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Reviews For: Zero-Five 6-80 Meter Groundplane Vertical

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Zero-Five 6-80 Meter Groundplane Vertical
Reviews: 10MSRP: 409
Description:
The NEW 6-80 meter groundplane vertical antenna is a rugged
multiband vertical antenna. This vertical has no lossy
traps, coils or stubs to burn out fill up with water and
detune. Super wide bandwidth means more time operating, and
less time stuck on a frequency your trap vertical is tuned
for. Designed for hams that do not have room for ground
radials. This vertical Stands 36 feet tall and has 6 ridged
aluminum radials 133 inches long each. Should be mounted at
6 to 10 feet above ground, Not recommended for roof
mounting. The element and radials are made from T-832 Drawn
aircraft aluminum tubing. The CNC machined base tube is made
from 2 1/4 inch 1/4 wall T-6 extruded aluminum tubing. The
mounting pegs for the radials are solid aluminum pressed
into the base tube and then Tig welded to ensure a good
electrical connection. The base insulator is Fully CNC
machined Black Delrin for excellent insulation and power
handling. Not a wobbly cheap fiberglass tube. Comes complete
with our new double core matching transformer and mounting
plate with leads.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.zerofive-antennas.com/6-80-meter-broadband-groundplane-freestanding-vertical-antenna
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00105
N8FVJ Rating: 2022-04-19
Excellent Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My new location did not have enough room in-between existing trees for my EFHW-8010 wire antenna. I bought the Zero-Five 80 to 10 meter ground plane antenna. I mounted about 12 feet off the ground using a fence post and three four foot military aluminum mast sections inside the fence post. I noticed the wind bends the 2: Military 2" mast a fair amount so I installed a guy wire at the antenna base to offset the prevailing wind. This is a very tall antenna and catches a lot of wind. I would use nothing smaller than heavy wall 2" steel conduit or schedule 40 water pipe.

I usually use 80 to 20 meters. I do not know the SWR match without a tuner, but bought a LDG AT-600 Pro II 600 watt antenna tuner. The tuner provides a 1.3 or less to 1 SWR match on all bands. I read this antenna provides an odd wave form on 15 to 6 meters. I may use my CB antenna for 15 thru 10 meters with the tuner. I am not active on 6 meters. I have not used 15 and 10 meters in a long time.

I noticed the Zero-Five is very quiet on 80 meters compared to the long wire and has sensitive receive ability. It is about three S units quieter, yet has better receive signal strength vs my previous horizontal wire antenna. The antenna also provides a strong ground wave exceeding 200 miles.

It is a rather expensive antenna at $699, but does not use traps like the Hustler 6BTV $200 antenna. Traps are usually maintenances items due to water or corrosion that I do not want. So, the antenna is about $1100 with an automatic antenna tuner.

i plan to use my Ameritron AL-811 at 600 watts PEP output. A legal limit amp would need the $2000 PalStar AT-10 auto tuner. I suppose one could use a less expensive high power manual tuner though.

I am pleased with the Zero-Five antenna. It does take three men to erect this antenna. Antenna height with 12 foot mast is about 60 feet in the air!
W5MCU Rating: 2020-10-10
What A Great Antenna and Great Company! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had this antenna for 4 years, in fact it was my first antenna. Remembering the last 4 years of sunspot scarcity I think it's done a marvelous job! I can't wait for Cycle 25.

This antenna blew down when a mini-tornado or microburst hit my location I've been piecing it back together with the help with folks at Zero-Five. What a pleasure they are to work with! They promptly answer all my questions and help guide me through this rebuild. Now I say 'rebuild' but I have to say other than a couple of bent radials and a lazy curve bent into the vertical (which is kinda sexy) I can't believe it survived so well. And it wasn't the antenna that failed in the wind but the bolts came out of my roof! (That's probably why they don't recommend roof mounting!!!) All in all, they are my antenna guys!
K3SUI Rating: 2020-09-02
Performance hard to believe Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I purchased this antenna about a year ago and it sat in my basement for a few months. Reason was that my Zero-Five 40-10 meter GP vertical was working so well I hesitated to take it down. I wanted to work 80 meters to get all band DXCC.

I finally assembled a few guys to help me put it up and WOW !! I have had it up for less than 4 months and have 87 countries on 80 meters. My best DX was a ZL and I broke the pileup on T31EU the other day. I am running a K3 with a KPA-500 @ 500 watts.

The build quality on this antenna is at least as robust as my 40-10 meter GP Vertical. We had 50 mph winds the other day and it hardly bent in the breeze. No problems.

If you want an 80 meter antenna and have no room for radials give this one a try. You will NOT be disappointed. This antenna has a significantly lower angle of radiation on the lower bands than most dipoles and inverted V's and many beams that are in common usage on these bands. I have always felt that a properly installed vertical will be any other antenna of reasonable cost on the bands less than 14 Mhz. Got money for a 100' tower and a beam on 40/30 or a 200' tower and beam on 80, you can beat a properly installed vertical.

While this is a step down from a real full size vertical with 4 or 5 dozen radials, there is still a boat load of performance in this antenna.
N2DTS Rating: 2020-09-02
Very good antenna! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I put it up on the roof, side of house mounting where the garage attached to the house.
Fed with about 80 feet of RG214 coax, unun in base provided with the antenna, no extra radials yet.
40 meters and up this thing rocks! great match on 40, not very good on other bands as is, but it still works great with a tuner.
I have an 80/40/20 meter fan dipole up 45 feet and its about even on 40 meters but the Zero 5 is better above that. On 40 meters, I often switch between antennas on 40 to eliminate qsb, a signal will be 15 Db stronger on one or the other then reverse.
Its great to have two different antenna's, when one is not working well, often the other works much better.
The antenna (and unun) takes all the power no problem, even on AM, 300 watts carrier and 1200 watts pep is no problem.
One important tip, before putting the antenna together, clean the swarf out from them cutting the slits in the ends, as you slide the pieces together any swarf (chunks of metal) gouge the pieces and they no longer slide, they jam and its hard to fix gouges inside tubing.

You will want a dipole if you can get it, but you also want one of these. It works well and its well made.
My Butternut was well made but was more of a dummy load, this antenna works,
2E0TES Rating: 2018-10-14
Superb Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned the Zero Five for about 18 months. The performance on 10-40 is superb and it tunes without a problem using the internal tuner on my Icom 7300. 17 has been open more recently and I have had QSL's as far Brazil on 50w from England.
The materials used looks to be superb quality. Mine is mounted about 15 foot off the ground, attached to a pole which in turn is strapped to a tree. I only have one guy rope to cope with the SW winds we get here on the coast. The only problem has been to keep the tree clipped to stop it encroaching on the radials!
Would recommend the antenna without any hesitation.
KN9K Rating: 2018-02-20
A definite 5.0! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the Zero Five Vertical Ground Plane in January. Have to admit I was very skeptical about it's performance. But after getting it up and running now for a few weeks I am pleasantly surprised! I am a 95% CW operator chasing DX mostly on the lower parts of the CW portion of the HF bands. And this Antenna has amazingly punched through pileups and allowed me to make QSO's all around the globe. Even if I run barefoot it still gets through quite well.
The only thing I did differently was to ad six 1/4 wave Ground radials for the 160, 80 & 40 meter bands. The antenna is not resonant on most bands but with my Palstar AT2TK antenna tuner I am able to get a 1.1-1 SWR and my Acom 1500 works just fine on all the HF bands. Two things I would suggest to anyone wanting to purchase this well built antenna. Use Penetrox for all your connections. For some reason this is not in the instructions. If you ever needed to repair this antenna you don't want the elements to seize together. Second, I would install two 1 & 7/8 O.D. Galvanized pipes at least 4 feet in concrete. These should be sticking out the ground 6 feet. Then with another ten foot section for mounting the antenna, between the others, install a winch to either lower or raise it. I found it extremely difficult to raise this antenna up in the air on my 10 foot ladder while the 43 feet of vertical element was flaying around in the air! I almost gave up on it until I had my XYL come out and help me balance it until I was able to get the base to go on the pipe. Otherwise I love this antenna and would recommend it highly for it's outstanding performance.
See you in the DX pileups!
AK9S Rating: 2017-06-16
Exceptional! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After more than one-year of use, I am beyond satisfied with this antenna for Worldwide communications.

Some facts about this 43-foot vertical:

- a 5/8 wave on 20M, very low angle radiation for long-haul DX over 10,000 miles

- a 1/2 wave on 30M, meaning very good low angle radiation and high efficiency due to reduced ground loss at this wavelength

- 1/4 wave on 60, good low to mid-angle radiation

Did I mention working 49 countries and 48 states on 80M with it?

I can use this antenna on 160M with my Palstar tuner, even with the low efficiency, I was able to work 5 countries and 40 states. Not bad.

Some mods:

I extended the radiator to 45-feet in length, as I tend to work the lower end of each band.

I extended the six-(6) aluminum radials from 130 to 172 inches to improve efficiency on the higher bands.

I added six-(6) 14 gauge copper wire radials along the ground ranging from 33-feet to 132-feet to improve the return current on the lower bands for better efficiency.

The antenna performs extremely well on DX from 80M thru 17M. Perhaps not the best choice for Regional communications compared to horizontal wire antennas.

Note it is too long for 15M, 12M, 10M and 6M, resulting in the generation of multiple azimuth lobes which usually compromise performance.

This one is a real winner, especially if you are hunting for DX!
WA7TNT Rating: 2014-03-21
Wow! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I've been a HAM for 40+ years and used various antennas But with this antenna what I can hear I can usually work - with 100 watts! My own power is my only limitation with this awesome piece of aluminum! It has withstood wind gusts to 50+ mph without an issue. I used a Butternut HF6V and a wire on an AH-4 for years in a very small urban footprint and was semi-pleased with them. When we moved out to our new 14ac farm last Aug. my wife said - "Honey, you buy any antenna you want". She's a peach! But my neighbor across the road has a private airport and Im in the flight path. Dang. So I went to the eHam reviews. Zero Five - consistently 5.0! What?? I have the space - Why not? So I picked up the 6-80 Vertical ground plane. No radials? Heck ya! It's built like a tank! At first I was having a problem tuning 80m with the internal AT on my FT920. I emailed the company and they got back to me the same day with some ideas. I did eventually purchase an external AT - MFJ 993B for my IC-7000 and ta-da! I am still having some issues with 6m but I really don't operate there. I will figure that out if and when the time comes. As a result of my new found reception I have retired my FT920 joined a DX club and bought a new IC-7600 and Heil headset. Ive worked 150+ new countries in the past 8 months and entered in the ARRL SSBDX contest with a fairly good showing for my first contest! What can I say? A few words of caution.....You may need to purchase better equipment to match this awesome antenna!!! I see an amp in my future...lol
N9FDJ Rating: 2013-09-18
HANDS DOWN Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
HAD THIS ZEROFIVE 6-80M FOR ABOUT A YEAR; JUST N9FDJ HAD IT UP LAST 8MO. I HAVE A COUPLE OF VERTICL AS I HAVE MOVE A FEW TIME'S. THIS ONE HERE IS A 5/5 AND BULIT LIKE A TANK AS WITH EVERYTHING HE MAKES. OTHER HAMS THAT HAS SEEN THIS AND OTHER ANTENNAS MADE BY TOM IS QUOTED THEY NEVER HAD SEEN A BETTER BULIT ANTENAS. TOOK LESSS THEN AN HOUR TO PUT. NOT A BIG 10M PERSON BUT EVERY BAND DOWN TO 80M WITH A GOOD TUNER, I HAVE PALSTAR AT4K, ITS BEST INVESTMENT. NO ONE KNOWS ONCE YOU OWN A ZEROFIVE; YOU WILL NEVER HAVE ANY OTHER VERICAL, LIKE A ZEROFIVE
W6FYR Rating: 2012-11-13
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
To start, my lot isn't very big and the existing 10m-40m fan dipole I have is working alright along with a 40m/80m folded dipole. Neither of them are at optimum height because of the hillside I am at so I am at a disadvantage to begin with.

My preference is DX in the 10m-20m bands and I have been wanting to try a vertical due to the lower angle of radiation that can exist. After 8 months of deliberation and going back and forth on what I wanted and coming up empty as I wanted what didn't exist.... something simple. After looking at various commercial vertical antenna's, didn't really like what I wanted. Complex and time consuming setup, lossy traps, flimsy construction, visually unappealing all started to add up.

Then I happened on the Zero-Five antenna's and finally decided to go big or go home and picked up this 43'ft behemoth. Total setup and install was about 1-hour (not including the in-ground mount).

Put it on air with 100'ft of LMR-400 that I had into an IC-7410 radio, and WOW! It is a little noisier than both dipoles (which is expected), but on 10m-20m it hears very well and with a few exceptions if I can hear them I can work them and made almost 12 contacts the next day in the first few hours just dialing around the bands without making any calls. My dipoles could not hear what the vertical was hearing for whatever reason on the 10m-20m portion, and that was a good thing I felt.

Had several QSO's into Japan and South America with guys running 100-500 watts into directional antenna's, and they could hear me better than I could hear them at times. Possibly because of the vertical/horizontal difference or they had receive gain via the antennathey were using, not sure but I was impressed none the less.

On 40m-80m, the difference's are less noticeable on receive and I switch back and forth to see which is better. Doesn't really surprise me to be honest, but this antenna has made things even better. Transmit does seem to be a little better for stateside contacts via the Zero-Five vertical than the dipole.

Love the fact that it is less noticeable than other verticals I was originally looking at. In the future Going to paint it a flat grey/brownish colors to reduce the visual and shiny aluminum to hide it even more. Great job Zero-Five!!!!!