[TowerTalk] DX Engineering 66-Foot Vertical?

[jimlux]

Roger (K8RI) wrote:
> 
> Jim Brown wrote:
>>> It would be interesting to see a printout of all the diameters, 
>>> lengths wall thicknesses and any other relevant info for each of 
>>> the aluminum tubing pieces that comprise one of these 66' vertical
>>> antennas.
>>>     
>> Yes, it certainly would. But DXEngineering PAID an engineer to 
>> design that antenna, and they deserve to sell that product to 
>> recover their costs. It's what's called free enterprise. 
>>
>>   
> And purchasing the tubing is free choice.  Almost any one on here could 
> design an antenna like that in just a few minutes if they had a list of 
> tubing sizes.  OTOH all they'd have to do is call the local aluminum 
> tubing distributor (we have a large one in Saginaw about 20 miles from 
> here), Ask what they had that would slip together to make something like 
> that and they'd even do the work for you and it'd be cheaper still..  
> For the base you get a piece of PVC conduit and U-bolts.  This is about 
> as minimal an antenna you can get with the exception of a dipole and as 
> easy to design. Of course there are many "manufactured" dipoles in use 
> out there too. <:-))

There's a certain non-zero time involved in that finding out what 
diameters are available, figuring out what to get, etc. (unless you have 
a cookbook list from the ARRL handbook or an article that you can just 
send them for a quote)



> 
> You can't drive a car for less than 50 cents a mile unless it's old AND 
> paid for.  People make the mistake of thinking it's only the cost of gas 
> when driving. That was with gas cheaper than we have now, but what we 
> have now isn't going to stay cheap. At-any-rate, it'd cost me a minimum 
> of $20 to drive my old car to Saginaw and back so maybe I'd get enough 
> to build three or four and take a couple hams with me.

There's also the cutting and/or delivery fees at the supplier. Some are 
more interested in over the counter small sales than others.