Vertical Antenna Recommendation

[NZ4Z]

I just installed the Zero-Five 10-160 43 ft vertical about 3 weeks ago. A friend suggested it to me, and i'll say it's the best 300 bucks I have spent in the hobby to this point. I love it! I have talked all over the world running 1000 watts. I bust through pile ups, and never seem to call more than 3 times. My friends on 80M that are within 175 miles of me say I sound better on the vertical than on my dipole. I worked sweepstakes this past weekend, only worked about 5 hours total, and had 74 of the 80 sections. And the ones I missed were the ones close to me.
Here's the neat thing.....I'm only using two 8 ft ground rods! NO big mess of radials! The best thing about the antenna is the owner of the company....Tom is awesome. He will bend over backwards to help you if you have a problem.
Feel free to shoot me a email if you have questions....or want to meet up and hear it on the air.
nz4z@arrl.net

Good Luck!

Steve

[KC7YE]

For 80 -10 have 5BTV & use inverted L for 160, all as portable. Live in condo that is hopeless noise wise, rent or beg a operating site when want to play for contest. Needed something that was quick to put up by my self, easy to transport and store. The 5BTV fits the bill & the L works for rest. This years CW SS was spent at rented beach cabin @ Point No Point WA. Right on saltwater. XYL enjoyed the weekend @ beach too ( plus there). First outing for the 5BTV was IA QSO party from friends place on Whidby Island WA, nice short test and pleased with my result. Have run the L from beach park near home QTH but was summer and daytime so ? This is 4th 4 /5 BTV I have had over the last 40 + years. DX Engineering has some FB extras for the antenna, their instruction booklet is much better then original too.

[K0OD]

I just installed the Zero-Five 10-160 43 ft vertical about 3 weeks ago. A friend suggested it to me, and i'll say it's the best 300 bucks I have spent in the hobby to this point. I love it! I have talked all over the world running 1000 watts. I bust through pile ups, and never seem to call more than 3 times.

Here we go again:  It's just a stinkin' 43' aluminum stick. I've had a DXE 43 footer for several years and it's "okay" on the middle bands. Absolutely worthless on 160. Mediocre on 80. Base loading will help in those cases. Only reason I "kinda" like it is because I work a lot of 60 meters where it's a quarter wave. I have a huge radial field (used to have a 4 square in that area) and usually run 100 watts.

Must say that 43 footers aren't that bad on 10 meters. With ten being so hot lately I've done many DX comparisons with a pretty good dipole. Dipole wins by an S-unit or two broadside but can be a bit down off the ends.

If you're always breaking thru pileups on three calls then it's the KW and 4-land location doing the work or you need to find rarer DX.  Really rare pileups spread over lots of bandwidth, sometimes 100 kHz. Guys with stacks can spend hours in them.

As for mystical ZF properties, I hear them rotting in pileups. They're no better than my "aluminum stick" and it's no pileup buster.

Main upside to a 43 footer is the extreme flexibility. I've even made a few 6-meter Qs on mine. They're low visibility and durable versus dipoles in my tall trees (high dipoles would work much better). Some might accurately refer to them as appliance antennas for appliance ops... guys like me who want to make some Qs but don't want to spend their weekends antenna farming.

43 footers are a lot more than "fad" antennas. They're a lot less than "pileup busters."

[WA1RNE]

Most bang for the buck, I'd take a look at a Hy Tower Jr. Works 80-10 with full quarter wave elements and cage loading on 75/80. You should be able to base load it on 160, though I haven't actually heard of anyone trying it. There's also no reason why 17 and 12 meter stubs can't be added to cover all HF bands. Not including radials, $350 isn't a bad deal for a trap-less all band vertical.

...WA1RNE

[WB6BYU]

...$350 isn't a bad deal for a trap-less all band vertical.

Best of all, one that doesn't require a tuner.

[KC5CQW]

I had two 6BTV's over the years and had good results.
Here at my new QTH, I decided to go stealth and came up with a cheap working setup.
My most heavily used radio is my K2/10. I have others but don't need 100w.

After being a huge skeptic of the 43' fad, I decided to do a little research on them.
I couldn't justify $300+ for some silly simple antenna that couldn't possibly work so I used some wire to try it out first.
A trip to Lowes got me a 500' roll of 14AWG and some 1/8" rope thimbles (tear drop shaped loop protectors).
I was given an 800' roll of RG-6 75ohm coax and all that I needed now was a plastic 4"x4"x3" electrical junction box with RF connections.
In side the box is an MFJ-10-10989D terminated with an SO-239 on the input and two 5-way binding posts for the vertical wire and radials.

Total cost was about $60 to $75. I shot an arrow with spiderwire into a very tall pine tree.
This was used to pull my 1/4" rope and wire vertical.

What have I learned about the 43' antenna fad? If you have tall trees, why spend $300. Also, they do work!
I used the remaining wire for radials. The UNUN makes this antenna DC grounded by default so it is very quiet on RX.
You should have a horizontal antenna to switch to if possible to help "fill in the gaps". (this is for ANY vertical)
Without base loading inductance, expect good 60-10m performance. I do make contacts on 80m with a good bit of loss.
10-15w SSB and 5-8w DATA has netted me contacts world wide.
The best part, no one knows it's there!

go to www.ad5x.com for some good info including RG-6/PL-259 soldering.

73, Damon

[WM4G]

GAP CHALLENGER. Enough said!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[W3AGT]

I've had the ZF 43' Vertical with tip over mount for about 19 months.

I can't say enough good things about it.

I run 100 watts thru a FT-950 and have been able to hit all over the world except for India, S.E. Asia and the deep interior of china.

No ground radials, withstood 63 mph winds this spring and an ice storm last winter.

Sure a Yagi would be nice to block out the noise but if you're space restricted at all, then consider the ZF.

Check out my web page at w3agt.com

73s to All

[WD4ELG]

I've had the ZF 43 footer for 3 years.  I put some info up on my blog about it, tried to clarify fact from fiction.

http://wd4elg.blogspot.com/2009/09/much-maligned-and-commended-43-foot.html

[KQ0C]

I have both the 6 BTV and a Zero Five 43-footer. I get great performance from both. But for me the answer to your question lies entirely in how much power you plan to run. If you intend to keep it to 100 watts the 43-footer with a remote antenna tuner (SDG, or similar) will give you substantial advantages on 20 meters and below, and perform pretty well above that. For high power the remote tuner becomes problematic (although some will handle up to 500 watts), and tuned antennas are more attractive.

If you attach a 25 foot wire to the top of a 43 footer and pull it away from the top you are top loading it for 80 meters and 160. The wire can be draped right next to the antenna when you don't want the top loading.

Ultimately having one antenna is never ideal.

I live in a stealth situation, but like you on a bigger plot of land. I have an 80 meter loop which is all but invisable but which really performs well, and complements my other antennas.

In a similar vein a 19 foot vertical is a great complement to a 43 foot vertical.

Realize that, up to 5/8 wave, taller verticals add low angle gain vs a 1/4 wave vertical.                             

[KC4MOP]

Most bang for the buck, I'd take a look at a Hy Tower Jr. Works 80-10 with full quarter wave elements and cage loading on 75/80. You should be able to base load it on 160, though I haven't actually heard of anyone trying it. There's also no reason why 17 and 12 meter stubs can't be added to cover all HF bands. Not including radials, $350 isn't a bad deal for a trap-less all band vertical.

...WA1RNE

DEAR WA1RNE PLEASE read my post on the Jr. and respond and let me in on some secrets to success for this antenna PLEASE??
I'm not having a good time with this antenna and 80M....Sorry for hi-jacking
KC4MOP....I'm good in QRZd.
Fred