| VA3MW |
Rating:  |
2024-10-07 | |
| Kicks Ass |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have had my HF6V mounted in the woods by my house for over 20 years now. I have a small number of random length radios that have long grown into the ground. The Antenna is mounted on a ground rod and a 2nd ground rod is is used for the actual grounding of the radials and the antenna. I use a 1" ground strap for this part.
To be honest, 80M is a write off. 80M signals are about 20db lower when compared to a proper dipole. This is true for both RX and TX. As well, the bandwidth is pretty small on 80.
The other bands are excellent with good radiation patterns when checked using the RBN. The 2:1 bandwidth points are about what you expect.
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| K0WA |
Rating: |
2024-09-30 | |
| Great Antenna if installed right |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
i've owned several of these antennas over the years and decided to go back to one because they work...and work...and work. They can be a maintenance issue but if they are mounted on the ground that hold up very well. If up in the air, you had better have them guyed well and parts hanging around.
Mine is ground mounted with 32 random length radials. I used what I could fit on the lot. 32 radials is the optimum amount. Adding anymore, you do not see a benefit.
The antenna really works well and can be tuned quite easily. I've worked a lot of contests and DX with the antenna. 40 meters works very well. So does 80, but quite narrow in scope. I have mine tuned to CW.
I use a KW (1500 watts) into the antenna. I used it as a low band option to by inverted Vs.
I highly recommend this antenna. You can find them cheap throught used sources but they are rather expensive new. Source is exclusively DX Enginering.
Highly recommended.
Lee - K0WA
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| VK3IU |
Rating: |
2024-09-30 | |
| High maintenance antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I operate my HF6V now for 4 years, the antenna is mounted on top of a two story home (8m above), located on a small hill, therefore very exposed to wind.
So far the antenna had survived wind gust of 140km/h (87mph), the antenna is guide at the recommended points (above the last coil assembly)
While the antenna is an excellent HF antenna working very well, it requires a lot of maintenance, in my case due to the wind exposure. Every 6 month or after some very strong storms I need to re-tune the HF6V, clean corroded contact and I am 40km away from the coast.
You need to understand your antenna very well and follow the tuning instruction to the detail.
In my opinion if you a hands off HAM you better of looking for another vertical antenna. |
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| WB2RTW |
Rating: |
2023-12-19 | |
| Butternut HF antennas |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The HF6V(X), the x refers too EXPORT. Don Newcomb (now deceased) that was running Butternut, advised me years ago that they shortened the shipping carton on the Export for shipping reasons. I have been using the Butternut antennas for several years. You should guy the antennas per instructions and without a doubt use lots of radials. My radials are not tuned, I just fit them into the landscape. Also an analyzer is very helpful. But the radials improved the performance receive and send. |
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| VE3IUW |
Rating: |
2023-05-21 | |
| Appears quite decent! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Got the HF6V from a long time friend. He wanted to upgrade to a GAP, as he lives in a horribly noisy area.
Taking the antenna down was a piece of cake. I left it in large pieces, transported it home & reassembled.
The HF6V replaced a home made 18' antenna. Followed the book for tuning. THIS IS A REQUIREMENT!
Everything went very well. Installed 26 additional radials.
The top section was shortened from 25" to 23", the 15m wire from 135" to 126.5", & 6m wire from 58" to 55.3" from original. The original Q coil started looking a bit like a stretched slinky, so I rewound a new one with 3 fewer turns. Looks like a coil!
Also had to replace the original feedline, as rodents decided to have a mid-winter snack!
Initial results:
6m: heard a station 1900km away as the band started dying.
10, 15, 20m: SWR is almost flat; works very well.
40m: SWR a little high on CW, good on phone. Works well.
80m: my Q coil brought SWR to 1.5:1, but bandwidth is pretty narrow.
Works well!
New price here in Canada is a bit steep, but what isn't?
Will hopefully add more as I get a chance to play with it.
So far ... so good!!
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| VA3FLN |
Rating: |
2020-05-02 | |
| Impressed with initial results |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I managed to purchase my antenna used from a local ham almost four years ago but set it aside for future use. Since then, I got a set of fourteen 33' counterpoise wires that a previous Butternut owner used on his antenna (thrown in with a transceiver that I purchased from him), followed several months ago by the purchase of an antenna tripod for portable or roof use. During the 2019 Christmas season I finally had some down time to devote towards setting up and experimenting with the antenna, which has had over three months of regular use.
First of all, I have to admit that aside from reassembling and testing the antenna with an analyzer I cannot comment on how easy or challenging it might be to bring down the SWR levels across several bands. The previous owner appeared to have set 75m to tune around 3.735, close to several local/regional Ontario nets that I was usually able to check into with ease. I found that the external auto-tuner for a Kenwood TS440S managed to tune to the 3.920 region where several Michigan nets regularly operate, providing decent service across 75m. Two other transceivers/tuners however were a bit narrower in their workable range.
The SWR was relatively flat on 40m, where the antenna got decent reports checking into ECARS and other daytime stations a few hundred miles away from me. Recently I managed three European contacts on 40m, a decent feat at 100W for an antenna set up within very limited space, even if the receiving stations were running power and directional antennas. While SWR on 20m was set at about 3:1, it also works fairly well on that band, and can be heard by some European stations under decent conditions. Much of the 10m band sat at a bit over 2:1 SWR, but with few openings this winter I hadn't spent much time or made contacts on that band.
I took down the antenna a few days ago, as it was set up with guys in a portable configuration with counterpoises all across the ground. As a renter, I knew that the landlord was looking forward to using the backyard, especially as we are essentially stuck in our homes during the coronavirus outbreak, and it didn't seem right to abuse his generosity towards my hobby and wait for him to ask for its removal. I could probably set it up again with about twenty to thirty minutes work for temporary use, at least until I either mount it on the roof with several matching radials, or back in the yard once the cooler weather returns in Autumn.
The antenna might take some work to fine tune on all of the higher bands, but there seemed to be little action above 20m this winter, probably on account of the current phase of the solar cycle. As a vertical it is a bit noisier than some of my other antennas, but I am still impressed given the many wires and objects nearby, not to mention increased local noise as most residents are still sheltering in place in nearby homes. It is of rugged make, and I trust that it will give me years of additional service, assuming the continued use of guys and perhaps lowering it in advance of extreme weather events.
Currently, the price for a new antenna is somewhat high in Canadian dollars, even before adding any radials, counterpoises and mounting equipment, that would probably exceed $1000 CDN in total, but as a used rig purchased at a decent price, I cannot complain. Hopefully I will be able to report in the future about its performance roof mounted with radials, and on whether or not I can achieve low SWR across all six of the bands that it was designed to work for. |
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| W3DS |
Rating: |
2019-06-10 | |
| Works very well |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Mine is ground mounted with 40 radials and a DX Engineering matching base coil. Full band coverage and the loading coil greatly improved 40 and 30. Tuning was a breeze, on the ground, and this antenna performs well. This replaced a Hustler 6btv that was a real headache and the difference in antennas at my location is like night and day. The quality of materials and construction is impressive. For me, buying a cheaper trap antenna was a mistake. I'm happy with the performance of this antenna. |
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| KE6TDT |
Rating: |
2018-04-05 | |
| Up 28 years and works the world |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I have the HF6Vx. I understand the x meant experimental. Mine is roof mounted with only 4 tuned radials + 1 radial for 80 meters and this antenna has allowed me to work the planet with just 100 watts out. It's survived heavy winds etc for decades and it's sill up!
For those looking for an HF vertical that can take a beating and is fairly stealthy, I would not hesitate to recommend this antenna. |
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| W3PYF |
Rating: |
2018-02-26 | |
| A fine alternative to a high dipole |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've used this antenna both on a flat rooftop and 4 feet above ground - and in both instances, very pleased. I gave away one to a CT ham down on his luck - I'd used it for about 8 years in Westchester County.
I bought my current one used for $150 on Craig's List. I use 3 tuned multi-band radials made of twin lead per the original Butternut/Bencher instructions. After 10 years in Boston weather, the 15 meter wire has broken, and one capacitor is a bit battered but still working.
I couldn't rationalize in-ground radials when I first installed it my rented-house back yard 10 years ago, so I made 3 radials for 40-10 meters per those instructions. I suspend them at a height of about 5-1/2 feet off the nylon cord guys that support the antenna against MA winter winds. I use 2 copper wire radials for 80 CW zigzagged long my property line.
While I thought my above-ground/near ground radials were radical, a QST article about 4 years ago that tested various radial systems found what I'm using was better than a LOT of in-ground radials.
Driving the HF6V with either a KX3 (~10 watts input) and occasionally with my old Yaesu FT-707, I can make CW contacts almost any evening on 40. I work a bit of DX on other (higher) bands. I rarely work SSB - a) running low power and a compromise antenna, they rarely want to listen for you, b) most on SSB are more conservative than me, and I don't want to listen to their political rants, and c) the 2 meter repeater people in the Boston area aren't very friendly, so I've gotten away from using a mike much on any band.
The only negative is that, like all verticals with good ground systems, it has a very low angle of radiation. I ended up erecting trap dipole with W2AU traps, just to work/hear stations closer than 400-800 miles away on 80 and 40.
It's darn near a 1:1 match with the built in antenna tuner in the KX3, but then again, that could probably tune a coat hanger on 160.
I formerly used a Cushcraft R7, and while I have great memories of Les Cushman, the R7 was poor vs. the Butternut.
I'm thinking to replace the HF6V with an HF9V in the spring. The HF6V has had about 15 years and is getting pretty battered. But if it comes down well and goes back together, I might just keep it. |
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| AC8JU |
Rating: |
2016-08-22 | |
| complex but very effective. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've used mine for a year or so and like it. This is a tinkerer's dream. Kinda tough to tune and keep tuned, but when it's set up right it's wonderful. You will need a good antenna analyzer to make that happen.
Rainwater will mess with the tuning until it dries, the 15 meter wire breaks easily, the 75 Ohm matching cable is needed for 20 meters but degrades the others. Mow away from the little Q coil at the bottom. The worst is the standard ground mounting tube. I never even tried it. I adapted it to a Hustler base and never looked back.
In the winter I convert mine to the hv2v configuration and use a 160 meter conversion coil ass'y. Gives me DX on 40, some of 80 and a tiny slice of 160. It spreads out a bit with a tuner, but then the DX can't hear me. No surprise.
My radial field is pretty good.
I also use a Hustler 5btv. The Butternut beats it easily on the low bands and curiously on 10, but the Hustler shines on 15 and 20 and is quite useable on 12 and 17 with a tuner. |
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