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Reviews For: Hustler Vertical

Category: Antennas: HF Mobile & Accessories

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Review Summary For : Hustler Vertical
Reviews: 76MSRP: 29.95
Description:
80-10 meter mobile coils for hustler mast.r
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.new-tronics.com/main/index.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00763.9
AB7FS Rating: 2009-04-29
Good antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Back in the 1970's I used a Hustler mounted on the rear deck of my Impala for many years - mostly on 20 metres - and occasionally on 80 metres.

At the time I lived in the Yukon Territory and frequently drove between Haines Junction and Whitehorse. My late night trips were spent chatting on the radio - it was common to work Europe and the South Pacific on the same night. The 'rare' contacts included Kure Island and Fernando de Norona. Not sure how many contacts logged (yes I did log them) but it was certainly in the thousands :-)

Now I'm installing a Yaesu FT857D in the car (after my summer trip -- six weeks in E51 :-) and I'm looking at mobile antennas again. The Hustler STILL looks good - of course - with a solid state rig I may need a tuner - can't load it up like the old Yaesu FT101 :-).
WD0BC Rating: 2009-03-30
HUSTLERS bring project together! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Retirement project comes together with Hustlers.

Recently retired I traded for an old ICOM IC-725. After repairs I installed it in my 98 Ford Ranger pickup.

I had used Hustlers years ago for a short time on HF mobile but no real test. I was not able to leave the rig in the vehicle.

Two months ago I started investigating again installing the ICOM in my vehicle.

I was talking about my mobile plans on the local repeater and was GIVEN a Hustler setup.

I received a long fiberglass mast with quick disconnect and an 80, 40, 20, 15 and 10 meter resonator.

I installed a "Christmastree" tri-mount and put on the 80, 40 and 20 resonators. The unit was mounted on a trailer ball mount. I tuned the stubs in the center of the ham bands for each band using my MFJ 249 and stuck my LDG R-11 tuner in the line.

I have worked 15 countries in three weeks. I seem to talk to anyone I call. I am sure that the "mobile" on the end of my call helps but these "antiques" work to the hilt.

I sure am glad I came across these. I do not think that the Ham-sticks would have been as good and certainly could not work different bands without a lot of changing around.

HUSTLERS ROCK!

Sometimes the "OLD" established stuff beats NEW stuff hands down.

The ONLY thing that I would consider trading these for is the "TARHEEL", but would have to think long and hard.

I rate them 5 of 5 in my log.

NOW for mobile CW and the 5 speed stick shift! OH MY!


WD0BC
KD3JF Rating: 2009-02-12
Worked DX Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used the Hustler with the Super Resonators for many years. I use the 20 meter resonator most of the time and have worked European DX from Maryland. Installation is important. I have a van and use a 2 ft mast into the trailer hitch hole and then screw in the Hustler mast and resonator.

In the 80s I ran 2 hustlers on the rear of a station wagon. One time I had report of 20 over 9 for 150 miles and worked the other station from Indiana back to Michigan. The advantage over the screwdriver antennas is that the super resonator has its wire turns wide spaced. You will not have hot coils if you use the Super Resonator
N4GG Rating: 2008-11-02
Over-Rated Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Amazed at all the good ratings. Got my first chance to try the Hustler resonators for 40 and 20 on a balcony QTH with good radials. Got the SWR adjusted fine and got lots of crummy signal reports. Then I started feeling the resonators. They both run nice and hot at 100W. LOTS of wasted energy. A good loading coil won't even be warm - should dissipate less than 5% of the energy applied. If you like the reports you get with a Hustler - you will love something decent.
N9IVQ Rating: 2008-10-24
Great Antenna System Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had my Hustler RM series antenna mounted on a Ford Ranger for 4 years and been using these antennas for 20 years. I use the VP-1 adapter and have 4 resonators attached 3 canted and 1 center. RM10, RM20, RM40, and RM75. I use the MO3 mast. (The MO3 gives you 6 meters) so the antena covers 6, 10, 20, 40, and 75 meters. I cover the enitre general class voice segment on all bands except 75, and this is 40 Khz wide.. Antenna tunner takes care of that problem. Aside from the wierd looks I get, I am pleased with the antenna. Does it perform as well as a dipole, no. But then again its hard to get a dipole to go mobile. I have worked all over the US on all bands and have no complaints with the antenna except... Will someone please make a "REAL" heavy duty ball mount! Like the old MOTOROLA ball mount from the 1960's. The SSM1 is simply to light weight. With 4 resonators you do need to guy the thing. It is heavy! Since I have mine bumber mounted, I just have an insulated metal arm that is bolted to the truck's bed walls (near the top of the bed half way up the mast) and wire tied to the MO3 mast stabalizes the antenns. A bit of rubber between mast and mount insulates the two. It works great. As far as quality of build.. My daughter barrowed my truck and ran the thing through an underground parking garage. Though bent all to hell, everything still worked. 15 minutes and a vise and the MO3 looked like new again. Had to tighten the screw mount sleeve (where it crimps to the RM75 body, becuase the crimp they use came loose from the beating, 1-hammer, 1 vise, RM75 tight again. If this thing every dies, I will be getting a new one. I am very happy with the antenna. Performance? I have no complaints. As far as the funny looks go, just tell them you're a storm chaser, that seems to make them happy!
K7BEX Rating: 2008-05-28
Three in One Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I am using the tri-band VP-1 adaptor with the 15, 20 and 40 meter resonators attached. They were easy to tune and work remarkably well. I have them mounted on the upper side of my motorhome just above the transceiver location. They are on a SSM-2 stainless mount with a MO-1 54" mast. I do remove them from the mount while traveling. This is a very inexpensive solution to my needs. I have worked many states from the east coast to Hawaii in the couple months I have owned them.
N5UV Rating: 2008-05-26
Still a good ant. for the price you pay....but Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I recently went over to the TX Bugcatcher that K5BUG makes on his own...even went out to Caddo Mills, TX to meet him in person to get the antenna, and a 2nd. time to troubleshoot it. Once you get the thing going, it is hands-down the best mobile antenna you'll ever own...

But even then, I'm still going to continue to use the Hustler ant. for 10/15/20m...it's a good, all-weather mobile ant., fairly broadbanded, and very durable. It has gotten me through 2 OQP and 2 TQP contests, so it definitely pulls it's own weight.

I will say though that knowing what I know now, I will be making some mods...the plan is to add an inductance-match coil between the ground and center-lead terminals to get a better impedance match. And I need to strip off some paint where the ant. is located to make a proper ground. One thing I have noticed (on the Bugcatcher) is that once I get a REAL ground, the antenna is much more efficient, has a higher Q, and a lot of my RFI ignition noise goes away...again, all projects in the future to keep the Hustler going as a day-to-day or back-up antenna.

If you are just getting started and only have $100 to work with, then this is the way to go.

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Earlier 4-star review posted by N5UV on 2007-02-02

FYI, this will be my 3rd. post on this. Since Oct., I've permanently left my 54" mast way up in the air while driving around and operating occasionally. I was doing real good, up until we had nearly a solid week of rain. Then the coil went to nearly 4:1 SWR when I got on the air again. Turns out that the coil got water in it after numerous days of exposure to the elements.

However, I'm not writing this antenna off, and I'll tell you why. I probably clipped that antenna at least once a week for 4 solid months on some kind of tree branches, low over hanging bars and ceilings, etc. I literally punished the thing on a regular basis, and on two occasions bent the whole mast by at least 30 degrees, requiring a lot of work bending the ant. mast back into place. So naturally, after all that abuse, the coil has suffered the hardest brunt of this pounding. I'm not surprised that the SWR is shot from water seepage...hell, NO coil could take that much abuse and expect to work forever. I have the 6BTV (which uses the 75m supercoil) and it's been out in the elements for 1.5 years, and that coils is just fine in the rain...but that's because I haven't been lugging it around hell's creation for 4 months on my truck.

So, for the naysayers out there, before you toss your ant., make sure you consider just how much wear and tear you've given it. For the price you pay, it's a very respectable mobile ant.
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Earlier 4-star review posted by N5UV on 2006-10-17

I'll give the antenna itself a 5...but Hustler's mounting options (and the lack of guidance in Hustler's catalog/literature in choosing mounting options) brings this down a notch.

The ant. works great on 20m...tunes up almost perfectly if you use the 54" mast. 40m. less so, it's best match is about 1.5 to 1 SWR at 50 watts, and only for about a 40 kc bandwidth. I probably need to add a tuning coil or capacitors at the base, but that would be the case for most mobile HF ants. I used it for TX QSO Party, and I was happy with the performance on 20m. and 40m. as-is.

However...I didn't have the space or location on my truck bed to effective use the Hustler ball mount, so I cheaped out and used your basic Lakeview L mount, drilled holes for the bolts where the stake-hole is in the bed of my truck, and just used that. As you probably guessed, the massive windload this thing takes with the super-resonator was too much. By the end of the contest, the connector and the coupling parts of the mount had been torqued to the point that the antenna was shorting out and the PL-259 connect had been smashed to pieces internally.

So, I left that mount there, drilled a hole with a bi-metal saw-bit big enough for a 3/4" PVC tube about 1" long, then put a new mount about 12" below that. Now the old mount acts as a very tight extra support point for the antenna, and it works great...hardly moves at all while cruising 70 mph down the road.

You have to use a slightly smaller size bi-metal blade, because the same 3/4" size cut would have been too lose. Just cut the hole and file the inside out, boring it out until it's just big enough for the PVC piece to fit in it.

Also, the PVC pice is not a perfect fit over the Hustler mast...it's quite lose, actually...but if you go to Home Depot in the plumbing dept., right next to the 3/4" PVC part, they sell 1/2" diameter flexible plastic tubing...just slip a piece of this over the Huster mast, then put the PVC part over that plastic tube...and then you have a perfect fit! However, this only works with the fold-over versions of the 54" antenna mast, because you can pull the fold-over joint apart, then slip that PVC/plastic tube assembly over the part of the mast that gets supported by that upper mount.

Anyway, this description does no justice...I'll see if I can't post a pic or something on QRZ.com, or on our club website (www.SWDCARC.org). I'm sure I could have built brackets or something else, but I wanted to just use the mount I had...believe me, once you put this assembly in, this ant. is going nowhere...which means you might break it when it runs thru some low branchs, but I'd rather have that than deal with that 54" mast whipping around in the wind...

Long story short...you'll have to find a way to support the 54" mast in the wind...but once you do, this is a great mobile ant.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by N5UV on 2006-07-17

Just got one of these at Hamcom, using the MO-2 that breaks down about 14 inches up. I was going to get the MO-4, but I've heard that it's harder to get a flat SWR using it, and since I like to work SSB and PSK31, I need something that's a broadbanded as possible.

One thing Hustler is good at is making durable antennas. This one is pretty tough, definitely less fragile than a Hamstick.

So far, I've only used it portable (not truely mobile) on 20m. at Field Day when we were in a pinch and needed to stay on the air while our main ant. was being set up. Worked great for that, tuned up almost flat, maybe about 5-6 contacts on PSK31 before going back to the main antenna.

Truth be known, I do not leave this ant. up all the time...if you have a 20m super coil, that ant. bounces around WAY TOO much when you have it bent down. So I just take the coil off and leave the mast in place. When it's up in operating position, it actually moves around less...but then it just clips everything I drive under. It's beautiful only in a ham radio operator's sort of way...not visually pleasing to civilians (but we likes it that way, my precious).

I'll reserve final judgement after the Texas QSO Party in Sept., but I've been impressed with it so far. Sure, it's a pain to operate on different bands, but for less than $100.00 total cost, it's certainly the cheapest and most durable vertical you can get to go mobile.
W4KVW Rating: 2008-02-18
VERY GOOD CHOICE Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I use the Hustlers on the 22 inch mast one at a time on my 2007 DODGE Quad Cab with a bed stake mount & they work GREAT.Along with the ICOM 7000,LDG AT-7000,& the Hustler antennas I think my mobile setup is a WINNER!Great job Hustler! }:>)

Clayton
W4KVW

CT1IDW Rating: 2007-12-14
Pleased Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought the whole set (10 t 80) at a flea market for 50€.
It works quit well, managed to put in the log YO, RK, KG2 and OZ8 with 20W on 20m.

Of course the ground is welded to the chassis.

I was surprised by the number of stations listened, for the quality and durability of the kit.

Compared with other verticals I own it's the best by far.

73 de CT1IDW
KE7FD Rating: 2007-12-06
If you want to make mobile contacts, this is the one. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I had been using an Opek but when it failed on a recent road trip, the Hustler was a no-brainer. When the Opek failed on this trip I took advantage of being in the area of Texas Towers where the guys there got me set up with a Hustler using 40/20//17 meters for around $150. Not all the coverage as the Opek, but if you can't get out with it what does that matter?

The Hustler worked much better although I did have to guy it very well from two different points (see my review for it). It was a spose's nightmare: on the right-rear of my Grand Cheorkee, fully extended with three resonators in the air, I used gray PVC (stronger than ABS and white PVC) with nylon rope inside to hold it fast, the guys were both tight and rigid to the roof-rack. It withstood high winds, rain and glaring stares from other drivers but it allowed me to work stations 1,500 miles away.

Bottom line: Buy a Hustler. They work and they're cheaper than motorized base-loaded antennas.