Sidebar Sidebar
  • You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.

Need help understanding something.

W

W5LZ

Crotchety Old Bastard
Apr 8, 2005
6,832
903
173
Oklahoma
The title to this thread is mis-leading to some extent, but not really cuz I honestly don't understand something.
Why would anyone buy an antenna for two or four times as much money as it would cost them just to make it?
That's not a 'trick' question, it's for 'real'. Lets also qualify it to some fairly simple types of antennas, not the 'elaborate' ones. For instance, dipoles or 1/4 wave verticals.
I've seen a pretty fair amount of people/companies selling dipole antennas. They have all been at least three times what you could make them for with just a little bit of research, digging through the 'junk box', and maybe 20 minutes worth of time (change that 20 minutes to an hour just for the h@## of it).
I have to admit that my 'junk box' doesn't have anything in it that would stand up straight for a vertical antenna without some 'help'. I might 'splurge' a bit for one'a those.
I also have to say that I don't much care what an antenna 'looks like' as long as it works. Looking 'nice' is nice, but it isn't exactly a biggy, you know?
So why would anyone do that buying instead of building?
- 'Doc

Again, this isn't a 'trick' question, I honestly can't understand it.
 

probably for the same reason people pay more for used gear then they can buy it new...

Guess ignorance? maybe convenience in some cases?
 
Probably newer hams who haven't been around long enough to accumulate a "junk box" yet.

Most folks do not live near enough to any store that sells coax and other parts to add up to everything needed to put up even a complete dipole. So they would have to search out a place online or over the phone that carries all the parts and get them shipped. They would also already have to have a soldering iron of some sort and solder.

Sure old hands like you and me have this stuff. But we didn't when we were born :whistle: Have to remember that we were all newbies at one time ;) We all have beginnings.

Others may buy a simple ready made antenna just for convenience as already mentioned. Some folks "busy" themselves up too much in this modern life and need an antenna fast and figure they don't have the time to make one when they could just buy up a plug n' play device.
 
I agree with everything said, but add one more. Some lack curiosity. For me it is in this order:
1. how does it work?
2. can i build it?
3. will it work?
4. did it work?

Curiosity is why I do it. Sometimes the materials for some of my efforts were more expensive when adding the time investment I could have bought it cheaper, but those are the complicated ones. A dipole is too simple to pay for when #14 copper wire goes for about $0.13 a foot...

Some folks just don't want to know, they just want to talk.
 
A lot of the newbies buy antennas because they do not have a clue how to make them and don't want to spend the time learning how anyway. Why should they bother? They can get a ticket without cracking a book now.

With antenna names out there like G5RV, or Double Extended Bazooka Special, or an all band OCFD surely they must have a sprinkling of pixie dust to make them work so well and with pixie dust being available to only a few select antenna manufacturers it stands to reason that the newbie could never build something as good as he could buy.

OK. Got that one off my chest but at least I said how I really feel.


:pop:
 
As a newbie, I would say yes.
Where I am now, I don’t have access to my tools. I don’t have easy access to operate.
I don’t have SWR meter to tell me if I am doing it right.

I need to join a club, but….
I need to buy another radio with SWR meter, but….
I need to buy a tuner, so if I design an antenna that is “close”, I can tune it in.

So I am struggling with purchasing a tri/quad band mobile VHF antenna. Based on what I know, I “think” I could build one, but I am not sure if it is worth the effort/hassle.
 
KD8LWX said:
So I am struggling with purchasing a tri/quad band mobile VHF antenna. Based on what I know, I “think” I could build one, but I am not sure if it is worth the effort/hassle.
Click to expand...

Despite what I said in my post above I firmly believe that it IS a good idea to buy mobile antennas especially for VHF and UHF. They have much tighter tolerances especially when dealing with collinear types. They also have to withstand highway speeds and the occasional whack against a tree branch or drivethru overhang and it is VERY easy to underestimate the forces this applies to an antenna and it's mount. As for making your own HF mobile antennas, I suppose that depends how handy you are.They are much easier to make from a performance point of view but can be rather cumbersome.I did make my HF mobile antenna.It has a 4 foot fiberglass base wound with copper braid from RG-8 cable and is topped with a stainless whip. It tops out at 13"4" from the ground to the tip.Two inches under legal height.It's self resonant on 15m, and runs all bands with an FC-40 autotuner. In the next week or so I will be erecting a balanced line fed doublet to get me back on the air until next year when I have bigger and better antenna plans.
 
One point of clarification!

I knew all of this stuff from before I was born. I told that @#$ obstetrician how he ought'a re-do his antennas and that's why the SOB spanked me, made me cry! That happens much more often than you'd ever believe. Them @#$ obstetricians spank a lot of babies. Why else would the dumb @#$%%^#s do that? Right??
- 'Doc

:) wave that one over your yard and you'll have green grass all winter.
 
I have always liked to tinker making antennas. Many of you have heard of my attic array I had at the last residence. I burned up the web looking for ideas. I have a Hamstik dipole on the roof for 6m that works great. It's above my 2m/440 yagi on a tripod connected to a rotor. I have a homemade OCD strung across the upper hill connected to a homemade ugly balun. I just got off the roof from setting up a 20ft section of tower I got from an antenna man today. Trying to think of what else I can make wire wise to string from it under my groundplane antenna. I think what started me down the road of homebrew was the desire to get on the air not having much money for antennas. My first 2 base antennas were homebrew. I even made contact to Italy on a coax dipole. I guess the "need" to get on the air made the construction fun. Plus the added benefit of success from something you did yourself. When I first started I didn't have a clue that you could do it yourself which may be where some new guys are at. But I found the web full of info for a guy to go hog wild building antennas.
 
With wire antennas, I think it's mostly laziness or just not knowing. I get a kick out of just how much money people do charge for them.

With yagis, a lot of it is not knowing how, but in my case, i've looked around at what I have for metal supplier options and by the time i add up all the metal, it's very very close to what a manufactured antenna would cost me...particularly with the time of assembly. Testing a beam is not so easy so after laying out money and time, you can wind up with an expensive pile of metal that doesn't work well.

I am frequently surprised at how many local hams don't even know how to do basic soldering or understand even basic polarity for making their own power cables. i've had to help a few guys with basic audio cables and power runs...I was surprised.
 
SR385 said:
I am frequently surprised at how many local hams don't even know how to do basic soldering or understand even basic polarity for making their own power cables. i've had to help a few guys with basic audio cables and power runs...I was surprised.
Click to expand...

I hear ya on that one. Pretty sad isn't it. :thumbdown: When I was 14 I was making my own cables,both audio and coaxial, and never had anything that could be remotely called training. I just read a lot and went ahead and did it. By the time I could legally drive a car I had built a couple small tube type amps using 6KD6 sweep tubes and had the yard covered in antenna wires. Having 7.5 acres to play with helped with that. (y) It wasn't until I had finished high school that I took any training in the electronics field. I really don't know what is differant today with folks other than motivation,or the lack thereof.
 

dxChat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.


      Top Bottom
      Back