you were able to find on the market and I think you might agree. His aluminum plate design works well and not as cumbersome as the box design you had to design so as to not copy Callum's well thought out construction.

    Your video tread on dangerous ground as we are seeing many of Callum's fans and defenders here. I think you wanted to make a video showing if one could make their own version and at what cost. The end result was that one could---but it might be well easier to just buy the damn thing from Callum and save yourself the headache of sourcing all the " bits and bobs" and Callum might say.

    Frankly, if I were to make my own version for personal use, I would purchase a couple of his poles and roughly copy Callum's dual plate design as well as the spreaders. Those are the design keys that make things a whole lot easier.

    Callum McCormick is an intersting guy to watch. He brought a product to a very niche market, created a youtube channel to market and support that product and seems a genuine guy. His many videos do not include unboxing product and watching the lights go blinky-blink--but shows us how on antenna modeling software a particular design works....Of course after the amount of videos he has amassed, there are going to be spots of ho-hum videos...

    He is an overweight, over 60 (almost) kind of guy that is finding some modest monetary success with the hobby he loves. He represents us "everyman" as he makes a company that employs his son and daughter and wife. Being a small business owner myself, I know how business and life become intertwined until there really is no separation.


    Anyway, I digress. Good job on the video. You proved the point-which was--yeah, one could build their own multi-band fan vertical, but it would be easier and probably less expensive to purchase the current original as all the kinks have been worked out.

    If you want to have some real fun--create a coil for 160m. 80m has already been done for the DXC, (its call the Roly Coil)--having 160m capability will add your name in the pages of DX Commander history.
     
    AK5B, KC1OCA, KM5TX and 7 others like this.
  6. KK9W

    KK9W Ham Member QRZ Page

    What I find funny here on the Zed is that he named the thread, "Build your own DX Commander Multifan Vertical Dipole" and people are losing their stuffing over it for referencing DX Commander's commercial product.

    If the post had been titled, "Build your own Multifan Vertical Dipole" people would be blowing this guy off and scoffing that he's a rip-off artist and that a multifan vertical is nothing more than a DX Commander vertical.

    Welcome....to The Twighlight Zed.
     
    W5VAX, W0BNC, KC2IEB and 8 others like this.
  7. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    Not at all.

    See the posts just prior to yours.

    We are hardly bent out of shape, or dare I say....'fractal' from the thread?
     
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  8. K5QBF

    K5QBF Ham Member QRZ Page

    You clearly did NOT watch the video.
     
    W5VAX, KM5TX, M0TTQ and 7 others like this.
  9. KI4UYA

    KI4UYA Ham Member QRZ Page

    If the tile had read....My version of a Multiband Vertical...... There might not be any comments on the video. I own one of Cals Classics. It's been up for over a year with no issues at all. He supplies s the parts & you build it. In todays socially sensitive world, if everything is not lollipops & rainbows , someone gets offended. How does someone know that what they said or did is not socially acceptable if not for someone else telling them it's not? If that's not acceptable these days, then I am of the opinion that posters are letting "dude" know their opinions. Don't attack them for their opinions and don't attack them for theirs.
     
    K9GLS and M1WML like this.
  10. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    It has nothing to do with that.

    Although Cal has not trademarked 'DX Commander' in the states, it is well known--until now--that the phrase 'DX Commander' refers exclusively and specifically to an antenna kit designed and sold by Cal. If there are then many different 'DX Commander' makers, who call it that, Cal's efforts and products are lost in the noise.

    This is ==EXACTLY== what happened to Mike Traffie, N1HXA, with the hexbeam. Many of you don't even know who N1HXA is, and that he closed his business. All you know is the phrase 'hexbeam'. And the pioneer,IMO, gets shafted.

    W9FFF did a fine job and we just disagree about how and when the term should be used.

    It has nothing to do with language modification. It has to do with identification and recognition.
    When the phrase 'DX Commander' is used in a purely generic sense, it obscures the origin and source. That wasn't W9FFF's intent, and he clearly identifies Cal in the video. But others seem to think they can do what they want.

    We looked at this video BECAUSE it refers to the DX Commander in the title. But it is not the 'DX Commander'.
     
    Last edited: Jul 22, 2021
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  11. K2CD

    K2CD Premium Subscriber QRZ Page

    Just edit the title.
    Build your own DX Commander STYLE Multifan Vertical Antenna
     
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  12. KK9W

    KK9W Ham Member QRZ Page

    For those concerned about recognition, you may want to consider referring to a directional antenna consisting of two or more parallel resonant antenna elements in an end-fire array by its full name, Yagi-Uda, and give Mr. Shintaro Uda his due credit. Mr. Uda invented the antenna and his colleague Mr. Yagi applied for a patent for the design without ever mentioning Mr. Uda at all.
     
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  13. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    I always do.

    Uda was Yagi's student.

    Good suggestion for everyone.
     
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  14. W9HJ

    W9HJ QRZ Lifetime Member #294 Platinum Subscriber Life Member QRZ Page

    Exactly. The fact is that while Cal didn't invent the multi-band fan vertical, just about every ham knows about it. As you said, it has become a generic term now. Reminds me of when people say "Go Xerox this page" as oppose to "Go photocopy this page". Xerox even had an ad campaign that went "Remember, Xerox begins with an X and ends in a TM". They fell victim to their own fame.

    In the video, he gives a TON of credit to Cal and even breaks down the cost to make (which doesn't even count the $300-700 for the 3D Printer) and the cost was about the same and pretty much even said that it would pretty much be cheaper and less of a headache to just go out and buy a DX Commander.

    What I find amazing is that even after several pages people still think that he hasn't given credit where credit was due. I look at these people and LAUGH because I KNOW they didn't watch the video ... because it just wasn't true.

    It was a good video that shows how people can make a home brew antenna ... which last time I checked, was a major part of this hobby.
     
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  15. W1YW

    W1YW Ham Member QRZ Page

    ..
     
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