Rating: 5/5

Mar 10, 2007 12:07

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GREAT ANTENNA 

Time owned: 0 to 3 months

I have only used it only for 2 weeks. Works great on all bands. I have it mounted 4" above the ground with NO radials. Best vertical I have seen for the money.

QUINNY

Rating: 5/5

Feb 17, 2007 17:04

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Wish I'd bought it earlier 

Time owned: 0 to 3 months

After my experience with another vertical, which couldn't stand up to the recent severe winds at Christmas, I had the chance to buy a 2nd hand 5-BTV, and wish I had bought one earlier.

I decided to ground mount it on the 8ft pole that I used for my other vertical, which was located at the rear of my garage, and between my fence, but couldn't work out for the life in me, why I couldn't get the swr down on 10 & 15mtrs.

So I went back to the drawing board, and looked again at the instructions, and also read about it on the internet, and noticed that a smaller pole was used for ground mounting, and thought that this may be why my swr went haywire.

So I got hold of a 4 foot pole, and put it into the ground, with only about 18 inches above the surface, and re-mounted the antenna, about 4 inches from the soil, and re-checked the swr, and was amazed to find that on 10 & 15,it had dropped to 1.2 and 1.5 respectively!!!!!

So after checking the rest of the bands, and being satisfied with an average reading of 1.7,I found myself on 40 metres later on in the day, and worked Izmir in Turkey from the UK, with a 5/+20.Was I impressed!!!!!

I would have to say, that it is on a par with the Diamond CP-6 that a friend of mine has, but the downside to them both, is that the bandwidth on 80m,is so small. However, on the other bands, I would think that you would be hard pressed to find another vertical that will perform like this.

So to sum up:

1)Read the instructions, and take notice of what they say, especially when ground mounting. And do take note of the measurements supplied.
2) Be aware that the bandwidth on 80m is small, so don't go expecting any miracles.
3)When mounting the antenna in what ever configuration suits your needs, as there is a lack of SO239 at the base of the antenna, and the feeder has to be hard wired, make sure that you apply a coat of Copper Slip, or any other type of grease, to stop corrosion of the terminals.

All in all, a superb vertical.

G0LCC

Rating: 4/5

Jan 17, 2007 13:03

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great vertical 

Time owned: 3 to 6 months

had mine 6 months now and only use as a temporary antenna
mounted into ground on a 4 ft pole 18" exposed as suggested I know this isn't the best but in my situation it works well
only gripe(s)
1. the screws and nuts were missing for the radials of the capatacence hat
2. the assembly for the 80mtr hat had a spot weld right on the point were the union clip band tightens against the element so made it a loose fitting part this had to be re-made.
3. 20 mtr and 15 mtr traps were not tuned to freq

however with a bit of adjustment and replacement hardware alls fine now and I'm pleased
swr <1:5 on all bands and added a 17 stub which works great all in all a good

KI7DG

Rating: 4/5

Dec 21, 2006 10:23

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Good Ant for the price 

Time owned: more than 12 months

I have had one for 5 years was a little difficult at first to get tuned in with my Swan 350 but did get the job done. Purchase a second one a year ago and use it with my travel trailer and when out camping set it up and work field day and what ever when camping. Using my ant tuner was a whole lot easier to turn in. The home set up has 2 radials on each of the bands and the Trailer one I only use 20 and 40m for now. It also sets up very fast. I can usually set it up in 10 minutes and be on the air. For the price its a workable ant when set up and should provide years of service.

KB9VRT

Rating: 5/5

Dec 21, 2006 07:31

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Excellent for the money 

Time owned: more than 12 months

Excellent antenna. I have it mounted on a 25 foot pole attached to the side of the house with above ground radials. Two for each band except 10m which has four. Because of my limited space for radials I could never have got it set up without my antenna analyzer. There are allot of variables with vertical antennas that affect SWR. I've found DX engineering to be the best place for purchasing or finding parts for this antenna.

By the way if your worried about wind survival the antenna will amaze you. It about gave me a heart attack when we got some strong winds off of Lake Superior but it took it.