Hustler Antenna
| Hustler Antenna | |
|---|---|
| Type | Brand of New-Tronics Antenna Corporation |
| Founded | Newtronics Corp. 1957; New-Tronics Antenna Corp. 1985 |
| Founder | Clyde Ford (New-Tronics Antenna Corp.) |
| Headquarters | Mineral Wells, Texas |
| Amateur radio | |
| Known for | BTV multiband trap verticals; HF mobile resonators |
| Status | Active |
Hustler is an American brand of mobile and base station antennas, made since 1985 by New-Tronics Antenna Corporation in Texas. Hams know it mainly for two product lines: the BTV series of multiband trap verticals for the HF bands, and HF mobile antennas built from a mast and interchangeable single-band resonators. The company also makes land-mobile, CB and other commercial antennas.
History
The company's roots go back to the original Newtronics Corporation, set up in 1957 as a subsidiary of Automatic Radio to make AM broadcast antennas for cars. The Hustler trademark dates from 1961, and the business later took the name Hustler Inc.
Hustler Inc. was based in Cleveland, Ohio, until 1979, when it moved to Kissimmee, Florida. In 1985 Clyde Ford, a former executive at Stromberg-Carlson and Radio Shack whose Ford Manufacturing Company had made CB antennas in Mineral Wells, Texas, since 1975, formed New-Tronics Antenna Corporation to buy Hustler Inc. and moved the business to Mineral Wells. New-Tronics manuals give the address as One Newtronics Place, Mineral Wells. Under New-Tronics the company grew its land-mobile business: by 1998, a trade magazine reported, land-mobile products such as fiberglass base antennas and vehicle antennas made up about 60 percent of revenue, alongside CB and amateur antennas. Part of the assembly work moved to Tampico, Mexico, in 1988.
Hustler antennas were still being sold in 2026, and a current business directory lists New-Tronics Antenna Corporation in Mineral Wells.
Amateur radio products
BTV verticals
The 4BTV, 5BTV and 6BTV are self-supporting trap verticals that cover four, five or six HF bands without an antenna tuner. The 6BTV covers 80 (or 75), 40, 30, 20, 15 and 10 meters. Traps, small coil-and-capacitor circuits along the radiator, isolate the upper sections on the higher bands, and a resonator at the top tunes the lowest band. Like other ground-mounted quarter-wave verticals, they need a set of radials to work well. The BTV series does not cover 17 or 12 meters, and some hams have added 17 meters with a separate wire element tied to the base.
HF mobile antennas
Hustler's HF mobile system uses a mast with a 3/8-24 threaded top, the standard mobile antenna thread, onto which the operator screws a resonator for the band in use. Each resonator is a loading coil with a whip, made for one band from 80 to 10 meters, in standard and high-power versions.
The company also makes VHF and UHF mobile and base antennas, including the G6 (UHF) and G7 (VHF) base station antennas for land-mobile users.