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.
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