[600MRG] "The Lowdown Amateur Radio Antenna for 630 Meters Model 630.PD"

[Greg KF5N]

Hi Dwight, thanks for the tip!  What do you consider to be a "cheap 25'
vertical"?
I was looking at sectional aluminum flag poles and I was wondering how well
that would work.

73 Greg KF5N

On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 9:01 AM Dwight Blevins <blethn at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Greg,
>
> You asked about "something equivalent." There definitely is and it will
> cost you maybe $125.00 max (if that). The equivalent is a 5 gallon plastic
> bucket, a cheap 25' aluminum vertical and a roll of solid core insulated
> wire (16 or 18 gauge). Add a 3-wire top hat to the vertical and ground
> mount the thing with the big bucket loading coil, feed point taped up from
> ground. I'm 75 years old and easily picked up the whole apparatus and had
> it up and tied off in less than an hour, once everything else was
> assembled.
>
> It works great on receive and my little 5 watt one tube 630m exciter loads
> up with ease. I can copy KB5NJD Q5 most any time he is on the air, CW. All
> I have for a counterpoise is that the mounting mast goes in the ground
> maybe 40 inches and I have that tied off to a nearby chain link fence.
> Again, tip of the antenna is maybe 25' up. For the top section I bought a
> 60 inch whip which attaches to the top of the vertical where the top hat
> wires are connected. They go down at a 45 angle, tied off with insulators
> to stakes on the ground. So the 3 top hat sloper wires serve to support the
> slender vertical when the wind comes.
>
> I don't know what the radiation resistance is, but the thing works great,
> low background noise, no BCI garbage, etc! I'm not saying don't buy the
> commercial antenna, but on my budget I have to make my own stuff, which is
> the fun part of the hobby :)
>
> 73's
> KW7T
> Colorado
>
> On Tuesday, January 11, 2022, 06:38:03 AM MST, Greg KF5N <
> greg.electricity at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> I like the design as I could use it even in my relatively small back yard.
>
> The availability of a turnkey antenna and other gear is good, but I'm not
> even sure there is that much easily available reference material if you
> want to build your own.
> I recently ordered the 2022 ARRL Handbook, and found only one page on LF
> propagation.  Did I miss something, or is there no other information on the
> ham LF allocations in the latest handbook?
>
> Let's say I was a newbie interested in trying out 630 meters.  Where would
> I go to find construction details for an antenna equivalent to this
> commercial offering?
> Long ago (1980s) I built and operated a Lowfer Beacon.  There was the
> series of books by Ken Cornell, and a couple of enthusiast periodicals on
> Lowfer and other LF topics.
> Lots of antenna topics and construction articles in those publications.
> Is there something equivalent to this today for 630 meters?
>
> 73 Greg KF5N
>
> On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 8:03 AM John Langridge <kb5njd at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Good morning,
>
> Jamie, N2VJ, reported this morning on SLACK that a US-based company is
> producing a portable, turnkey 630-meter vertical antenna system.
> Originally developed for BC medium wave AM as an emergency continuity
> system, this model has been modified for 472-479 kHz.  You can see the
> specs here:  https://theradiosource.com/products/antenna-630pd.htm
>
> Jamie indicated that the company is probably testing the market and
> the price may be somewhere in the $890 USD range.  While that may seem
> pricey to some, there are a lot of people out there still waiting for
> a turnkey option and engineering and materials are expensive these
> days.  Yes you can build this stuff for a LOT cheaper but there are a
> lot of hams today that can't or won't so here is an option to fill the
> void.
>
> Have a look and show some interest as doing so often drives product
> development and innovation.
>
> Jamie explicitly noted that he is not endorsing this product and he
> has no financial interest.
>
> 73,
>
> John KB5NJD
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