| KD9BEW |
Rating:  |
2022-08-05 | |
| Great product, best service |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I bought a DX commander all band vertical about 2 yrs ago, had a blast assembling it, plus I learned a few things about antennas as I am a fairly new ham. I have reached all over the states, canada, mexico, caribbean and a couple QSO's in Europe. After a strong wind storm my dx commander mast split at the first section and fell over. I contacted Callum and he very quickly sent a replacement at cost, only took 3 days from the UK to N Wi....mail takes longer just to get to the other end of the state. Reassembled the antenna and before I got the guy lines on it also split and fell over. Contacted Callum and without question sent me a replacement free of charge!! Apparently it was damaged in shipping which caused the failure. New one is up and running no probs. For any one looking for an all band vertical easily customized to what ever bands you work, very little area needed to set up and string out the radials, this is it. I live in N Wi. and couldnt be happier with the results and outstanding service provided by Callum M0MCX creator of the DX commander. 73's |
|
| TI2GBB |
Rating: |
2022-08-03 | |
| DX rapide system, perfect for HOA areas! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought a DXC Rapide system due I live in a HOA or condo area and HAM radio antennas are not allowed. I put in the back yard and after 1 year my neighborhoods not say anything ( besides I have good relationships with them).
I did a modification with the radials, due my yard is very small I had the great idea to connect one radial to the metal roof of my house via the gutter rain instead of add 22 or 30 radials due the problem of space and I cannot either raise the antenna above the metal roof. the SWR is perfect in all the bands I chose to operate ( 40,20,17,15,12, 10, even 6m its 1.5swr!! ) I have reach all the world in one night with this antenna on my yard.
I'm extremely happy with this product, I had in the past an issue with the pole and Callum offering me a insurance for the pole, I just pay the cost of the pole and He send me a new pole ready to use...What I can say! This is my favorite antenna and I will die with this antenna on my yard.
I bought a DXC Classic for my Dad and he have could reach many stations, RTTY Contests!. He is extremly happy with the performance of this antenna.
I ended this year buying a DXC Expedition for my SOTA/POTA/IOTA Activations in the coming years of the cycle solar.
I recommend this product 100%
73s from Costa Rica!
|
|
| M7XTT |
Rating: |
2022-07-13 | |
| Seriously great antenna!!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I've owned the expedition model before,now using the CLASSIC,also use a cobweb and an efhw BUT this absolutely rocks especially on 40m.Cant believe how many more dx stations can hear me.worked North and South America today on 10w .Great work Callum!!! |
|
| W8PRO |
Rating: |
2022-06-05 | |
| DX Rapide - solid antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Last week I purchased this antenna after doing lots of research on it for about a year. I do not live in a HOA, but most antennas would stick out in my suburban subdivision, looking for a working antenna that would fit where I live. I have to admit, I was very skeptical about about this antenna before buying it. I have purchased other antennas that end up being gimmicks in the past. I couldn't find any reviews on it that were less than flying colors. This weekend, I put it on the air to try it out. Here is my review:
General Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- The build is easy for operators who have knowledge of or have built antennas before. The videos are spot on and it's a very practical build.
- Very low profile, the look of the antenna looks likes it could be apart of your yard. The aesthetics are wonderful. For those who are into Ham Radio but don't want your yard to look like a recluse resides there, I give this a major plus.
- Lightweight AND durable! Good quality too.
- Performance wise is slightly above what I expected.
- Way above average for the price.
- A portable antenna that is on the edge of a permanent one.
Cons:
- It should come with a manual. No paper instructions. If you didn't have the internet, it would be difficult to put together.
Build:
The box came with everything and more. It came in 3-4 days VERY FAST! Callum and his team gives you extra of everything. Except an instruction manual, which I didn't need but I found myself running to the computer many times. This antenna is only as good as you build it. Take your time building this antenna, and have good tools. A good soldering iron, quality wire strippers and crimper are a must. The mast is easier to put together than I thought. Take your time measuring, cutting and soldering the elements. The shock cord I found to be one of the most difficult parts of this build. It frays very easy and must be cut clean with the side cutters. I found it difficult putting the cord in the plastic hook holes, but once I figured it out it went easy. The white nylon element spreader plates, I spray painted flat black. This is to limit the antenna from standing out, I highly recommend doing this. In total, it took me 6 hours to build this antenna. It's a fun, time consuming build. Really take your time on building it, the more prep-work and confirming measurements the better. I even took a multimeter to all of the elements to insure a good solder connection on the elements. I was surprised, but the tuning was spot on. Everything less than a 2 SWR. When setting the guy ropes, the antenna fell twice. Nothing is broken, very durable and my tuning/SWR never changed. Yes, the radials are a must and will affect the SWR. You could easily take this antenna down, lay it on your deck when the grass cutters come by and set it back up again. Bottom line with this build, it's VERY practical. Especially for someone who lives in a suburban neighborhood. Everything went to plan just like the videos.
Operation:
Between Friday and Saturday, I spent 6-7 hours on the air with this antenna on 30-10 meters. I am running an IC-718 with 100 watts. The antenna is on 50 feet of medium quality coax, installed about 10 feet out from my backyard deck. A good set of quality headphones is a must with this antenna. It hears well, and has a noise floor of a S6-7 in my noisy subdivision. I made 78 contacts, mostly stateside but I do have 11 countries including one Australia contact with a 59 report. Almost all my reports are 59. A lot of that time was spent trying to break DX pileups. I noticed that the DX that did come back are "superstations" with beams and running a KW. You won't be working a guy in Europe that has a dipole. Despite it being rated for 1KW or more, I am hesitant on running additional power through this antenna. The DX stations can hear you, but you will most likely not be breaking pileups without hanging around for 30 min. Also, for "Ragchew" it doesn't perform the best but for people who like to contest or field day it's great for that. On 20 meters, compared to my home made dipole that is 40 feet up in a tree, the dipole does have the advantage. None the less, this antenna does perform and is a great addition to my array of antennas.
Conclusion:
There seems to be a massive cult following around this antenna, with overtones of it being a magical antenna that will solve all of your issues. Especially with newer hams that have never used any other antennas and don't know a lot about theory. In a way, don't believe all of the hype. That is why I give this antenna a 4 star review instead of 5. Not taking anything away from this antenna, it's a great antenna and will exceed your expectations if you take the time and build it correctly and understand physics. This is a great reliable antenna to get you on the air if you can't put up a dipole and worried about what your yard looks like. I would buy another one of these and I want to thank Callum for creating an easy way to build this antenna. It's more than worth the money. |
|
| ON4EC |
Rating: |
2022-05-04 | |
| Solid & excellent performer |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Besides a 5-band beam for the higher bands, we were looking for a multi-band vertical for the lower bands (80-60-40-30m) during our JW0X DX-pedition in April 2022. Preliminary tests proved the ease of set up and the performance, so we decided to take both the Classic and Nebula versions with us, on our trip to Longyearbyen, Svalbard. We did some pre-assembling before the trip, to shorten the set up time as much as possible. Set up on frozen soil wasn't easy, as would be with any antenna over there. We didn't know either if the poles would withstand -15° to -20°C, and strong winds, during 7 days. For dismounting , it was necessary to take the poles inside, to let the ice between the pole sections melt. But the pole itself didn't show any crack. About the performance: the signal reports we got were consistently high. So yes, for applications requiring a multi-band , high-power (1kW), no-tune vertical, both the Classic and the Nebula are solid performers - even in harsh environments like Svalbard. Nice pieces of practical engineering! |
|
| NA7L |
Rating: |
2022-03-24 | |
| Excellent Antenna! DX Commander Classic |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Hello every one,
I bought this antenna September 2021, didn't put it up till 3 months ago. The idea was to used as a portable set up, I use to go to my uncle house and participate in several contests, mostly CW and Digital. After I moved to a rent house with a huge backyard I decided to build and install up the antenna.
Before I bought it I spent around a week reading reviews, watching videos and lot of research about the antenna, 90 % of the information found was positive, so I decided to get it.
Callum (M0MCX) and his team are professionals, shipping and handle are 120% efficient, the antenna was in my door in less than a week, using FeDex service.
I did spend around 4 hours, within two days; due my job schedule, to measure and cut all the wires, radials and radiant.
At the beginning I was a bit skeptical, not about to get it tuned or power rating but about reception, verticals antennas has it's own characteristics. Anyway I installed in my backyard and tuned, I did cut each radiant a bit longer, am a CW and Digi operator. Did tune each one of the radiant and get it in the right spot, I got less than 1.5:1 on all bands at the lower portions. Except for 20 meter which is resonating 1.0:1 around 14.284
What a surprise when I started to listening station from around the whole world, 6 continents. Since I got the USA licence in 2014, I had my first in Cuba as CO2WF in 1991, I've been using 80, 40, 20 and 6 meters, but now am able to get 30, 17, 12 and 10 meters. In the last 2 months I worked 48, 51, 22 and 11 different entities respectively, within my short free time and confirmed 34, 39, 13 and 8 as well, trough LOTW. Also I participated on ARRL International DX CW contest using HP with a Heathkit SB-220, 1.1 to 1.2 Kw, 40, 15 and 10 meter, using a dipole for 20 meters due the reason above mentioned.
In my opinion it will never be as a yagi antenna, BUT, THIS IS A GREAT ANTENNA. I would Highly recommended, specially to a small space places.
Thanks Callum/M0MCX and the team for your great job.
Winty/NA7L
Gear used:
ICOM IC-7300
KENWOOD TS-480HX
Measure instruments:
MONITOR SENSORS SWR
MFJ -259B
MFJ-949E
Power remarks:
CW 100/1000 watts
DIGI less than 80 watts, FT8 and RTTY(FSK) mostly
Others:
TIMEWAVE NAVIGATOR for the TS-480HX |
|
| W4EXT |
Rating: |
2022-03-08 | |
| Reasonable performer with caveats |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I put up a DX Commander as much out of curiosity as anything. With 20 10M and 20 10' radials arrayed in a half-circle, I was able to work the world on this antenna, both digital and SSB.
Construction isn't so bad, but tuning was a nightmare. I never could get 10 to tune. I think this was because of the 80M element. Eventually I was able to get everything except 10 tuned to 1.6:1 or less on all bands. 80 is narrow as one should expect.
Unfortunately, winter weather caused the antenna tube to split in the largest section. This may have been due to my installation, as I was attempting to use this as a long-term antenna in a fixed location. I honestly would not suggest this antenna for such use unless you live somewhere it doesn't freeze.
I plan on repairing and reworking this antenna as a 10-40M and using it for portable work only, such as Field Day. |
|
| KI5OLV |
Rating: |
2022-02-17 | |
| DX Commander Classic |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Very impressed with my new DX Commander Classic. Took it out for it’s maiden voyage POTA activation at K-6599.. WOW what a performer. Well worth the time and effort to build.. Amazingly low SWR, resonate across all the bands 40m, 20m, 17m, 15m, 12m and 10m, 6m also. Thanks Callum M0MCX great antenna, great customer service and shipping. 321 contacts/QSO in 3 hrs and 17 minutes. I will be back shopping for your new signature series for the back yard/garden ;) as soon as it's out. 73 PS. Easy to read manual and videos are great. FYI some new updates just did Winter Field Day with our club over 800 SSB phone contacts from the DX Commander.. also did a Parks on the Air (POTA) and the DX Commander Classic worked so amazing worked 40m 20m 17m and 10m 414 contacts/QSO all over the USA South America.. so blown away with all the signal reports the excitement of our club and friends.. 73 here are two videos that show the last two outings with this great vertical antenna.. https://youtu.be/R3gEKk-gMAo and https://youtu.be/HvH9l5DQr5E |
|
| VK3LCM |
Rating: |
2022-02-08 | |
| Absolutely Fantastic!!! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This antenna is absolutely fantastic! I'll first start with the support I received from Callum, deciding whether to go the 40m classic or 80m classic. The only difference is that you get 100m more wire for the 80m element and for the longer radials. Callum was great help and takes the time to answer emails and any questions. More companies should be like this rather than "buy the product and find out yourself." So fantastic customer service from Callum.
My one concern before purchasing was what the noise floor would be like in a suburban area. Its actually surprisingly not bad at all! Besides the fact I am picking up a bit more switch mode noise, which also happened with my home built quarter wave, the results were much better than what I expected.
The nig surprise was that on 20m, the noise floor was 2 S points lower than my home built 20m quarterwave! S5 for the homebuilt, S3 for the DX Commander. Noise floor for 40m is an S5 which is better than what I thought it would be.
It works well on transmit as well, I was able to work Norway from VK3 with about 120w, the station receiving me 5/6, on 20m. This is better than my homebuilt quarterwave.
Assembling the DX Commander DOES REQUIRE TIME. Callum says, put aside a day. I'm saying the same. It is a bit of a slow process, but do it once, do it right. Do not rush it and follow the instructions. they are well written.
I am looking forward to using this antenna more and more as we go up the sunspot cycle, this is a great antenna and anyone considering getting one SHOULD!
You wont be disappointed.
And don't forget, Callum's customer service is honestly second to none. |
|
| K4SHS |
Rating: |
2022-01-06 | |
| Excellent Antenna! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I purchased the DX after a suggestion from a local HAM Friend, WA4TVN. He would never stop talking about it and his easy global contacts! Other local hams here were talking me into a horizontal OCD. So I ventured to his shack, and heard & saw for myself. So I finally ordered a New rig (ICOM-7300) and this antenna. Shipping & communications to east coast usa was great. It even arrived 4 days early from the UK! We erected the antenna on a warm day, and I cut all elements per instructions only for starters. We were running out of daylight, so we decided to go for it! Most bands were close to center freq resonance. I have yet to tune any of the elements, but upon our first contact attempts, we connected with Serbia & Australia from East Coast USA, near sunset on 40m. We were the clearest and loudest contact upon a large pile up with these two particular stations! They each called us with 5x9 signal. Also hit California (cross country) late at night on 40m, again loudest calling station. All of this on 100 watts. Great start, a bit more tuning, but for the farm here, this is what I needed! Lots of YouTube videos, along with instructions supplied, you cant fail. |
|
