[TowerTalk] Vertical dipole other choices?

[jimlux]

On 10/20/20 5:32 PM, Tom Osborne Sr. wrote:
> Why would anyone pay $1000 for a 28 foot piece of aluminum?  This seems
> like as big of a rip off as the 43' vertical for $700.  73
> Tom W7WHY
> 

If you price out commercial flagpoles they're a good fraction of a 
kilobuck - the base mount, all the hardware, etc..  And they're a lot 
bigger in diameter than the usual ham antenna. I don't know how big the 
greyline unit is, but the flagpoles that are rated for 70 mi/hr with no 
flag are 3 1/2" at the bottom tapering to about 1 7/8" at the top and 
1/8" walls.

It's probably not the "thin wall nested tubing with hose clamps" one 
sees with the usual ham vertical like my 6BTV.

They don't say on their website what the tubing is.. But looking at the 
pictures where someone is assembling it, it kind of looks like about 2" 
diameter and reasonably thick wall (1/8").

Someone's got to make all the insulators and fittings.  Is it $1000 
worth? Clearly not, from a raw material standpoint.  However, 30 feet of 
2" OD, 1/8" wall 6061 tubing is about $400. 2" Sch 80 aluminum pipe is 
about $500 for 30 feet.

by the time you add some suitable fiberglass tubing (which I used to buy 
for about the same price as aluminum in the same size), 20 feet of 
ladder line (another $20), various bolts and stuff, you're probably up 
to around 500-600 before machining and packaging.

Then, you have to cut it, drill holes, cut notches, and then put it in a 
box, it looks like you've probably got $100 in labor into it.

And the flag, pulley, halyards and eagle or ball.

He's paying the shipping on a 50 lb or so box.

At that, he's probably got a gross margin around 30%, assuming he's not 
paying rent.

ALl in all it's not exactly a rip-off - it's a "paying for someone else 
to scrounge up the parts and put them in a box with the right holes 
drilled in it"

It's sort of like the Alpha Delta DX-CC multiband dipole - yeah, it's a 
bunch of pieces of PVC rod with holes drilled in it, a couple hundred 
feet of wire, and some connectors and insulators.  Yet, it's $180.
You could buy the hardware, without the wire and PVC for $30.

You're paying for "kitting"  In general, I've found that it's cheaper 
for someone else to do all the scrounging and gathering and machining, 
if I'm not counting my time as free.


I don't know that people are complaining about the *design* of the 
greyline vertical, more about the company's business practices.




> 
> 
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 9:42 AM k7lxc--- via TowerTalk <
> towertalk at contesting.com> wrote:
> 
>> Howdy, TowerTalkians -
>>
>>      Tnx for all your comments on the Greyline Performance antenna and
>> company. Seems to be a bunch of dissension to say the least.      So what
>> other manufacturers of vertical dipoles would be worth doing business with?
>> I still think the antenna fits the bill for the installation but am looking
>> for options. Tnx! Cheers,Steve     K7LXC
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
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