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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
KC9MLL Rating: 2008-05-30
Great Antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had this antenna for about a month now.
I have it hooked to a Kenwood TS-2000.
It tunes up rather nicely, and
if talking DX from Indiana to FRANCE! is any indication of it's possible abilities!! then WOW!
Every signal report I have recieved has been Great!
RADIALS RADIALS RADIALS! I can't say enuough! The more the better! The instructions say no less than two for each Freq. But you can add a whole lot more! The more radials, the better!

The only downfall I have seen so far, is the fact that you have to have a large area to put down all of the radials. Note: it will function without the radials, but it is so much better with them. Very noticeable difference!

All in all I am extremely happy with this antenna! and would recommend it to any Ham!
KC9MSA Rating: 2008-05-03
Great value! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I did a lot of shopping around, and at the recommendation of a friend, decided to buy the Hustler 5BTV for $149 at Dx engineering. I also bought the SO 239 add on for it, a nice addition. I don't know if I would bother with the base tilt-over or not.

But it was really easy to put up. It won't compete with my Imax 2000 on 10 meter, but the Imax is made specifically for 10 meter, some reviewers on here don't seem to understand that.

But, it is a great value, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a great HF verticle!
KI0GU Rating: 2008-04-23
Great Antenna - Install takes time Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Well, this is my first vertical HF antenna. I read all the review on Eham prior to purchasing this antenna. With my limited budget I figured this would be the best bang for my buck and boy was I right!

First things first - Having never set one of these up before a word of warning to those that ground mount this as I did. Borrow or buy a good antenna analyzer such as the MJF-259B (what I used). Without the antenna analyzer, this would have been boxed back up and brought back to the radio store! I started the install indoors and set it up EXACTLY as the manual suggested. I then put on the mast and installed 2 radials per band as suggested. I started the project on a Saturday evening at 8PM, ran out of light so picked back up on Sunday at 9:00 AM. I finished the install of this antenna Sunday 6:00 PM! I must have raised and lowered the antenna 100 times re-adjusting everything including the traps, which they said would most likely not be necessary. I would have given this antenna a 5, but because it took me so long to tune this, I could not justify it.

Operation - Well the work was well worth it! I check into a 40 meter net every morning and there have been times where my full wave loop has not heard net control, but the 5BTV pulled them out nicely!! This is exactly why I wanted this antenna.

After reading more reviews here, I plan on putting down more radials to improve the performance. Overall, I am very pleased with this antenna.
AC0JX Rating: 2008-03-03
Great quick antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I moved to a temporary QTH and didn't want to spend the time and effort to put up a tower, especially in the winter. I ordered the 5BTV from DX Engineering, along with the radial plate in early January. Since the ground was/is frozen, I could not drive a pipe into the ground so I made an 8x8 wooden frame to sit on the ground and act as a base and mounting platform for the radial plate. Built the frame, assembled the antenna, and put up the antenna with 20 radials, and guys in about 6 hours. I am on the top of a hill and we have had some 60 mph winds here (you can see the picture window glass flex with gusts!) and the antenna has been rock solid. I run a ICOM 756 ProIII with no amplifier and the antenna tunes well on all bands with the internal tuner. I cut the 80 meter top per instructions and it tunes quite a bit lower in the the band than I anticipated or planned, but I will adjust when the weather improves. I have gotten 59's from the coasts on 40M, Guatemala and Hawaii on 20M, with 100 watts (probably less from the 756) so it performs when the band conditions permit. In my opinion this is a great first antenna for HF, or a great antenna for QTH's with space or HOA limitations. For less than $300, a moderate amount of time, no climbing if ground mounted, one would be pressed to do better.
KE7GWY Rating: 2008-02-08
Excellent Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
(New call sign is W1RMS) I studied a lot of the literature on vertical antennas. I selected this one because of previous reviews. Followed instructions and erected it 25 feet on my roof with two radial per band. SWR under 1.5:1 on all bands except 80 meters (using an antenna tuner to cover the whole band on 80) using recommended tuning instruction. The laws of physics are obeyed by this antenna. That’s a good thing. I did not expect the entire 80 meter band coverage with a loading coil.
Performance is excellent! Compared to my 120' long wire and folded dipole antennas this antenna is much better. On 20 meters I end up hearing and working signals not even audible on the other antennas. If I can hear signals I can work them with 50-100 watts SSB with Icom 756Pro.
G0KYA Rating: 2008-02-05
Great Antenna - better on HF than LF Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Put one up to test for a couple of months. In a nutshell, not too good around the UK on 80m due to the low angle radiation and poor bandwidth.

Good on 40m - about equal to a lowish dipole for contacts into Europe. About 1 S point up on DX.

Equal to or slightly down on general contacts around Europe on 20m. About 1S point better across the Atlantic, ZL and ZS compared with dipole. Can't comment on 15-10m due to lack of sunspots. It was also quite quiet which was a bonus. Put down lots of radials and you won't be disappointed, at least for DX. Steve G0KYA
K9FE Rating: 2008-01-05
Follow the Instructions Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had a very old 4BTV from years ago. It had the old style clamps that just never did tighten well. Anyway I had stuffed it in the attic for 20 years. I was using a 35 year old 18AVT that has not been made by Hygain for years. The loading coil failed after a long period of heavy weather. I pulled down the old 4BTV...which had gotten badly damaged and had some major sheet metal modifications (Something heavy had dropped on it.) I had paid maybe $50 new for the old antenna when it was new. The price of everything new was out of the question. I called AES and ordered an 5BTV. 2 days later it was assembled and mounted on the 8 foot pipe (all but 18" in the ground.) I had maybe 2 tuned radials per band. The instructions emphasize that is the real minimum for any performance. Don't try the no radial use unless you can mount it 4 inches above the ocean. It is a true 1/4 wave (electrically shortened however) vertical. The ground radials are essential. The more you put the happier you will be with the antenna.

Bandwidth is pretty much as stated. It gets a little better the more radials you add. I now have 24 radials and am very pleased. Really is very quiet for a vertical.

Since I hated losing 17 meters (I was able to work it on the 18AVT with the tuner, but the 5BTV was kind of inefficent on 17. Searched the web for the 12m and 17m homebrew mods. Do them. 12m and 17m FLAT swr. Now I have a 7BTV and love it.

When you first put it up, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!before you complain. Ground mounted, 4 inches from the ground surface. It does work. Radials can be on the surface layed in the grass with hold down wires. (I used 14AWG steel 6 inch with a hook of 1 inch length in the top.) Grass grows over and you'll never see them.

It is not a beam or a wire array or a 4 square, but it is a great vertical.
VK3GDM Rating: 2007-12-20
Very good vertical Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
At nearly half the price of any other vertical available here in VK it's a great buy and a great performer.

I ground mounted mine as per the instructions.
I thought the instructions were easy to follow and the antenna fun to construct and tune.
I've gradually been adding more 32' radials. I currently have 12 radials.

I've been working lots of DX from all over, using 100watts CW, mostly on 40m, some on 80m and 20m.
I'm surprised how well it works on 80m! Although only in a small band pass.
Haven't spend much time on 15m or 10m yet.

Did someone say we are at the bottom of the solar cycle? Not here!

I'm very pleased with the antenna's performance so far.
N4FDG Rating: 2007-12-06
Best antenna going for the price Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Easy to assembly, works as advertised, relatively cheap.

Mine is ground mounted with radials buried. Always works!
KL8DX Rating: 2007-11-22
Dollars to Bandwidth, the best so far! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After having Cushcraft vertical antenna's for years, this was a breath of fresh air! Easy to build, no small tubes or pieces parts, and much easier to tune!

I purchased mine from eBay (new) and here are a few things that I had small issues with, one with the antenna supplied parts and the other accessory that came with it. The accessory was a pre-made antenna adapter that connected your coax (PL259) to a barrel connector which in turn went to a small piece of coax split at the end to connect to the vertical. Do yourself a favor, save your money and get some RG-8U or equivilent and split your own coax as shown in the instructions. The base of the antenna has lugs that you connect your feeline to; the hot and the ground. My pre-made adapter lasted about 10 minutes before the solder connections came loose and it just simply felt "cheap".

Second, I like to put a thin film of Penetrox on my antenna parts that connect to each other. The problem that I had with this was, the hose clamps that came with this antenna could be much better! I broke three of them just trying to tighten the tubes and traps together. I am sure the Penetrox added a slippage factor that required the clamps to be a little tighter (I would rotate the tubes by hand to check to see if they were tight enough)than normal. So, you may want to make sure you have some extra stainless steel hose clamps on hand. I had some in my stock drawer that I had purchased from a hardware store that allowed me to tighten the tubes together appropriately.

Mine is ground mounted with a temporary set of radials with more to be added this next summer. The antenna operates wonderfully and the bandwidth is as specified. It appears well constructed and went together quickly and easily. The instructions were easy to follow with illustrations.

In conclusion, this does what I need it to do for a fraction of the cost of other verticals. The reviews sold me on this antenna and I can only echo what other users have already written. Great price, great performance, well constructed, easy to build, and one person can handle installing this due to it being light weight. I will be purhcasing the 6BTV in the future. I would recommend this vertical without hesitation.