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Reviews For: Hy-Gain DX-88 Trap Vertical

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Hy-Gain DX-88 Trap Vertical
Reviews: 17MSRP: 369.95
Description:
Trap Vertical, Ground Tunable
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hy-gain.com/Product.php?productid=DX-88
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00174.1
KT4QF Rating: 2022-12-25
Very good compromise antenna for limited real estate Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
The XYL decided that we should leave the rural Mountain Lair and move to a suburban neighborhood. Among her concerns, my wire antennas in 70 foot trees at 2,000 feet of mountain elevation didn't seem to make the list.

If I were to keep operating, I'd have to settle for a modest backyard vertical. I chose the DX-88, and it's performed pretty well. As with everything in life, though there are some caveats and that's probably what you're fishing for reading these reviews. I'll get to it.

1. Several advertisements for the DX-88 state that ground radials aren't required. This is a stretch. The manual clearly states that they ARE required. I pounded a 6 foot fence post into the ground with 18" left above the ground line to attach the antenna. The antenna "worked". It worked well enough to be seen on WSPR where 100mW into wet twine will be heard in The Azores, and I had no SWR issues, but I found that the antenna performs much better after adding them. The manual says 35 radials, and it's working pretty well with 16 in my case. MFJ sells a "rooftop radial" kit that doesn't have 35 radials so that's obviously not a concrete number. I plan on doubling mine to 32 in the spring.

2. As other reviews stated you NEED an analyzer for setting the individual band sections. The antenna needs to be lowered for the top sections, but I used a tall step ladder to do the rest with the antenna erected. This made things much easier.

3. I was never able to get 30 meters to tune lower than 10.5MHz after several attempts and re-reading the instructions. I don't use 30 that much anyway and a tuner takes care of the mismatch, but it's not as advertised for me.

4. The biggest caveat for me... 80 and 40 are not separate. We have a statewide net on 3980. Tuning the 40/80 section for anything above 3900 put the 40 meters' useful range out of band by about 100khz. The best I could to was tune for about 3850 which centered 40 meters at about 7200. Your mileage may vary, but this seems the nature of the beast. 80 is always a choice between a narrow slice of 75 Phone or a narrow slice of CW in compromise antennas. 3980 just wasn't going to happen without a tuner.

Overall I'm happy with the antenna. It's not the effortless experience of having mountaintop wires I was used to, but it does what it's supposed to do with the space allotted. It wasn't hard to assemble at all. It really seems to perform best for me on 20 and 17, does OK on 80 and 40- Jury's still out on 12/10. It's not documented anywhere, but my analyzer indicates a narrow 1.5:1 SWR sliver of 6m at 52.525 which just might outdo a dummy load in a pinch- but I'll leave that filed under "crapshoot".
SM6TKG Rating: 2020-02-11
Good Performer Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this antenna now for more than a year.
It is a very nice performer.
Worked almost 200 countries during a year including most of the large expeditions. Over 100 countries were worked with 100w remaining with 1KW. Remember the low sunspot numbers now, purely CW...

Mine is ground mounted with about 36 radials on/in ground, 4 to 15m of random length.

The antenna performs really well, escpescially in 40m.

Initially it was installed on a very poor place with both metallic fences, a shed and bushes really close but still performed good.

The drawbacks are
- You really need an antenna analyzer to adjust it. The numbers given in the manual is not relevant. Start to get it decent on 80-30m, and the the others
- It is not mechanically very stable, top heavy and the traps needs to be tighten after some use. You even need to dismantle the traps to tighten the screws.
- Max power of 200W on 30M, I have problems even on that level and run it only on 100W on 30m
- It is not possible to have it perfect on SWR on both 80 and 40m CW. I have optimized for 80M CW and let the tuner handle the somewhat hight SWR on 40M

For beeing a small compromize antenna it is really great performer. I even consider keeping it now when my new house allows me to replace it with a tower and large yagi. But be prepared for some adjusting now and then..

Update, still performing well, have several times taken it down to tighten screws (also inside traps). Have had an issue with one of the 80m traps have melted and become skew... (running 1KW CW).. probably needs guying
G8SEI Rating: 2020-01-15
Maintenance heavy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have had this antenna for a few weeks and already .
Erected at ground level ( thankfully not roof mounted) with the prescribed radials it performs well on 40m , the problem starts with wind hitting the antenna, this then shakes the trap coil connections loose which ultimately produces high swr and possible PA failure along with sporadic receive issues.

A simple fix would have been locking nuts and washers on all traps and fixings to prevent connection problems as previously mentioned in reviews . Personally I added coupling links from each trap to the boom sections to remove poor connectivity. And used nyloc nuts to stop couplings deterioration with a smear of aluminium paste between mating surfaces. Not good to have be doing on new kit !!

It seems a lot of money to spend and then have to have a constant maintenance issue because of manufacturing quality issues.

A good antenna but come on MFJ get your act together regarding long term quality on expensive equipment.


Jeff G8SEI
WB0FTY Rating: 2016-03-16
Decent Antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The reason for the 3 is it took 3 weeks and a day to get warranty parts from Hy-Gain which to me is unacceptable.

We finally got around to installing it and was pleasantly surprised how easy it was to tune. 80 m like on most verticals are extremely narrow at 50 kc. On 40 m it is pretty much the CW or the SSB protion of the band but still tuned up 1/6 or less across either portions. The rest of the bands are all below 1.6 to across the whole band. All in all it seems to do slightly better with the contacts I have made so far compared to the Hustler 5BTV.

I just could not rate it higher than 3 because of their shipping or lack of shipping on the parts. I had the antenna 97% put together or it would have went back in a heart beat. Just not a way to do business in my eye's because I am done with Hy-Gain.
KE7SA Rating: 2012-07-25
Update Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Here's an update of my initial review. 3 weeks later MFJ responded to my ticket. They offered to send a new tube section. They sent it 2 day priority. I had to wait nearly a week before I could check it out. The tube was identical which means either one or both of the trap assemblies on either side was about 1/4 to 1/2-inch total too long. Their solution was to cut the tube(s) on the trap side to make it fit and the holes align. To me this is like buying a new car, the doors don't close and the manufacturer wants you to grind the door frame. But, this is an antenna, and it's quicker to take the tube off, spin it 90 degrees, custom drill the top holes to match, reapply the penatrox, reassemble and lightly re-tune the antenna. I just find it very difficult that anybody selling a product would ask a customer to modify it right out of the box. Are all the DX-88s like this? As for performance, the 62 radials are snugging into the grass and sod real well. However, measured performance is still about the same. Just okay, meets electrical specs, can hear and work dx, nothing spectacular. I still think it's all about location.
HB9PL Rating: 2012-05-21
Performs fairly well Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I've purchased my DX-88 some years as there was no alternative for the installation of a directional antenna. Mounted on a corrugated tin-plated steel roof it is very good performer on 40 and 30 meters. Average on 80, 20, 17 and 15. Usable on 12 and 10 meters, but then what can you expect from a multiband vertical?

The narrow bandwidth on 80 meters is a disadvantage, but the problem was successfully eliminated with a remote-controlled variable capacitor connected parallel to the 80 m coil which is next to the base (See my article on page 36 of QST, February 2006) With this modification, I can easily tune the antenna over the entire 80 m band for lowest SWR.
KA2X Rating: 2011-01-14
Re-furbing my 20+ year old DX-88 Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After experiencing SWR jumps that required more & more frequent re-tuning of my DX-88, I took it completely apart for an inspection & a good cleaning. I found the main cause of the problem to be a badly corroded connection in the base assembly. This was caused by a missing screwhead which was broken off the screw that connects the base tubing to the coax terminal. I re-built the base using parts available from Hy-Gain.
Then, to complete the re-furb,:
- I replaced any of the stainless hardware & clamps that were stained.
- I scrubbed all the mating aluminum surfaces down to bare metal using red Scotch-Brite pads(available in the paint section of your Hardware Store).
- I coated all mating aluminum & stainless surfaces with aluminum oxide inhibitor - like NOALOX OR PENTROX (available in the electrical section of your Hardware Store).
Total cost was around $100 & about a week's labor plus another week waiting for parts.
KB6HRT Rating: 2009-11-23
Very GOOD antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Over all this is a very good antenna, the DX88 works very well on all bands tested, It replaced an R-8 antenna that worked well on 6-40M I now have 80M with the DX88 and can add 160M down the road, The DX88 compares very well with 2 dipoles I have on the property, this antenna was easy to tune, I was going to put up another antenna I had already installed around 80 radials in the yard, radials help any vertical a lot as I found out with the R-8 which I have been using for about 4 years. The R-8 does not require radials, but I moved it to the center of the radial field a week before I installed the DX88 for comparison to see how it would perform, it sure woke up the R-8, then when I installed the DX88 it performed as well as the R-8 on most of the higher bands but on 40M it surpassed the R-8 on 40M and I now have a good 80M option for 80M at night time that is right up there with my 2 dipoles. I am very happy with the DX88. I have had a R-6000 a MFJ P 6-20 vertical another R6000 an a Screwdriver antenna on the roof and a R-8 ground mounted with out and with radials and now the DX88. The radials made a bigger difference than the type of antennas used but the DX88 when to gather easy an tune easy............KB6HRT
AB7R Rating: 2006-09-28
Strong antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had this antenna for a few years and worked great with a good radial system.
Found it to be very stout and strong. But replaced it with a BigIR vertical.

Fred...cannot find an email address for you. Contact me at ab7r@cablespeed.com. I have a new condition base section for the DX-88 (pre MFJ). You may be able to use it to fix yours.

GL
Greg
AB7R
KA1YUW Rating: 2003-07-23
Great Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have owned this antenna for many years now. It does what Hy-Gain advertises. I have worked a lot of dx on all bands. I have 50 radials, 14 feet long. Someday I plan to get the 160 meter addon.