I purchased DX Commander Classic 40 thru 10 (can work on 6 and 2 meters as well) antenna in November to replace my aging Hustler 5-BTV trap vertical. I liked the concept, a lightweight vertical antenna that has 1/4 wave elements for most of the bands. But it hasn’t worked out well so far, and I’m not optimistic it will in the long run.
If you are unfamiliar with the antenna, it is based on the concept of a fan dipole, one feed point with multiple resonant elements. With a vertical, the feed point is the base, and 1/4 wave wire elements run vertically around an approximately 10 meter telescopic fiberglass mast. For 15 meters, it uses the 40 meter element, and it supposedly will work on 6 and 2 meters as well.
It is supported by only 3 guy ropes, attached only a few feet from the bottom. It is very light, and easily put up by one person. I watched many videos by the designer, Callum, M0MCX, on his YouTube channel.
It went up OK, and was working fine. I was a bit concerned watching how far it swayed in the wind. In his videos, Callum indicated this was normal, but he said if you are worried, you can add more guy ropes, or take it down if high winds expected. With high winds probably 30-50 days a year, this is not a solution for me. So I did add 3 more guys, maybe 5 foot above the others. I did not get them perfectly spaced, as I wanted to protect from the predominant winds, and use existing trees to tie to. But I thought it was enough to protect it in most cases.
After a few weeks, we had a pretty good wind storm, with a sudden drop in temperature. The winds were more southerly than usual. I have a weather station, and our highest wind gust was measured at 46mph. Which is pretty high, but we can have higher ones. 50 miles west, gusts were well over 60mph. Also, the temperature dropped from around 45 F to about 20F.
Sometime late that day or the next morning, I looked out at the antenna, and just above the main guy ropes, the mast was leaning over at about a 60 degree tilt instead of 90 deg. I went out and inspected it. The additional guy ropes I installed were still holding it up, but the mast was broken just above the first spreader plate. This is where the main guys are attached, and the first mast section ends. There is a clamp right there to ensure the mast doesn’t slide back down inside itself.
If my additional guys were not there, it would have been on the ground, snapped right in two. I emailed DX Commander, and explained the situation, including my concern that the antenna could not survive the typical western NY winters (or wind). It was the holidays, so it took a few days for them to get back to me.
Callum assured me they have thousands of these all over the world with few problems, but adding additional guys was a good idea. He offered a replacement mast at cost, and a link to arrange. Unfortunately, shipping from the UK was not included.
Not particularly happy with the warranty service, but that’s another topic. I probably will give it another try, but I’m not hopeful. I will have to add additional guys ropes to try and keep the movement of the mast at a minimum. Guys are something I wanted to avoid. My 5-BTV lasted years with no guys. Plus I have trees nearby which often lose branches in high winds. Guy ropes mean something falling nearby could put sudden strain on a guy rope and possibly damage the mast.
I have never had one of the lightweight telescopic masts before. Not sure if they all are the same, but there is a price to pay for lightweight. Seeing the broken one, they are thin walled wood veneer coated with some kind of fiberglass, also very thin. I just don’t see this a good solution for a permanent antenna installation. It may be the combination of wind and temperature, I don’t know. Callum indicated he has had high winds and it survived, as well as others. But that point just above the guy plate spreader is taking all the force of the wind.
At the moment, I wouldn’t recommend this antenna to anyone living in this area for sure. But we’ll see.
