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Reviews For: ZeroFive Antennas

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : ZeroFive Antennas
Reviews: 22MSRP: 309
Description:
Full size verticals for the low bands,30m,40m,80m,160m,Hand made from 6063-t832 tubing,12 sections from 2Inch Bottom section tapers to 1/2 at the top,Comes with base insulator and base tube.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.zerofive-antennas.com/
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00224.8
KU7I Rating: 2020-11-19
I have the 43 footer - superb in every way!! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have three of Tom's 43 footers. I have one extended out to 62 feet and two others extended out to 53 feet. To extend them out just add length to the bases. You can email me for details. These antennas are a BARGAIN at the current price of $299 plus shipping. They are built very very well. I had 70 mph winds come through recently and they held up nicely with no issues. No guying needed if you stay stock at the 43 foot height. The 43 footers are rated at 92 mph. All of mine are extended out and guyed at the point of where the extension begins. The center insulator is extremely well made - very heavy duty. The fold over assembly is military spec in every way. I had some Omni Tilt bases before these from DX Engineering and the stainless steel DX Engineering uses is total junk and it seizes up something fierce after about 6 months in the weather. I don't know what material Tom makes his base fold over mount out of but it is very VERY rugged and does not get seized up. You can easily loosen the fold over mount bolts to tilt over the antenna even after it has been installed for over a year. Tom is also lightning fast to respond to questions via email. I am a life long buyer.
W2KBW Rating: 2020-04-15
Great Vertical for 40/20 Meters. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Just Purchased there NEW 40/20 Meter Vert. I previously had the DXE radial plate for mounting.No issue with mounting or assembly. Works great across the phone portion of the bands with low swr . BTW-GREAT customer service!!
KM1H Rating: 2019-11-03
Snake Oil product on 80M Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
The scam here is the requirement of 100' of RG-213 which reduces the very high VSWR on 80 to a manageable level at the transmitter/tuner end. EZNEC reports more RF going into the ground rod than the vertical.

Performance is good on 40/30/20 and poor above that as the radiation is at very high angles and useless for a lot of users.

It doesnt take much to modify into a decent antenna on all bands, check out Eham Antenna forums.
NW0Q Rating: 2019-11-02
Great Antenna, Great Service! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This is my second Zero Five antenna, this time the 20-meter quarter-wave vertical. Tom's antennas are excellent performers, and the service he provides is extraordinary. He is patient with questions and responds quickly. Zero Five is highly recommended.
Jim NW0Q
W5GGH Rating: 2018-12-14
Great antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the 20m or 17m 1/4 wave monoband freestanding vertical, fantastic product, very high quality and went together in a snap. Set the length for the phone portion of the band and SWR was 1.5:1 spot on. The best vertical I've ever owned so far....
W4WHQ Rating: 2018-10-01
Fantastic Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought a 43' Antenna from Zero-Five in 2010. It has worked great and if I could have only one antenna, this would be it. Recently I started having problems on 80m. Tom at Zero-Five pretty sorted it out and determined that my ICE surge/lightning suppressor was not up to the job at the wattage that I was trying to use and the SWR presented on 80m (around 11.25). He recommended a replacement surge/lightning suppressor. Once it was installed, the problem went away.

Tom provide quick and accurate service after the sale, even replying to my emails on the weekend. An in the end, his diagnosis and solution were both correct.

I talk to people all over the world with this antenna, often on 100W, sometimes at 700W. The noise level is lower than some dipoles that I have used. [I think that my Icom IC-2300 helps keep the noise to a minimum.]Even with the horrible band conditions that we are experiencing,I can make contacts on 80m,40m, and 20m just about any time that I want to.

The SWR across all of the bands, except 80, is pretty flat. On 80m there is a slope of around 1.5 SWR from the low end to the high end. This makes the antenna really easy to tune with my Palstar AT2k tuner. One the input and output are set for any band, I can move around anywhere in the band by adjusting the inductor. This makes tuning very fast. I used LMR 400 for the feed line. Low loss feed lines are not as affected by higher SWR ratios (around 11.5 on 80m) as higher loss coax is.
W5VE Rating: 2016-10-23
Exceptional antenna! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
WR3KI beat me to it, "Works so well, this antenna should be Illegal." Guess I'm the outlaw DXer then.

I've had my 43' 160-10 ZeroFive vertical up just at a month. Went together like a breeze. Started with 8 radials in the ground. That was taking forever so went the lawn staple route and now have 73 radials down, ranging from 30' to 43'.

No real technical reason for 73 (3000' of 14 ga. copper braided). More caprice than anything but it sure does work well. VERY well! I can hear stations all over the world now that I could not before AND WORK THEM. Have made (in this first month) 328 QSOs as of this writing. Already had DXCC but getting new countries fast.

I've a ham for over 53 years now and had many good antennas but the ZeroFive is a GREAT antenna. Highly recommend but do not get chintzy on the radials -- the difference between 8 and my current 73 is fantastic. Tom, the ever-helpful guy at ZeroFive, told me at least 48. So lay down the copper.

Does the job, looks impressive, reaches out and pulls the DX right into your shack and practically fills out your log and brings you coffee.

Did I mention it's a GREAT antenna? It is.

WR3KI Rating: 2015-10-22
So Good, Should be Illegal Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Picked up a 20 meter 1/4 wave vertical from ZeroFive a few months back. Got around to putting it up last week. Went together easily. Well made.
Mounted out 60 feet on the pier, out in the Chesapeake Bay. Two raised radials, both slope down at 45 degrees. Antenna is mounted on a 5 foot mast, bolted to one of the pilings. PLUS, connectivity of the antenna base, to the salt water of the Bay. Up once, took measurements with the 259B, and then made adjustment, & everything fell into line. 36 Ohms at the feedpoint, & flat swr at 14.2. Started making contacts all over the planet. Works so well, this antenna should be Illegal. In fact, plays so well, thinking of putting up another, & phasing them, in a east -west configuration. Overall, excellent product, went together easily & works as advertised.
AK4NJ Rating: 2015-08-02
43' Vertical 10 - 160M with 5KW UnUn Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Let me say this is my first experience with a ground mounted vertical antenna.

I have the Zero-Five 43' 10 - 160M Vertical Antenna (Fold over Ground mounted version) I am using 100' LMR-600 + 34 Radials -> 43' to 520' in length. I have run her with the Balun Designs UnUn and the Zero-Five UnUn (supplied with my kit) I also Added 4ga insulated cooper wire attached to 8' ground rods @ 43' and 16'.

I have tried her with a Balun Designs 1115DU Isolation Balun (which seems to work well with this setup) I have used her with external manual and auto tuners as well as the factory tuner in my Icom 746Pro.

First let me say that the Zero Five 43' fold over antenna is very well built. Assembly is easy with one person (Much more fun with a YL) Height above ground is critical and varies with site. It should be said that she won't operate without radials.

There is absolutely no comparison to a dipole, loop, or good end fed wire multi-band antenna! Total cost and installation time are triple +. Comparison Gain on this antenna is pretty much a flat Zero.

While advertised as a multi-band Vertical she plays very well on 40M, does good on 20 and so-so on 80 Meters. Useless on most any other bands with losses of up to 90% on the higher frequencies. 160 Meter TX performance -> not happening. That said 43' should do really good on 60 Meters if that band opens up...

I began this project to keep the YL happy (not so Y at our age but much more fun!) I think for someone that uses primarily 40 Meters that has a small site, no trees, etc. it might be a good choice. For reliable DX operations there are far better antenna choices in my honest opinion.

I'm still looking for a site for my dipole that will keep the YL happy... in the meantime I may buy/experiment with a second Zero Five antenna to set up in a phased array (directional) using this antenna as the primary. I will report back if I do.

I give Zero-Five a Big 5 for Engineering, construction materials, initial cost, and time/ease for installation. There is absolutely no comparison to many 43' antennas on the market IMHO.

I give 43' Verticals in general based on my findings; a solid 2 as a multi-band antenna and a 4 as a 40 meter antenna.

I hope you find this useful.

73's





K5RIX Rating: 2012-08-04
R7 Base Assy Rebuild Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The fiberglass base insulator on my venerable R7 had deteriorated and was beginning to disintegrate. A repair using Rescue Tape fixed the insulator exterior, but not the worn out insulator itself which had become wobbly.

ZeroFive's rebuild service for these antenna base assemblies is excellent. The only original parts used in the rebuild are the matching network and brackets, the bottom hat brackets and hardware, and the mounting rings and hardware. Everything else is new and of outstanding quality. The rebuilt base assy is mechanically superior to the original by a degree of magnitude, both in materials and design. The rebuilt piece is far more rigid and mechanically elegant. The heavy main insulator is bullet proof, and the first foot of tubing above the insulator is double wall. Customer service and turnaround time were notably excellent as well.

If your R7 or R5 traps are still serviceable, I highly recommend this rebuild service.