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Reviews For: DX Engineering Radial Plate

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : DX Engineering Radial Plate
Reviews: 44MSRP: 54.50
Description:
Stainless Steel Radial Plate
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-radp-3
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00445
AC0DV Rating: 2006-09-13
GREAT PURCHASE! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Great purchase. Everyone with a ground mounted vertical MUST buy one of these.

Just having it and 2 sets of extra nuts/bolts forced me to put down 80 radials. The empty lugs just "wanted" more wire. (They called to me in my sleep.) So I kept buying more spools of wire and putting it down. (Most are between 30 and 70 feet.)

I think it's worth the price of this unit JUST for this psychological reason alone.

My old Cushcraft MA8040V had a little ring with 8 nuts/bolts on it. It was very hard to connect more than 16 or so radials.


I have pictures and a similar review at my website: http://ac0dv.webhop.net
EXWA2SWA Rating: 2006-09-08
Good stuff ... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I think most reviewers should wait several months to give their gear a chance, but in this case, once installed, there's nothing to go wrong. So ...

My "5" relates to the plate itself & not to ancillary parts or hardware.

The DXEngineering radial plate is just the thing for getting enough wire under your ground-mounted vertical to make the antenna sing. I used the plate to install a Hustler 6BTV, DXE TiltBase, VFCC and 40 buried radials. Reviews of the other components will wait until I've had them for a while.

The burying job was a bit of a chore (see the antenna stories under "Strays"), but the radial plate sure made the connections happen efficiently and securely. Add that to stout construction and top-grade hardware and you have a piece of gear that does one thing, does it extremely well, and lets you move on with the fun stuff.

Fabrication, fit and finish are all top-of-the-line and I'm pleased to have this bit of gear under my antenna.

Previous reviewers remarks on hardware are on the money: make sure you buy what you'll need to install your antenna, and do buy extra radial hardware - the extra isn't expensive and it's always better to have to many than too few, right?

Communication with DXE is quick & easy, and very informative - get them involved in your installation and enjoy the great support.



AI4QS Rating: 2006-08-26
Great product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I needed a way to install 60 radials for a ZeroFive multiband vertical and this was a perfect answer. The vertical is mounted to a 6' water pipe set into 4' of concrete with a 3' pvc pipe about 2" away from the water pipe to mount the plate on.

Temporarily mounted the plate about a foot off the ground to tie down the radials using lugs before mounting the vertical, then clamped it flat to the concrete. The ZeroFive foldover mount fits nicely within the plate border without interfering with the radial bolts and holds it firmly down.

I couldn't have designed a better setup. Thanks DX Engineering!
N4KC Rating: 2006-06-20
Only way to install a vertical Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Surely everyone knows by now that there is no such thing as a "no radials required!" half-wavelength end-fed vertical antenna. Ask the engineers at any of the 6,000 or so commercial AM radio stations in this country. They would much prefer not having to plug and maintain all that copper in the ground, but they know two facts: 1) They have to have it to emit RF efficiently, and 2) the FCC requires it!

When someone gave me a WWII-era telescoping 33-foot vertical, I at first thought of just stringing a few lengths of 14- or 16-gauge wire out through the natural area in the backyard. Then, after some thought, I decided I would eventually replace the freebie with a good commercial vertical (probably the SteppIR) so I might just as well do it right with the radial system in the first place. I'm an old broadcaster and I know the value of that ground plane mirror image, and my rocky clay soil didn't offer much of a mirror.

The DXE radial plate's price did give me pause. With a couple of hundred dollars' worth of wire (got a good price on 500-foot rolls at Lowe's), and the nearly $100 worth of plate, hardware, and shipping, my "free" vertical was getting expensive. But I decided it was worth it long term. And it is. Previous suggestions that you go ahead and purchase enough hardware to fill all 60 holes, and install all the bolts before mounting the plate are right on. I found the price DXE gets for the additional sets of hardware are about what the big box stores charge and I didn't have to stand there in the store and count it all out. The bolts, washers, and nuts installed easily and I only over-torqued one enough to break it.

I mounted the plate to a six-foot 4 X 4 that I stood in a hole 3.5 feet deep and backfilled with rocks and dirt. I then measured out and cut 80 lengths of wire about 35 feet long. I elected not to use lugs on the plate end of the wire simply because I did not feel like installing all those things. Unless I was going to install a half dozen or more radials to each bolt, I think I'm getting just as good a connection by just being careful to hook the bent end and tighten the bolts. A good set of socket wrenches makes this installation go easier.

I used small lengths of aluminum wire made to tie up chain link fencing to hold the radials down to the ground. And they will disappear shortly. Just be careful the first month or so if you are in mowing territory.

Bottom line: the thing made installing 80 radials (nearly 3000 feet of wire) a half-day job. And the vertical antenna works like a champ with uniformly good reports on the bands I've used it on and especially when working DX when compared to my dipoles and G5RV. The internal tuner in my TS-2000 likes it, too. When I do break down and get the SteppIR, I've got a wonderful ground system for it to work against, and all I have to do is install it on my 4 X 4. Good product, quick delivery, and some good advice about the hardware when I spoke to the rep at DXE. What else could you ask for?
W3BNY Rating: 2006-05-31
Great product! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When you get this thing.. your gonna think OVERKILL.. but it survives just about anything. I wintered over here in the snow and crud in the backyard. and looks darn near like the day I got it. Nice work and serious plate! Cant beat it!
W4SK Rating: 2005-11-24
Works Great Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Works great. Wouldn't have a vertical without one.
K8DXX Rating: 2005-10-11
Much Needed & Great Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Experience with HyGain HyTower, Butternuts, etc. indicates that one or more bolts/washers to maintain continuity with tens of radials is unreliable. The DX Engineering radial plate may seem like overkill but think of the effort invested in laying and maintaining radials. To me, it's well worth the money. Currently using this product with an MFJ 1793 80/40 meter vertical. Nicely made. Even survived an in-ground pool demolition in our back yard.

73

Bill / K8DXX
NI0C Rating: 2005-10-05
Organize those radials! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
When I replaced my HF-2V ground-mounted vertical with the new Cushcraft MA8040V, I also decided to use a 1:1 current balun from DX Engineering. The question was where to put the balun. I didn't want to set it on the ground over the Winter season, though I did operate it this way for a few weeks. The round aluminum alloy radial plate I had been using was small and showing signs of oxidation-- not good for low resistance radial connections.

DXE's rectangular SS radial plate is large enough to accomodate their largest baluns. I housed the balun in a watertight plastic food container (to insulate the aluminum balun case from the radials, and for weather protection). The balun sits nicely on the plate, with no real need for any kind of fastening, though I might eventually glue the plastic box to the plate with silicone sealant.

I purchased additional SS hardware, plus DXE's marine-grade anti-seize compound. I populated every other hole on the plate with a bolt inserted from the bottom, and fastened these with the star washer, flat washer, lock washer and nut. I torqued these to the plate as tightly as possible. Each of the SS bolts protrudes high enough above the top of the plate that it will accomodate 2-3 ring terminals (which I solder to each radial), plus additional washers and nuts to fasten them. Thus, adding and removing radials is very easy to do with no need to use a wrench below the plate (which is only a few inches above ground). I use the conductive anti-seize compound at the radial connections to help keep the resistance as low as possible.

As others have said, this is a very nice looking and efficient way to organize radials.
W9OY Rating: 2005-01-09
Great Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I use this with my vertical, and my inverted L. It makes installing a ground plane a peice of cake. One suggestion is to install at least 40, if not all 60, bolt, washer, nut combo's before you hook up the first wire. I just went with the 20 that came with the plate and it took a long time to dig under the plate and install the other bolts once the thing is installed at the base of the vertical and has 20 or 30 wires going to it. It would have been much easier installing these before the fact. Other than that suggestion, this plate is a thing of ham radio beauty. There's nothin' like spending a spring afternoon in the yard installing another 1000 feet of wire under your DX slayer.
KG7DX Rating: 2004-12-02
Excellent Value Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I use this with my BiggIR vertical. Easy to set up, great to be able to easily add radials as time passes. Use #14 black stranded wire and hold it down with landscape pins. Completely disappears in 2-3 weeks! High quality build, excellent value for the price. Solved lots of problems for my installation!