US POSTAL SERVICE RATES MAY 2007!
Say it isn't so, Joe!! The US Postal Service increased postal charges across the board, and while first Class stamp costs increased by 5%, there were drastic changes to the way packages are handled for Canadian & International customers. To put it simply, there is no more Air Parcel Post. This simple change has made shipping large antennas to our Canadian friends impossible in most cases. Any antenna package that is longer than 42" cannot be shipped through the US Mail to Canada. In addition, the rates are much higher than the old Air Parcel Post rates. International rates to Europe and South America have not changed drastically, and the length limits remain at 42" in most cases. For a glimpse at the bad news, check out the new international rates here. You can choose your country and instantly see what the rates are.
http://ircalc.usps.gov/default.aspx?Mode=Intl_Single&CID=12062
UPS shipments to Canada remain the same, and all large antennas must be shipped via UPS in the future. We are sorry for this inconvenience.
LOOP YAGIS UPDATED!!
We have made some changes for the better recently. In case you have not been watching, metals prices have skyrocketted in 2006. Copper is so expensive that the US Mint is now losing money making pennies, and the darn things are just plated copper!! Directive Systems was hit with a totally unrealistic price increase for materials used in our loop yagi driven elements. Rather than raise prices, we tried to re design the feed system to eliminate the expensive parts and still keep the quality and performance high. We reasoned that no one wants a lousy microwave antenna, and no ham wants a very expensive microwave antenna! Read about what we did HERE!
January, 2007 UPS RATES
New UPS rates have gone into effect for 2007. For the first time in many years there is actually some good news to report. Yes the rates have gone up a bunch, but the method of calculating the rate on long boxes has changed, and it has resulted in reduced shipping costs for our larger antennas such as the 3333LY, 2345LY, 1376LY and the larger K1FO yagis such as the DSFO144-12, 222-16 and 432-25. For customers on the West Coast, the savings will amount to almost $8 for each large antenna shipped.
Nov 15th Price Increase & other news
The prices for power dividers have increased by a small amount. Yagi prices in most cases have also increased by a small amount, as of November 15th. These increases were due to huge increases in plated brass rf connectors and UT-141 semi rigid coax (used in our high quality baluns on the K1FO yagis). Aluminum costs recently went up by 15%. Other prices have remained relatively stable, and hopefully, will remain so for the near future.
We added some information on the WA1ZMS 144.285 MHz beacon. It uses our wide beamwidth LVA yagis and packs a potent punch all along the East Coast.
ATV ANTENNA UPGRADED!
The DSFOATV-25 has been updated to improve the high end frequency response. This was as a result of some requests from our Midwest ATV buffs. The antenna will now start to roll off at about 441 MHz, with very good VSWR well up past 439.25 MHz. See the new link to the DSFOATV-25.
We have also added material to the Application Notes (APP NOTES)
NEW LINE OF VHF ROVER YAGIS
Directive Systems has added some new yagi antennas to the VHF yagi catalog. They are available today and consist of short 144, 222, and 432 K1FO style designs plus our own computer optimized offerings. On 144 MHz we have the DS144-6RS which is strictly a rover antenna for the 144-145 MHz range only. It has very high gain and a great E and H plane pattern. It utilizes an 8 ft boom, so can travel the highways while nested sideways and still be street legal. The 222 and 432 versions have 10 and 15 elements respectively, and are 8 foot long K1FO type designs. These designs are marked by very clean E and H patterns, very high gain, and wide bandwidth. You can see the particulars by clicking on the links below.
In addition to these offerings, we have developed a great antenna for VHF contesting. We believe it provides a quantum leap in effectiveness. The original design came from Fred Stefanik, N1DPM. Fred was a major force behind the NC1I contest team and was always looking for ways to improve the NC1I score. The original NC1I 144 MHz antenna was an M2 50 ft yagi. The joke was that the front of the antenna extended into the next grid square and provided more signal as a result, but Fred found that such a long (and narrow beamwidth) yagi was actually a hinderance to a great score. They evolved the array into stacked 9 element yagis, and saw a large improvement in their score. The final result ended up with very short yagis stacked vertically to provide the gain, but also maintain a very wide horizontal pattern. Fred's design is now the DPM144-5LVA. It is now being used at several contest stations including W3CCX, W4RX, N3NGE, and K1WHS. Fred, N1DPM has even installed a small one (3 antennas) at his home QTH! For more information about the LVA series, check out the links below.
DPM144-5LVA The LVA page with all sorts of information
DPM144-5LVA The antenna manual in PDF format.
Along with all the new offerings, we have started to upgrade our website with more information, more pictures, and some application notes on antenna stacking and placement. Bear in mind that the Marketing arm of Directive Systems is also the IT Department, and the Production Department. The upgrades will take time, but we hope to get plenty of work done by the end of February, 2006. We have started with our VHF Yagis page. In the meantime, please accept our apologies if some links here appear to go nowhere or are non functional. The Photo Album page promises to be a fun filled adventure when it is completed.