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The KL7JR HUSTLER 4BTV
12 AND 17 METER MODIFICATION
Hustler 4BTV on 12 and 17 Meters Plus 40, 20, 15 and 10 Meters!
6 Bands on the 4BTV!
by John Reisenauer, KL7JR
(Images may take some time to load)

It is easy to convert some commercially made verticals to work on the WARC bands.
My inspiration for this mod came from N4UJW and KK5ID at Hamuniverse.com. Check their articles below for the basic construction. Thanks guys!
Hustler 4BTV on 17 Meters

Hustler 5BTV on 17 Meters

(Also see the K7TUC Mod)

I sometimes take my 4BTV on portable outings but miss not getting to work the WARC bands. Not anymore!


Finished "mod" showing 12 and 17 Meter add on verticals

For my mod, I used scrap 1/2 inch plastic electrical conduit to support the vertical wires (the white PVC pipe or other non-conductive material also works), 2 lengths at 2 foot long each, some #14 wire, (see lengths below), a handful of cable tie-raps, something non-conductive for insulators, (I used scrap plastic tubing), and a 1-1/2 inch hose clamp and some string to tie the insulators to the plastic supports. See additional pictures below:



 

Connect both vertical wires and the center conductor of your coax feed line with a hose clamp (for my portable use I used battery clamps to attach the coax) at the base of the commercially made vertical antenna. Even though some commercially made verticals can be used "stake mounted" without ground radials, I put down ground radials and tie to coax shield whenever I can. For a more permanent mounting, I'd use bolt on connectors over the battery clamps. Don't forget to refer to the original articles in the links above.


 

 

Bottom showing PVC cross arm support with 12 and 17 meter vertical wires attached and connections to radial ring.


 

 

"Top Hat" assembly with cross arm showing support attachments for verticals.


The formula for cutting the wire length is the old standby:
234 / Freqmhz = length in feet.
I used 13 feet for 17 meters and 9 feet 5 inches for 12 meters.
If you're a perfectionist you may have to tune and prune your lengths for best performance! I'm like N4UJW and can't speak for KK5ID, I'm a bit lazy so..........

My Z-100 tuner and TS-50 transceiver easily tuned both wires! In a few hours of operating on my first test outing (fair band conditions) I worked Canada and Mexico plus about a dozen states on each band.
It's amazing what you can do with a piece of wire and a little time.
73, es GL with your antenna experimenting!

Yukon John, KL7JR
Editor's Note: The mods on this page and the other pages referenced at the beginning of this project are so simple to do with the Hustler 4/5BTV......why pay A LOT more to get it done commercially? I'll bet these types of mods work as good or better than the commercial add on kit!

Don't forget to see lots more antenna projects by John on the antenna page!





 









  

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