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Reviews For: Hy-Gain VB-28FM

Category: Antennas: VHF/UHF+ Directional (Yagi, quad, etc.)

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Review Summary For : Hy-Gain VB-28FM
Reviews: 1MSRP: 89.95
Description:
8 Element 2M Beam Antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hy-gain.com/Product.php?productid=VB-28FM
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0014
K9RE Rating: 2019-04-30
Low cost 2M Beam Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this a couple of years ago and finally got around to installing it only to discover that it was missing some parts that apparently fell out of the box in shipment. The kind people at Hy-Gain took care of the issue promptly and I appreciate it very much.

The antenna is a good performer but there are a couple of things you should keep in mind when assembling it. First, make sure you align the eye bolts properly inside the boom so that the elements pass through them. Otherwise, they will come loose. If you leave the end caps off until you're done, you can do a visual inspection through the center of the boom. Tighten the bolts securely but don't over-tighten them or you will bend the elements or de-form the boom.

If you're going to be running 100 watts or less you can use the supplied balun. Otherwise you should consider making a new one out of larger coax. I used RG-8X. Make sure to take the velocity factor into account or the length will be off.

Be sure to waterproof the balun connections as well as your coax line where it attaches to the antenna so water doesn't get into the coax and degrade it. I used liquid electrical tape for this task.

It would also be a good idea to use anti-seize on the stainless steel hardware; particularly on the boom-to-mast clamp. Tighten these bolts securely but don't over-tighten or you will de-form the clamp and the boom.

The antenna should not need any tuning, and this is a good thing because the only way to tune it is to shorten the elements. Mine showed a good match. However, and this is an important caveat, the VSWR went up significantly from 1.1 to 2.5:1 after a snowstorm. This could be problematic if you live in an area where ice and snow are prevalent. For this reason, I gave the antenna one less star.