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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
14174.1
VK2CZ Rating: 2002-11-19
Good starter Time Owned: more than 12 months.
It is a good all-rounder, but lacked that 'spark' performance I was wanting. Two things I did to it which may not be everyones cup of tea:
1. I removed the 10m trap and replaced it with a 700mm tube section. 10m performance is abysmal in all verticals, plus I have a 16m yagi on 10m. Interestingly, the only other band tuning affected by this mod was 30m, and the antenna sleeving on the 30m adjustments just makes it.
2. Mounted the feed point about 3m above ground, and had all the radial catenary down to the ground. It's a bush block and plenty of space.

This made the antenna physically longer which noticably improved its TX perforamnce on all bands. The higher feedpoint improved DX signals noticably. The only other note was about the weak base tubing. I used the old capacitor clamp off the 10m section to bolt the 40/80m capacitors to the main support boom in TWO places. Much more rigid and no guy's.

A tiny design flaw too. In VK we can run 400w on 30m (unlike 200w in the USA), so those itty-bitty coax capacitors do heat up.

If I work you on 80~12m this is it. David Burger VK2CZ, Sydney
VK8NAT Rating: 2002-07-25
Great value... and performance! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
As others have said it is hard to give a vertical a 5.... BUT! The DX88 was a piece of cake to put together; easy to errect; a snap to connect and worked without any problems! This is the second DX88 I've owned.... the first one was used for about 6 years without any issues and excellent performance, and then like an idiot I sold it to "upgrade"..... disheartened by poor performance I lost the ham bug.... then bought a Yaesu FT817.... and a secondhand DX88.... and bang! My first contact was with a NZ on 21MHz at 5 watts..... I haven't looked back since and have been enjoying the ability to contact almost anyone I transmit to!! Isn't that the job of an antenna??? The the Hygain does the job VERY well!

Cheers,
vk8nat
WB2WIK Rating: 2000-12-21
Complex and weak Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I installed a DX-88 a few years ago for a friend, AB6XF. Having installed hundreds of antennas over the past 30 years, this was not a big deal. Assembly was time-consuming, and one piece of tubing was factory-supplied as the wrong length, per the directions. I happened to have an equal section of aluminum tubing in my "antenna graveyard", and cut it to the right length per the instructions, and used that, instead. When tipping the large vertical up into position (its base attached to a strong roof tripod), I noted the tubing near the base took a small permanent bend, indicating this model would probably not take strong winds without guying. I lowered the vertical and attached three guy ropes (3/32" braided Dacron) about one-third of the way up the antenna, and then re-installed it, pulling the ropes to make it vertical. I installed four insulated wire radials per band, using 5-conductor flat rotor cable with individual wires cut to the formula lengths. Performance was average for a 25' long multiband vertical, no better nor worse than other similar units tried. But it's disappointing to find that an antenna definitely needs guy supports when this is not mentioned in any advertising or literature; this disclosure could make the difference between an intelligent product selection and an unwise one.
K0DKJ Rating: 2000-12-21
Good ant. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
About four years ago I had one for about 6 weeks,
then sold it. (Won it as a prize). I've been
kicking myself ever since ! Side question: Will
MFJ ever market a good antenna rather than the
toy wire stuff they now have ?
W7ZR Rating: 2000-06-08
One of Better Verticals Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hard to rate a vertical a 5 but this one comes close. I have used this vertical on several dxpeditions where it performed flawlessly. This is a 160 (with optional kit) thru 10 including all of the WARC bands. It is a KW+ antenna that works well when tuned. Take your time tuning and measuring each band and you will be very happpy. Mechanically good electrically good. I did put some external relays on it to handle switching in the 160 section and that worked good too. Overall can't go wrong with this antenna if you are in the market for a vertical.
K7MMM Rating: 2000-04-25
Very good, but MFJ doesn't sell them? Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I field-tested the first DX-88 off the assembly line, and used it for many years (and hundreds of new DXCC countries). The only problem I ever had was my fault anyway (I put too much power into the antenna on 80m and caused an arc in the 80/40 piston capacitors). After that stupidity, it wouldn't take more than 500W CW before the caps arced (or maybe it was corrosion, I didn't use Noalox when I built it).

Anyway, does MFJ sell any Hy-Gain antennas other than that "Patriot" thing that they advertise?
WL7M Rating: 2000-04-10
Good Value Time Owned: unknown months.
The antenna went together well, tuned easily when adjusted per factory specs, and has a wide bandwidth with low SWR. Worked quite a few stations on all bands, including 160 meters from here in Alaska until a forest fire burned it down. Only two problems were experienced with this antenna: 1) - Manually "switching" to cover 160 meters is tough to do here in Alaska when there is 6 feet of snow on the ground and the temperature is about -30 degrees. Sure would be nice if it "automatically" covered this band. To use 160, you have to remove two connecting "straps" which otherwise short the 160 coil, then reinstall them to go back to 10-80 meter operation. Small nuts and bolts are hard to hold when you're wearing mittens! 2) - Hy-Gain needs to fire-proof their antennas. "Flashover" has a whole new meaning when everything around you is burning!

Joe, WL7M