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Reviews For: Hustler 5BTV HF vertical

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Hustler 5BTV HF vertical
Reviews: 146MSRP: 211.99
Description:
Hustler 5BTV HF vertical antenna for 10,15,20,40 and 80 meters.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.new-tronics.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001464.6
WU9F Rating: 2022-01-31
Amazing results Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I obtained my 5BTV used in a trade. I installed it on a metal post 61/2' in the ground. I do NOT have any ground radials on my antenna. I have been amazed at how well it works. It tuned easily with a low swr on all bands. I have received great reports of strong signals all over the world. I only run 100 watts but cut through many pileups with those using mega watts. I would not hesitate buying another.

1-30-2022
I used the antenna I reviewed above for about 8years. It had been heavily used when I got it along with a Kenwood TS 430s and a Pyramid power supply ina trade for 4fishing poles. The original antenna lasted until 2 1/2 years ago and I replaced it with a new Hustler 5Btv. I was extremely pleased with my original old and used one. Pleased enough to get the same one only brand new. It was reasonably easy to assemble and get up. It has the tip over base and I put 20 radials down. It works every bit as good as the old one. I can work Australia long path and it is a great DX antenna. My daughter got me the 17 meter add on kit for Christmas and I got it installed a few days ago. I have made numerous contacts on 17 meters so I can have more fun when I play radio. There are a lot of high priced antennas that do not perform like my $200 antenna. Low SWR, and low noise. I would rather put what few dollars I can use for radio in things that actually I prove my performance than have bragging rights with a high dollar antenna that can’t lperform as well. You can certainly spend a lot more on antennas, but you will spend a lot more money per contact Thani did with my $200 antenna.
AB4PP Rating: 2021-06-08
Satisfied. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Purchased used from another ham. I purchased the ground plate and the swiveling mounting bracket and the 80 meter add on. I mounted on the ground as per instructions with 16 ground radials so far. It performs well, receives well but not as good as a windom on 80 within 800 miles. Several S units lower. I took it apart before I put it up and put new penatrox at each section for a better connection, put in a new run of coax to the station. Very satisfied so far and hopefully will work some DX as time goes on. Satisfied so far. Since putting the antenna up I have added another 24 radials, and spiked them to the ground. I added several longer 60 foot radials for the 80 meter band and they helped for that band. Satisfied with the vertical but now planning to add a 160 meter loops and see the difference.de John Paul // AB4PP
K9NUD Rating: 2021-04-04
So far so good Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Truth be told, someone gave this antenna to me 15+ years ago. It has been in my garage attic the whole time - disassembled. In the interim, I have used every imaginable wire antenna I could fit on my property. Horizontal delta loop, G5RV, End-Fed Half Wave, etc. I even struck a deal with a neighbor to use their pine tree to get a full 132' EFHW in the air. I noticed the 5BTV as I was gearing up for that adventure and wondered if it would work. I've been experimenting with verticals for POTA and have had good success. I thought "what the heck" and I set it up temporarily in my back yard with 4 radials (two 32', two 16') using a surveyor's tripod. I started tuning it and was amazed at the good SWR. 15M was erratic, though, so I figured it had a bad trap. I took it down and realized that the 15M trap sleeve was not attached to the cast aluminum bottom piece. Someone had taped it together with old cloth tape which had deteriorated. I re-taped it and solved the problem.

My tuner has two inputs, so it's easy to switch between the 40M EFHW and the 5BTV. Everything seems to come in better on the Hustler. I realize that A/B tests are often tainted by proximity and NVIS, but this thing really works better. It's a good thing that I'm very flexible, as I have been kicking myself in the rear all afternoon.

I'm going to get the 30M trap, the beefier pole, and some new trap caps. I'll rig up my own tilt-over and radial plate. This thing is getting a permanent home in the back yard.
N2ZD Rating: 2019-04-27
Got me back on HF! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.

I gave this a “5” which means great, is it great? If you consider that it got me back on the air and my first contact was 1300 miles and my second was Italy, I’m quite pleased. I recently moved into an apt in a private house, the Landlord is off premises but I secured exclusive use of the yard. I drove a 6 foot pipe into the ground and assembled this antenna and was on the air in two hours or so. I didn’t lay radials down yet, but proceeded to try it anyway until I could do so. I’ve worked quite a few stations with it and for what I have, what I paid and the fact that the install is not finished yet, I’m glad I bought it. It’s exceptional on 20 so far, pretty good on 40 and then try to center it for use on 80 Where you expect to be hanging out. Considering it’s a compromise, it’s a pretty good alternative to having nothing at all and quite the surprise. I’ll play around with a radial system, adjustments etc. and report back later on. But so far I’m very happy, I’m sure I’ll be happier with more ground radials and as I tweak this thing. If you have the space for it and have no other alternative but a vertical, go for it!!
Best regards. DE Richy N2ZD
K3TS Rating: 2017-07-14
Great value, solid performance. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I initially purchased the Hustler 4BTV to use on my camper, for Field Day and other portable campsite operation. It is easy to set up, built very well, and offers performance equal to or better than a dipole when installed over a good ground system. I have been using the aluminum roof of my camper for a ground plane and it works amazingly well.

Just prior to Field Day 2017, I purchased the 80 meter add-on kit from DX Engineering. This kit offers decent performance over a 50 kHz wide segment of the 80 meter band. Using the excellent instruction sheet from DX engineering, I tuned the antenna for resonance at 3525 kHz, which effectively gave me coverage of most of the CW portion of the band, giving me an additional band/mode for FD without the need to raise a second antenna.

Overall, I was quite surprised and pleased with the performance of this antenna during Field Day, especially on 80 CW. On just about any band I could call CQ no more than two or three times and get a nice pileup of callers in return. I am not sure that any of the various wires I have put up for FD have ever worked quite as well, and certainly none of them delivered 5 band coverage.

I am confident that this antenna can serve me well as my primary antenna for portable operation. It can be assembled and deployed atop my camper in about 15 minutes, and I don't need to stretch wires all over the campground. Additionally, when I am not camping, I can use this antenna at my home QTH to supplement my tri-band beam and 80/40 dipoles. I have driven a six foot galvanized pipe into the ground in the backyard with 25 random length radials around it, and it works well there also.

For around $200, this antenna represents a great value, and works quite well. I am therefore giving it a rating of 5 out of 5. If I could only have one HF antenna, and was on a limited budget, I could function very nicely with the Hustler 5BTV. I highly recommend this antenna for any fixed or portable station application.

73 Tony, WA2FZB
VK4FNRS Rating: 2017-05-01
Brought second hand , for portable use on caravan Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Brought second hand , it had not been used for
17 years, took 6 hours to clean.
I live in a caravan and this antenna with its minimal footprint is perfect compromise for my needs.And I do run it without ground radials.
Our F call licences are limited to 10watts, and the 5BTV gets me into Japan easily , and all around Australia
Very happy with it, .
Previous antenna was a Buddiepole Deluxe, but I found this too fragile, and required retunning when changing bands,
WW8X Rating: 2017-01-21
True performer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've had my 5BTV HF vertical antenna up for over 5 years. I normally can work any station I can hear, including many DX. My location is a small city lot, so I have few alternatives for antennas. My 5BTV is roof mounted at the peak of my house on a tripod with 2 radials for each band fanned out and secured to the shingles. It's fed with RG8 and I've put a 12 turn coffee-can sized coil in the coax at the feed point. It has decent SWR on all 5 bands and with a tuner I get the SWR down to under 1.5. It's guyed with lawyer mower starter rope at 4 points and has gone through many wind storms and is still standing straight and tall.
AB8BC Rating: 2016-12-27
1 year and working great! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
UPDATE: I year later, I have nothing but great things to say about this antenna. Because of where I live, I need something semi-stealth, slim and effective as possible. This antenna has been incredibly stable for me throughout winter, spring, summer, fall and now into winter again.

I've owned several antennas, many of them vertical. For the money, nothing has come close. I have this antenna guyed, using my own combination of turnbuckles and fish-pulling line [conduit]. We've had at least 20 different high wind (50 mph gust +) episodes in the time it's been up. Zero problems, always reliable.

I use roughly 600 watts (PEP) into the antenna and have no problem contacting stations I can hear. Typically 58 to 599 signal reports. For the money spent, well worth it.
BOYSCLUBRADIO Rating: 2016-10-27
best for the bux Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Been using them for years. Newer ones are not made to the professional quality that newtronics did in TX. But, they still work. One respondent said that when the wind blew...it changed... One thing you want to use on the joints of the antenna is nolox.. or equiv... this then will make great contact and won't allow the joints to corrode causing that.
I use one at home and I have one that we take with us when we go camping or visiting... WA6CDE had a great article on how to adapt this antenna to mobile/RV/ field ops. I suggest that you read it here on EHAM. Look up the article by his call sign.
While others say it is a poor antenna. It is true that it won't out do a inverted V on the lower bands. However, in a shootout with other verticals over at the army test range at stanford, it did outperform the dipole on any band from 20,15,10 etc... So the proof of this antenna has been tested and lots of good data on the results.
Indeed it works greater with ground radials. That is how a vertical works...go figure.
W4EAB Rating: 2016-10-27
Great antenna! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Great vertical. If you don't add radials performance will suffer. I buried 40 32' radials. My 5BTV is now a 8BTV with the 12, 17, and 30 meter add-ons. I run 500w with a Ameritron solid state amp, ARI-500 keyer, and a MFJ-998 auto tuner. I initially had a problem, like NP3M, when I first installed the antenna, with 10/15/20 resonating very low and having to use all of the adjustment in the traps with unacceptable results. I had followed DXE instructions to mount the base of the antenna 8" above ground level with the tilt base. On the advice of Neutronics Tech support I lowered the entire tilt and antenna base to only 2" above ground level and the resonance on 10/15/20 was raised well within the range where minor adjustments could be made to the factory settings. Antenna has no guy wires and is very stable in windy conditions. I've only laid it down a couple of times due to hurricane/high winds forecasted. The tilt base is worth it's weight in gold.

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Earlier 5-star review posted by W4EAB on 2015-02-14

Went back and extended and buried 36 of the radials to 32 feet as recommended by DXE and extended the other 4 radials out to 64 feet as recommended by Nutronics. Have also added the DXE 12 and 17 meter add-ons. Both tuned to 1.5 across the bands and work great with the Kenwood 590-S. Have been able to work numerous DX on both bands. Believe the radial system has improved my signal since I have no trouble working DX.
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Earlier 5-star review posted by W4EAB on 2014-12-23

I returned to ham after a long absence and had to build a station from scratch. Having never done that I researched radios, antennas, etc. and selected the 5BTV from DXE and bought the complete package with radial plate, tilt base (a VERY good move), and radial package. Erected it following the very detailed illustrated instructions and buried 40 25' radials and 400MAX coax to a Kenwood 590s. Very happy with the outcome. Able to work DX stations easily. The 80 meter whip resonator has a limited 40-50 kc range but the Kenwood internal tuner is able to tune 80 kc high and low of resonance on 80. I actually lowered my tilt base from the recommended 8" to only 4" in order to be closer to resonance starting in 10 meters. In my case it didn't require a large adjustment of the trap. The antenna is very well built and not obtrusive if you are worried about appearance. I'd buy it again in a heart beat!