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Reviews For: Butternut HF6V

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Butternut HF6V
Reviews: 90MSRP: 522.95 USD
Description:
10,15,20,30,40,80,Vert.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/but-hf6v
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00904.5
W2LJ Rating: 2000-07-09
HF9V = Great antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
After using a half-sized G5RV for a while, I wanted to add a vertical to the small suburban antenna farm in my back yard. I had a GAP Voyager a few years ago at my previous QTH; but had to get rid of it to save my skin from some local "anti-Ham vigilantes". Now that I own my own house with my own backyard, I decided to give another vertical a try.

I wasn't extremely pleased with the GAP. I felt it didn't do all that much better than the wire I had up at the time. A few friends had Butternuts and raved about them; so I sold a few older items I wasn't using anymore and I put the money towards the HF9V.

I was pleasantly surprised by the ease of construction of the Butternut. There were a few typos in the assembly instructions; but an extremely well drawn diagram helped answer any questions I had. The only problem I had was that I had to re-drill the hole in the base's insulator; as the match between the hole in the tube and the hole in the base was off by a few millimeters. But, hey, no harm no foul ... we Hams are supposed to be resourceful anyway!

The antenna is up and the radial system is as follows. I have 8 - 25 foot radials fanned out in a quarter of a pie fashion; as the Butternut is in the corner of the backyard. Also used as a radial is the chain link fence surrounding the yard. This system must be doing the trick because I am hearing stations I can't hear on the wire!

My first contact with it was to Northern Ireland on 20 meters with a 10 over 9 signal report! later that day I had a sked with a friend in Pennsylvania on 40 meters. We have a CW QSO once a week and my friend told me that with the Butternut, my signal was the loudest he has ever heard it! The 20 meter QSO was with 100 watts and the 40 meter CW QSO was with 50 watts.

In my opinion, if you want a great vertical antenna, that's easy to construct and install, and that really "gets out" then get the Butternut HF9V. I think it's worth every penny I paid for it!
KI0MB Rating: 2000-05-03
The BEST vertical Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this HF6V for while. I have had the other verticals, trap and trapless designs, and this vertical outperforms all of them.

I have about 50 radials down buried just below the surface, and it works great.
K4TBN Rating: 2000-04-02
disappointed Time Owned: unknown months.
I know I'm going against the grain, but I am disappointed with this antenna. I had to spend extra time fixing off center holes in several pieces of the tubing and I had to redrill the bottom insulator since since it was also drilled off center. Two days ago the antenna went up near the top of my hill. I ran two 1/4 wave radials for each band. My dipoles on 80 and 40 strung between two 60 ft trees vastly outperform the Butternut by SEVERAL s-units on 80, 40 AND 15! This was consistant during 40+ QSO's with stations in the eastern and western U.S., Europe, Africa, Japan, and Australia. On the plus side, the VSWR is what the manual predicts. I have checked and rechecked the assembly and installation and all is OK. I am going to install a wire vertical for 40 and see if it outperforms the Butternut.
W0VC Rating: 2000-03-07
"The" Multiband Vertical! Time Owned: unknown months.
Cannot say enough good things about the HF-6V, and I've tried just about all of the commercial verticals. I keep selling them off and coming back to the Butternut. It's been ten years now and I've worked DXCC Mixed, CW, and Phone, with it plus the HF-2V in the Winter. There just isn't anything better for my circumstances out there, and I understand how it works. No wild claims, no hype, no magic, no violation of the laws of physics, just good sound RF theory and practical engineering. The HF-6V is a very clever antenna that uses all of the radiator on every band. To reach resonance, it employs very beefy, high Q coils and doorknob capacitors as part of the loading system. On 15 meters, it uses a tuning stub. Never had to replace or repair any of the tubing, even following winds up to 80mph. This is Minnesota and this delicate looking antenna defies wind, ice, and snow. And, it's low profile. I had to point it out to my neighbors before they noticed it. Tuning is easy, if you follow the instructions. But because there are six or more bands, it does take some time. My first contact right after installation was a ZD8, who gave me 10 over S9 on 15 meters. The HF-6V is ground-mounted at my QTH over 73 radials, 15-60ft in length. My backyard is only 75ftX75ft. Lots of work putting down the radials but they really make the HF-6V play. If there is a weak link in the system, it's the 20 meter matching section. Bencher has actually made improvements at the antenna end that effectively solves the problem of the terminal lugs breaking off from the center conductor. If you are looking for an effective, efficient as possible, low-profile vertical that gets out, this is it! But, do yourself a favor. Spend the time to lay down a decent radial system. There is no free lunch in the world of verticals. Listen to what the old-timers tell you, good radials make a big difference. Enjoy!
N9CEG Rating: 1999-12-21
Best vertical I ever owned and/or operated with. Time Owned: unknown months.
I purchased the antenna some years ago. A couple of years ago, I received the 12 & 17 meter kit. Some time later I managed to obtain a used 160 meter coil and kit however never been able to get that working. Overall, I rate the antenna as the best vertical ever. I have owned (2) hustlers 4BTV and 5BTV, a 14AVQ, and none of them performs like the Butternut. Would
appreciate it if some one could help me with trying to get the 160 meter system working.
Either you have a nice low SWR without the coil attached or you get high SWR's on the
bands when it is attached.
K0RS Rating: 1999-12-20
Excellent performance Time Owned: unknown months.
I have been using an HF9V, essentially an HF6 with 3 more bands tacked on. When I moved, a vertical was the 1st antenna I could conveniently install, pending getting the towers erected. I first tried a loaner R7000 with mediocre results. I then installed the HF9 and it blew away the R7000! I have used verticals of one type or another for many years, but this one outperforms them all, even the benchmark Hygain Hy-Tower. My 1st QSO was with a UA station over the pole on 20m CW with a solid 599. Imagine my surprise when he commented "Vy strong sig hr what's ur antenna OM?" I have since gotten my beams up, but continue to use the HF9 as a backup. It is surprisingly competitive with the larger antennas. I have worked some juicy DX with it, like D6 on 40, FT5z on 80, A6 on 40 long path and JY on 30. I rate it as a 4 rather than a 5 because it is rather light duty mechanically. It is a solid 5 in performance. I get strong winds at my QTH, so I found necessary to guy the antenna with light nylon line (as the manual suggests) to prevent metal fatigue. BTW, I only have 8 long (from 66' to 135') radials under it.
K6ICS Rating: 1999-12-20
Great DX antenna Time Owned: unknown months.
I have had the HF6V with the mods to cover all bands from 80-10 meters in use for 12 years. I have worked over 275 countries, most with 100 watts. The antenna was mounted on the roof of the house (I had to take it down with a hack saw when we put a new roof on the house). I had two guy/radials for each major band streached-out across the roof. I never used an antenna tuner with the transmitter. It worked great on all bands except 80 meters. Outperformed locals with beams and a KW on longhall DX. After about 8 years it started degrading (increasing SWR) and had to be retuned. After that it never worked as well as it had before retuning. Overall, I was very pleased with its operation.
former_K4XG_Tom Rating: 1999-10-24
Excellent Vertical Antenna !! Time Owned: unknown months.
I have used the HF6V for about 7 years and have been very pleased with its performance. Much more pleased than with the GAP equivalent. Used primarily as a "spoting" antenna for DX work. I find that on 30 & 40 meters it is very competitive. The HF6V is highly recommended from my experience. Tom K4XG
K8DXX Rating: 1999-10-23
Best vertical in its price class... I think. Time Owned: unknown months.
I have used two HF6Vs over a period of 12 years. Most of the time, I had my HF6V mounted at the peak of our 2 story house using this vendor's tripod (rusted, wasn't well galvanized) and their stub tuned radial kit. The first antenna broke in a wind storm after about 5 years. Previous to that, I had several instances of broken door knob capacitors which are rather expensive. The second HF6V lasted four years on the roof and then spent about two years serving as a portable , ground mounted vacation antenna.

In either location, I found the HF6V to be noisy. It seemed to be heard OK on 80, whomped on 40, could never get SWR below 1.9:1 on 20, did pretty well on 15 and 10. Using a manual antenna tuner, it worked very well on 17. Compared to my Gap Voyager IV, it was much noisier on receive and didn't boom out like the Gap on 80 and 40. In all areas, the HF6V appeared to outperform Hustler and CushCraft verticals I have used by a wide margin.

My doubts about the HF6V are based not only on durability and performance but also on PRICE. When I bought my first one, they cost $149.95. I believe that they now cost in the $260-$270 range. For that much money, I'd give more serious consideration to the Gap Titan and Challenger models... they're quieter, offer greater bandwidth and based on limited experience, get out better.
W4AN Rating: 1999-10-22
5 Stars! Time Owned: unknown months.
I just bought a HF6V to put behind my house between two streams in a very wet area. So far I only have 13 radials of various lengths. Some terminating in the streams. I've worked a few stations on each band and this antenna is fantastic for an all band vertical. I'm very impressed. It confirms all of the comparisons that have been done by members of the TowerTalk reflector who found this vertical to be the best of the bunch.