| N0ODK |
Rating:  |
2022-10-30 | |
| Excellent vertical for the money. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I been using this antenna for at least 5 or more years, mostly use it on 40 meters. I had 11 radials under it and worked around the world getting DXCC. Now I have 20 radials that are 34 feet long each.
THis last Spring one of my large trees fell down and the antenna lost that battle. This Fall rebuilt one from three HF2V on hand that were used. First QSO was VK9CM for a all time new country on 40M FT8 with no adjustments after done with manual. Five minutes later QSO with Thailand. Not bad from MN to there.
This antenna is 1/3 of the price of others I checked out and it continues over many years to do great for me. Next week I plan to add the 30M coil on it to see how that does. Read the manual, I found link through DX Engineering, and you should not have issues. One thing I did was I used hose clamps to hold the vertical pieces together instead of the through bolts. On the lower one, tho not needed, I used two hose clamps for little more firm.
73 and good DX. Mike |
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| KF3C |
Rating: |
2022-01-29 | |
| Get a zero five vertical. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I`ve had this antenna for about 4 years. Put a good radial field under it, works OK on 40 and 80, bandwidth limits it on 80 without a tuner. For what it is selling for now, there are better choices out there. Hint: (Zero five).
Biggest complaint: Constuction quality is lacking. Really. Also, as with any less than 1/4 wavelength vertical (on 80 in this case), they are all compromises. There are a few blogs out there that really tell the truth about the "shortfalls" of "shortened verticals". Seek them out.
Bottom line: Dish out the $$$ and get some monoband verticals with a good radial field or get some towers up and string some monoband wire antennas up real high or feed a long dipole, also high up, with 600 ohm open wire and a tuner and you`ll have a great multiband antenna.
I took my HF 2V down and never looked back. If you have a postage stamp size yard, consider moving. A GOOD ANTENNA SYSTEM IS WHERE IT`S ALL AT. |
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| W2QID |
Rating: |
2022-01-05 | |
| Built in defect |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I experienced serious difficulties with fit and finish with an HF2-V and submitted a scathing review of it here. The review did elicit a very kind and completely professional response from the manufacturer despite all my complaints. From the details provided by DXE I conclude that my antenna purchase came from stock that was acquired by DXE when they picked up the Butternut product line. There was nothing visible that would have alerted anyone to any potential problems at the time of sale or for that matter when I first assembled it. I have experimented with other really great verticals but for a 1/8th wavelength radiator on 80 meters nothing I have tried comes close to the performance of my HF2-V. DX-Engineering has also offered any and all replacement parts needed to resolve my issues at no cost to me! |
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| W3ON |
Rating: |
2019-10-24 | |
| Installation Was Ok, with minor exceptions |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have recently installed a new Butternut HF2V obtained from DXEngineering. The antenna construction and installation went sort of smoothly. My only complaint is that the mounting holes for some of the tubes was not straight. Thus I ended having to slightly drill out one side of the mounting holes to get the connection screws to go through the tubes being connected.
Plus I had a minor problem with parts identification. In that section B, a 1 1/4 inch tube, had somehow lost its Support Tube, a 1 1/8 inch tube, that fits inside tube B. A call to DXEnginneering told me what had happened. Apparently the tube B Support Tube had fallen out of tube B during my parts listing check. If you don't know, the antenna tubes are packed inside 2 1 1/4 inch tubes. So far, those are my only criticisms. Performance wise, the SWR points were easy to set. Mine is currently set on 80 CW (about 3525 kHz). An SWR check shows I have about a 70 kHz wide <2.0:1 bandwidth on 80 meters. The 40 meter band has a mostly flat <2.0:1 bandwidth. By the way, it also has two low SWR points on the 6 meter band.
Plus, I added a three connection point guy system using three D rings (purchased at Lowe's), a small stainless hose clamp, and some green poly cord. The guying assembly is connected at about seven feet above ground.
I did apply JET LUBE to all tubes, except the insulators. I purchased that at DXEngineering. It is good stuff, but don't let it get on your hands or clothes. Hi Hi.
73 de Chuck W3ON
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| AK9S |
Rating: |
2019-10-06 | |
| Fantastic Performance |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Just replaced a 43-foot elevated ground plane vertical with the 32-foot HF2V. The wind failed the antenna and it came crashing down. As an initial set-up for the HF2V, I am running four 12-foot top hat wires and 8 radials from the Butternut kit. I cannot believe the performance of the shorter vertical on 80M. At least 4 to 6 dB better than my previous antenna. It's all about the efficiency, no kidding.
Some important comments to remember...
- could not tune the antenna on 80M and 40M after installing the four 25-foot top hat wires from DX Engineering. Antenna analyzer showed a need for less inductance while the 80M/40M coils were stretched to their limits (which reduces inductance). Resonant frequencies showed 2.7 MHz and 6.1 MHz. DXE manual claims more bandwidth on 80M using the 25-foot top hat wires, but they neglected to mention that a 160M coil must be installed to use such long top hat wires. To add to the frustrating experience, DXE does not have a 160M coil available for the market at this time. Opps!
- using the DXE manual recommendation that 12-foot top hat wires is the maximum length to use before loosing 40M, I decide to try it. 80M now tunes fine, but cannot tune 40M. Closest frequency would be 7.6 MHZ with 40M coil nearly completely compressed (to increase inductance). Antenna analyzer showed a need for additional inductance. Not happy with the DXE instructions and their recommendations concerning top hat wire lengths, as they were inaccurate twice.
- installation parameters vary, but I believe top hat wires cut around 9 to 10-feet would result in both 80M and 40M band capability on the HF2V. That will be my next step.
Overall, very happy with the antenna and I still respect my favorite ham vendor, DXE. They just need to re-visit the manual and remove grossly inaccurate statements. As we say in Engineering - verify, verify and verify again.
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| KK5JY |
Rating: |
2017-01-14 | |
| Excellent Performance, Very Sturdy |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
This review is for the DXE version of the antenna, purchased new in April of 2016, and installed later that month. My installation has 19 surface radials, each one is ~25' long.
The antenna is resilient, and I have no issues with the quality of construction. It has survived numerous thunderstorms and strong winds. I have the antenna mounted near an outside wall of the house, stood off about 4' using a Rohn standoff at about 8' above the ground. This is roughly the location where guying is recommended. I would not install this antenna without the recommended guying or similar support.
The antenna moves around in the wind, but the aluminum construction doesn't have any issues, just like an airplane wing can also flex in the wind. The fiberglass insulators are solid, not hollow, and should have plenty of life in them.
I just finished using my HF2V to participate in the January 2017 NAQP CW. The antenna was completely covered with ice, and the tuning was still spot-on, and it is still standing. I worked 40m and 80m stations up and down both coasts and out to Hawaii with 100W. 80m is a bit narrow, but easily trimmed with a typical tuner without harming performance.
Initial tuning of the antenna does require a little patience, as small changes in coil length can make rather large changes in resonant frequency. Just hand-tighten the bolts as you work, and move the coil ends in small increments until you get the resonant frequencies where you want them. |
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| G0CGL |
Rating: |
2015-12-27 | |
| Versatile |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is an update to my 2004 review. I've now had my HF2V for 11 years. I have used the 30m and 160m add-ons. DXCC totals for the 11 years are 300+ on 30, 40 and 80. Pretty good. Topband was harder going.
So in September 2015 I modified it to improve the efficiency on 160m (and 80m). I added 4x 25ft top loading wires and removed the 30m coil. 40m operation is also lost with this configuration though I retained the 40m coil to maximise electrical length.I replaced the 15kV rated 200pf capacitors with 40kV ones from the well known auction site. This allows 1KW on 160m.
September to end December, DXCC total on 160m increased from 125 to 140 countries and performance is very good. 80m works superbly.
Next summer I intend to add 2m to the base section and thereby raise the 80m coil by that amount and improve efficiency on that band by another 10%.
For a 160/80 dual band excellent performing vertical without complexity, the HF2V cannot be beaten.
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| AD5HD |
Rating: |
2015-07-07 | |
| Brilliant |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Installed without the stock mount. Instead it was clamped into a DX Engineering fiberglass channel with cut down U-bolts which was in turn mounted to a tilt-base attached to a heavy wall 316 stainless pipe set in Quickrete two feet deep. Works mondo fb. Used the DXE radial plate as well as their balun and mounting bracket. The base choke is installed between the radial plate at the corner where the ground rod is attached and the hot terminal of the balun that ties to the base of the antenna. Also works mondo fb. Assembled using a zinc based contact compound rather than the copper based material supplied with the antenna since this could lead to corrosion. No issues so far. Assembly was trivial, no guying needed at all. It bends in the wind and recovers as claimed by the mfg, not issues at all. Tuning is trivially easy although using a CIA-HF helps. VSWR is very low on 40m and tuned to 75m it leaves the CW end unusable without a tuner. It is possible to use remote controlled relays to short the lower coil to tune across 80m but I haven't installed something like this yet. The Butternut 15m stub kit for the HF6V (I think) works fb with the HF2V to tune up 17m although it doesn't get much better than 2:1 but that's plenty good enough. Over a decent radial field and with soil having good conductivity the VSWR bandwidth on 80m is fairly narrow indicating a good installation, per the instructions as well. Compared against a DX-CC installed as an inverted vee at about the same height it does a good job of getting out to longer distances and is clearly weaker inside the first skip zone where the DX-CC as an NVIS antenna on 40m and 80m works much better. Very pleased with this antenna. Adding a capacitance hat would make it much better on 40m as well as 80m but would be difficult given the proximity of the DX-CC, unfortunately. Can't see how a 43' remotely tuned vertical could be substantially better than a resonant vertical ten feet shorter. EZNEC indicates the elevation radiation pattern is likely to be better as well. Highly recommended. |
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| VK4KKD |
Rating:  |
2015-06-15 | |
| Disappointing |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Prime example of not reading more reviews on products! I could not believe how pathetically weak this antenna was. Even a slight breeze had the thing bent way over. Yes I should have fitted some form of guying to it, but I did not even get past the initial assembly and adjusting before the bottom insulator snapped in the 15kph breeze. Bought a length of fibreglass rod and replaced the broken bit then wrapped the whole area where the supplied insulators were. Not a good start. Fitted the wobbly thing with some Dacron guys and tried to get the rotten thing to tune. Sadly that has not happened in spite of repeated attempts. So after 18 moths of frustration I have taken it down and replaced it with trapped dipole which actually works. The concept is a good one but sadly because of the extremely lightweight (weak) construction the small area usage of it is not there, it needs guys and it obviously needs a much more comprehensive ground radial system than I could install. |
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| ON7WP |
Rating: |
2014-04-20 | |
| Found everywhere on the planet...collapsed ! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Bought the antenna two years ago in a sealed box from a hamshop going QRT in The Netherlands. I was disappointed the antenna was sold without any proper mounting clamp, as if everybody uses concrete to mount it. (Designed a proper mount for it as well as my DX88, look on www.mods.dk)
Tuning without network analyser is quite cumbersome. Antenna is said to resist 80 km/h winds without guying. So I put it up on my garage. After three moths it started wiggling like +- 20 30 degrees. Bottom insul;ator cracked after less than six months. We even did get any decent wind speeds yet... Contacted Butternut support for a spare part under warranty. A lot of mailing crap but no support, no spare part.
Company is crap, as are their antennas. very poor glasfiber insulator materials, After my own repair with the new mount using pneumatic clamps on a plate the antenne was OK until two months later the coil classfiber insulator starts showing the same problems. Next winds it will probably crack too. No more Butternut for me, how crappy compared to European antenna constructions.
Referring to their ARRL QST AD "where in the world will you find Butternut HF2V antennas ? I guess everywhere, ON THE GROUND, COLLAPSED...."
Pedro C5WP ON7WP AA9HX |
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