| KQ4CVN |
Rating:  |
2024-10-21 | |
| AMAZING performance! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently bought and installed a HOA BUSTER antenna and have been AMAZED at its performance. The following is a summary of my first impressions and experience after little more than a week with my HOA BUSTER.
Alpha’s published range for the antenna is from 3.5 – 29.7 MHz and 440/900 MHz. However, I am getting STRONG, CLEAR signals FAR BEYOND that range! My antenna is picking up all of the AM broadcast band, 160m, and all the HF bands! It’s also picking up every VHF signal that I get on my VHF/UHF antenna, including 6m, FM broadcast, aviation, and 2m! The VHF signals are slightly weaker than those from my VHF/UHF antenna, but they are strong enough that I don’t have to switch antennas. AND the HOA BUSTER picks up fewer spurious signals than my VHF/UHF antenna. (NOTE: I have an ICOM 705 transceiver, which doesn’t receive 900 MHz, so I can’t comment on that part of the spectrum.)
I live in a subdivision with a HOA and I’ve have had a difficult time finding an antenna to use as my base HF antenna. I have a number of issues that make it difficult to use other types of antennas, but a gutter antenna seemed to offer a solution to all of my problems. To be honest, I was leery of how well a gutter antenna would work, but based on numerous articles I read about the HOA BUSTER (e.g., on eHam.net), I decided to take a chance on the HOA BUSTER.
In case anyone is interested, my one-story ranch house has a 75-foot length of straight, extruded gutter; it’s all one piece so there are no problems with electrical continuity. I have three downspouts, one at each end of the gutter and one in the middle. The downspouts all have plastic extensions where they go underground, so they are isolated from ground. In short, my gutter and downspouts sounded ideal for a gutter antenna. That’s probably the main reason why I decided to try the HOA BUSTER. FYI, the installation was very easy; it took about an hour. I simply followed the instructions that came with the package from Alpha, nothing more. I used 75 feet of RG-213U low-loss coax and a Comet CTC-50M Window Feed-Thru Jumper to run to my shack. I’m currently using the Alpha-provided alligator clip to connect to my downspout, but I intend to replace that with a more permanent connection. Oh, some people have reportedly had problems with flickering lights and other interference issues, but I’ve had no such trouble.
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| WV4TTT |
Rating: |
2023-10-25 | |
| HOA Buster is the Bomb!!! Must have!!!! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This antenna is such a pleasant surprise!! I am in an HOA and I was looking for an Antenna I could hide that was easy to put up. Flag pole was too much work and too much red tape. HOA Buster Antenna let me set it up in 10 minutes including running 100 feet of LMR400 away from the HOA matching Network. I used a copper grounding rod instead of the spike. From 10 to 80 meters I was able to get a swr of 1.5 or less except 80 meters was like 1.9 or so tuned it down to 1:0 on my Kenwood 870S, my Yaesu FTDX10, my Icom 7300. I even used it on 11 meters on my President Washington CB Radio talking to Cuba and out west to Washington and Oregon. SWR was 1.7 on 11 meters. I have 20 feet of downspout and 40 feet of gutter across the top. Basically an upside down L 90 degrees where the downspout connects to the gutter at the top of the roof overhang. Talked on 10 meters with ease. Have not been able to use the other bands yet. Getting my general end of November. SWR was great on all the bands. I used my RigExpert analyzer to check the SWR. I advise anyone to get this antenna it works fantastic!!!
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| KD4YLQ |
Rating: |
2023-05-11 | |
| For those who need a real "Stealth" antenna, this is it. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I recently successfully installed the Alpha "HOA Buster" to my home aluminum gutter/downspout. Made sure the downspout sections were all well bonded up to the gutter (~75' long gutter with lots of bends in the downspout) and added a few radials (which weren't needed really). Also, I replaced the very bottom downspout sections with plastic ones. The SWR was less than 3:1 max, less than 2:1 on most of the bands and near 1:1 on 30M. The receive performance is just outstanding, as well as transmit. Brought up RF power in steps to make sure nothing was amiss (it wasn't). My buddy brought over two network analyzers (which were in close agreement throughout) to measure all the parameters on all the bands. My buddy, who uses a compromise wire stealth antenna himself was very, very impressed with the performance. This is an outstanding product IMO and it is virtually invisible to anyone who might otherwise gripe about an antenna's visual aesthetics. Kudos Steve!! |
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| K0VIK |
Rating: |
2023-04-17 | |
| Exceeds Expectations |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I purchased the HOA Buster nearly a year ago. It has far exceeded my expectations. I have made contact with 52 countries so far via SSB and FT8. If you are HOA restricted, this is the setup to try. I'm glad I did. |
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| WI0JK |
Rating: |
2023-02-06 | |
| Satisfied Customer |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I live in a neighborhood with antenna restrictions. I have been using version 1 of the Alpha Antenna HOA Buster for just over a year and am a very satisfied customer. Using the HOA Buster with my antenna tuner, I’ve already worked 143 countries on 6 through 160 meters using FT8 (mostly), CW and SSB.
I first tried the one-story longer run of the rain gutters on my house, and while the results were better than the slinky dipole in my attic, this section was pretty hard of hearing. I was able to quickly move the HOA Buster to the other section of gutters with a downspout with a height of about 28 feet that connects to a 36 foot long horizontal section, resulting in an inverted L configuration. The HOA Buster worked like magic on this section and my rig lit up with DX.
I met and chatted with the founder of Alpha Antenna in Dayton this year, and have seen him interact frequently with customers on the “Raingutter HF Antenna” group on Facebook. I am impressed with both him and the HOA Buster! |
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| N3HKN |
Rating: |
2022-11-21 | |
| Works well despite heavy noise from neighbor |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I live in attached condos (common wall). The vertical rain gutter is 26ft tall, ground terminating into a plastic pipe (common drain). Standard install with hot lead laying on top of some ivy. Noise is the problem. It is S9 versus S2, or less, for an attic dipole (20/40 meters). Rig is a 7300.
BUT signals mostly are stronger than the attic dipole. Using the RF Gain helps a lot.
Last night I was playing radio at about 2am and the noise totally disappeared. The next day it had returned. I can only guess a neighbor turned off their LED lights.
Bottom line, despite the noise the signals are about 40% stronger than the attic dipole and in many cases are very readable. Noise reduction and reduced RF gain also help. So it is a keeper for me. A 30 minute listen at 2am had DX and the West Coast on a few bands with S2 Noise Level. |
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| KE0UWN |
Rating: |
2022-08-25 | |
| Alpha Antenna HOA Buster 10-80 Meters Very Effective |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
The antenna install was straight forward following the manual's instructions. The rain gutter lead, between the rain gutter and Alpha stake supported unit, is supported approximately 18-inches about the landscaped ground.
The manual states to NOT run the rain gutter lead parallel to the antenna cable that connects to the radio. I did a dry run with the antenna lead and the rain gutter lead prior to commencing with the install to avoid that issue.
The SWR was near 1.0 to 1.2 on both 7 and 14 MHZ (bands 40 & 20) using my MFJ-949E tuner at 25 watts TX. Tuning is very similar to a magnetic loop antenna as the tuned point is very narrow and surprisingly a very low SWR at that lowest point. The Yaesu FT-891 SWR meter bars went to "zero" however the antenna turner's SWR meter guided my tuning to the lowest SWR.
I was hearing stations from just about all over the US and a few Euro stations, at times, with up to 5/5 signal readability.
The 110 feet of rain gutter, with all joints electrically connected and measuring approximately zero ohms from end to end are located in NW-NE directions. Picture the rain gutter as an inverted letter "U". The 50 foot horizontal section is approximately 30 above ground (earth) with each 30 foot vertical downspout not in contact with the ground.
It was late so I did not wait for an open net nor performed any CQ's, just SWR adjusting then sweeping the two bands for traffic.
I am interested in seting up for FT8 as a challenge with this Alpha antenna. More setting up and learning for sure. Mostly learning the FT8 program and adjusting my Yaesu FT-891. After all, it is a hobby!!
Thank you Alpha Antenna for your assistance and looking forward to fine tuning my knowledge with the Alpha HOA buster antenna.
The ease of the install, easy to follow instructions, Alpha Antenna's great support and the quality build of the HOA Buster Antenna earned my highest rating. KE0UWN |
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| K2TGW |
Rating: |
2022-02-08 | |
| It works |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Easy to set up and my Auto Tuner likes it. I have more than 200 feet of leaders and gutters so it was perfect fit for me. |
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| WB4MWT |
Rating: |
2022-02-07 | |
| A fun antenna that works for me |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have always been intrigued with unconventional antennas that could be loaded to gutters or fences that may work or not. I didn't know what to expect, though I was happy to have some fun with the HOA Buster. It kind of reminds me of my childhood rocket crystal radio that I connected to different metal connections around the house for the best reception.
My working conditions are not very favorable. My gutters are very low and 55' feet long front and back of the house. The gutters also make contact to a metal roof that could possibly interfere with the antenna's performance.
I loaded the antenna on all the bands. The forty meter band performed the best and the 80 meter band to some degree. I was not successful making contacts on the higher bands. This might be attributed to the height and length of the gutters, as well as poor propagation on some of these bands.
With band conditions as they are, I work 40 meters most all of the time, so this antenna still works fine for me. The antenna is very directional, radiating North and South, the same as the ends of my gutters. From NC, I have worked stations as far as eastern Canada and some stations into the Caribbean.
When 40 meter propagation is at its best, the HOA Buster performs almost as well as my S9 vertical and 40 meter dipole. This happens when the band is at its peak throughout the different times of the day or night. The Buster performance will drop off over time more quickly than the other antennas.
Hoping to work the higher bands as propagation gets better, I will mention one of those rare and exceptional days of 40 meter propagation. I was listening to G0EVY and he was coming in very loud. I gave him a call, and I received a 5 and 9 report. I could not believe what I heard. On top of that, my antenna does not perform well pointed west to east. Anyone who has worked Dave in England knows he operates a MONSTER beam supported by a crane. I know his antenna did most of the work. Needless to say, I was still thrilled making this contact. The gutter antenna came through!
So far I am very pleased with this antenna, considering my working conditions. It is quiet, reliable, and almost no maintenance. I would highly recommend it.
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| WB2LQF |
Rating: |
2021-10-13 | |
| A Surprise Left Field Home Run! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I live with antenna restrictions. Thankfully, I have permission for a perfectly good wire antenna outside for 40 through 10 meters at 35 feet. What I lack is an 80 meter antenna and a backup antenna in case I lose my main wire to ice, wind or snow here in the northeast.
The Alpha Antenna "HOA Buster" appealed to me because it offered the possibility of filling both of my shortcomings. It is advertised as an "80 through 10 meter" antenna and it uses the gutters and downspout system as the radiator. I ordered it.
When it arrived it certainly was an impressive and heavy transformer, built like a brick-you-know-what! It seemed a bit expensive considering what arrived in the box: the transformer, an eight foot piece of wire with an industrial sized alligator clip and a rather short "ground rod" of perhaps one foot or so.
The instructions were short and sweet. Stick the ground rod into the soil, mount the transformer on the rod next to the gutter and connect the wire between the transformer and the end of the gutter.
Well...it loaded up just fine with a little help from my MFJ manual Versa Tuner -- the internal ATU in my FTdx10 couldn't handle it -- and so I tried it out on 80, 40 and 20 meters. RBN reported a range of SNRs that seemed to indicate it was radiating. Unfortunately, my Bose WaveRadio was turning itself on and off and the LED lights in the house were flickering.
Clearly, I had a problem and it wasn't necessarily the product -- I live in a townhouse and my gutters are very short - about 39 feet in total. They are also installed in short runs and I suspect very poor electrical connections between them. Because of the height of the roof line there wasn't much I could do to improve the situation. Clearly this was not going to work. If I was clobbering my own home, I was most likely affecting my neighbors.
Based on a conversation with Alpha Antenna, I took an alternate approach. First I sunk a "real" copper ground rod into the soil and mounted the transformer on it. Then I connected the coax to the transformer and passed 6 turns of the RG-8X through a Fair-Rite Mix 31 2.5 inch toroid before connecting it to my window feed through. Now, for the best part: I ran a 60 foot wire from the transformer up to the top of a nearby Maple tree - about 30 feet high - and then back down in "inverted vee" fashion to another tree, terminating about 12 feet above the ground.
Repeating my tests, the antenna generated NO RF interference and RBN reported measurably higher SNRs. I made a couple contacts on 80 meters - my first 80 meter contacts in nearly 20 years - and got 579 signal reports. Forty worked great and so did 20. I just haven't had time to try the other bands yet.
In summary, for the money I spent, I now have 80 meter capability and I now have a backup for my main Inverted L antenna. I've accomplished what I set out to do. Additionally, I can see how this rugged transformer, along with the ground spike it came with, could also serve as a portable antenna for POTA, SOTA or just a day trek to anywhere. Sixty feed of #534 Silky from The Wireman thrown over a tree branch is all I'd need.
Mission accomplished!
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