Installing the Hustler 6BTV - From Start to Finish

Going to mount mine next to or in the 272 acre lake I live on. Had mixed results mounting it in the yard. Worked with 16 radials of different lentghs but my end fed multi band out performed it significantly. Going to put the recommended set of radials into the lake with a good mount and see what happens...have to wait until next month when they let down the lake. Will keep you posted. ka1spy Jack

 

An interesting video of the Hustler 6BTV.
I do have one as well, however, living on 8th floor, i have no possibility for radials.
The Hustler is mounted on the bancony on a homemade tiltplate . It works very well on all
bands with a very nice SWR. Even on 6 meters.
To ajust the 6BTV i used a homemade antennaanalizer. It shows very good conditions,
however on 30 meters the best performance is in the low end of the band.
In "the bottom" i have an Elecraft KX3 updated to 15W power.
Specially on 40 meters i have very good resulte even with QRP 1 W.
Nice antenna and very usefull
73 es cuagn de OZ2SF Svend

 

Nice video and installation. I have the 6-BTV installed on a small city lot with LMR400 and 1000ft (333 meters) of pvc coated #14 AWG wire and three 8 ft. ground rods with zero RF feedback. Only 80m is the tighter band, but for $8 I purchased a second whip for easy change out to 75m. I purchased the tilt base and radial plate from day one and have NO regrets. To save $$, I did use electric fence wire to act as staples in early spring for the installation and by May the grass covered the radial field..... The unit has been up three years with little maintenance. I also use poly-strand guys using dog run stakes to keep it from moving in high winds. My backyard is a little damp after rains that will change the frequency a bit, but works well even with two feet of snow outside.....highly recommend it for those wanting to be on six bands......YES, radials DO help the antenna! I found 16 radials to be an absolute minimum which uses up 500 feet of THHN wire. 73's from K7TH Gary

 

Hi Rob, & thank you. I do plan on guying it, i was previously using one of those rings that are made for a military mast section but it was a bit too large, suppose I should get a ring that fits properly! Being ground mounted it's surprisingly VERY sturdy and has held up well 'un-guyed' in some pretty heavy wind storms, but i'm well shielded as you can see surrounding my backyard. Still... i'm putting some guys on it!

I've seen a few YouTube videos online with folks installing them on the roof... if it were that high, i'd rather do an 'elevated' vertical of some sort - though that does get quite ugly up on a roof when you start making radials for 6 bands, lol.

I actually installed this just after Harvey blew through. The base was in the ground already though, we got around 7 inches here. I'm in the 'Oak Hill' ARC

 

Glad it's working well for you! I would suppose it's acting more like a vertical dipole in that type of configuration? I've even heard of hams having 'too-good' of a ground for this particular antenna. Austin has relatively decent soil for verticals, though not the best. Very rocky, lol.

 

Excellent Gary... sounds very similar to my setup! I've thought about pounding a few ground radials in around the base... even just to experiment to attach other antennas to if needed. After watching a video of a gentlemen drive a ground rod in the other day with a bosch jack hammer.... i'm already searching for the tool & attachment!

 

Excellent install! Hog Panels! I would have done that, but it would have required digging up the entire yard - I see that would be an excellent idea in that type of climate! Job well done.

Yes, that is WSPR (www.wsprnet.org)

 

I put up the 4BTV in 2013. Added the DX Engineering radial plate, tilt-over, 100 radials. It's a killer antenna. I feed it with 50 feet of 213 coax. I added the 30 meter band trap, too. My antenna system and shack are well grounded for RF problems. I also have a 52 foot tower with a 160 foot inverted vee fed with 450 ohm windowed line. At night, the Hustler is just as good if not better than the inverted vee on 30/40 meters. The Hustler is pretty much resonant on 10, 15, and 20 meters so I use a tuner for 30 and 40 meters. They are 2:1 anyhow. Yes, you will spend extra money for the Hustler to get the tilt over, the radial - plate, etc etc etc., but tell me you don't spend extra on any antenna? Thanks for the video !

 

Great video! I set mine up, had to adjust the 30m trap but enjoy it in my HOA with a tilt base, down during the week and up for weekend contests! I didn't spend $500, I have 33ftx16 radials =$50, tilt base=$75, mount=$12, radial plate=$18 and it is quieter than my dipole! All in $355! 80m is of course narrow but mine sits in the digital area as I don't ragchew. It isn't in the best spot, hiding along my fence when tilted down, but works great for me!

 

Hi
you can have a look at my installation on the roof. Works great. Infact this is the preferred installation option the manual recommends. 73 from Greenland OX3AH

 

Beautiful installation! If you can do elevated go for it! I imagine the majority of hams will use a ground mount antenna especially given that the radials for 40m/80m might be a bit long for your average size lot!

I recommend the DX Engineering Guide, which specifically recommends ground mounting the antenna:

"There are multiple ways to install a Hustler® BTV antenna. The most efficient way is to ground mount the antenna, keeping clear of any metal objects and using a good ground radial system.


Ground mounting your quarter-wave vertical antenna will produce significantly improved long range results when your installation includes a good ground-level radial wire system. Seven decades of experiments show that ground mounting with many radials is your best choice."

This guide can be found @ https://static.dxengineering.com/global/images/instructions/dxe-btv-inst-ins_sn.pdf

Thanks for sharing!

 

No need to buy those high dollar add on's. A piece of aluminum, couple of U bolts and a coffee can do the trick. Mine has been up for 8 years. Only problem is the plastic caps on the traps cracked.

 

I installed a 6BTV earlier this year with 30 radials. Wow! A real DX antenna! With only 90 watts, will bust through most pileups. Had to camo the antenna to make it less noticeable. Even added a little Spanish Moss for the effect. Photos on QRZ page. Took it down for hurricane IRMA just to be on the safe side, but it does handle moderate wind gusts up to 25 MPH with no problems.

 

Very nice, informative, and well done video. I have a 5 btv and was very disappointed in the rx when compared to a dipole. There were stations I could barely hear on the vertical compared to the dipole. Maybe I need to take time and do an installation that it deserves...

 

You are correct, this is the best method of installation. Elivated radials is much better that laying on the ground.