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Reviews For: Hy-Gain AV-18VS

Category: Antennas: HF: Verticals; Wire; Loop

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Review Summary For : Hy-Gain AV-18VS
Reviews: 35MSRP: 119.95
Description:
18 foot Base-Loaded 10/15/20/40/80 Meter HF Vertical Antenna
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hy-gain.com/Product.php?productid=AV-18VS
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
00354.1
HZ1FD Rating: 2005-05-06
worst antenna from the worst manufactrurer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
this antenna has recieved the award of biggest achievement for doing nothing.

one of the alum elements is bended from factory , what a quality.?

the installation manual is the easiest way for a customer to find out who fool was he when he bought it .

the company customer service is as the ad says (no matter what) , i would rather add "a customer might think ".



SM0YKS Rating: 2005-03-13
Good value for money Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Living in apartment I had a need for a good ant for HF - that took no horizontal space. Also couldnt go too high - so 18 feet was a good compromise. Purchased ant after reading other reviews on this site.
In summary, very good value for money.
Construction took about 90 mins. Instructions could be improved - but as others have noted you can work out the shortcomings in the instructions. I found the mounting mechanics for the loading coil to be rather ordinary - and a lack of lugs or other suitable hardware left me scracthing my head - but a glass of wine and trip to hardware soon sorted that out. Overall, I would have expected better instructions and better mounting for loading coil and a few extra nuts, bolts, lugs etc etc. but, hey, it wouldnt have been as much fun if I didnt have to drink the wine and think of some improvements!!
Mounting to balcony no problem with supplied hardware - 18 feet looks high on a small balcony - but its up and mechanically sound.
Now to operation... as others have noted, tuning is a bit of a pain, but once you get it tuned its fine. I have it loaded up on 40mtrs and am waiting for an MFJ Analyzer to help with the other bands - in the meantime I cheat and use an ATU for 30 and 20mtrs. Performance seems ok so far - have worked around Europe and UK on 40mtrs. No serious DX yet. Will udpate with further comments as I get the ant tuned up for other bands. Overall, great value for money - at under US$90 I am not sure you could do better. And the extra effort to get it constructed and operational was fun! I was going to give it a 4, but decided on a 5 - its got me back on air and making contacts - and thats what its all about!
KG4EKQ Rating: 2004-06-11
Performed as expected Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This was my first commercially-made antenna for HF as I've only been licensed for five years now. I've previously used homemade single band dipoles of questionable build quality. Overall, I am pleased with this antenna's performance. It delivered a 2.5 SWR on 40 meters "raw" - without fine adjustment of the loading clip and a crude radial setup. A more avid user would probably be more critical of this antenna, but, as a college student restricted to HF operating when I'm home on break, something like this, under a hundred bucks that slaps together pretty easily, is more than adequate.

Disappointments:
No radial set supplied nor adequate instructions on radial assembly/arrangement. I am no electronics whiz, and I found myself consulting the ARRL "Antenna Companion" to learn how to do this. In short, I have the antenna mounted on the top of a section of TV mast. The base of the antenna is about 12 feet off the ground. I ran four radials from the base straight to the ground in an elongate (skinny) X pattern because of proximity to the neighbor's yard. Because the TV mast was at a corner of the house, I had to run one radial wire along the roof in order to keep an X pattern if looking at it from an aerial view straight down to the arrangement. I don't know if this is ideal, but it seemed to work okay.

No indication in the instructions on how far in each telescoping element should be fit into the one below it. I had to call to get this information, but customer service was very helpful and specific.

Finally, the illustrations in the instructions did not always match the parts in hand. For instance, the loading coil is much shorter than in the illustration and is impossible to mount vertically. Also, the manual described certain holes and cuts in the elements which weren't there. Ultimately, these did not really hinder the construction of the antenna; they just required a little careful thought.

These are my three main gripes. I feel that for 90 dollars - a fortune for a college student, mind you - these should not have been an issue. Unfortunately, I've come to expect some of these oversights. But the performance was really not bad. The instructions were otherwise right on target, and the whole package was mostly what I thought I was getting. I'll continue to use this antenna as it is very versatile, storable (telescoping) and mostly inconspicuous mounted at the the rear of the house.

Thanks for reading!
Danny
KG4EKQ
WB2DEX Rating: 2003-06-15
Good As Gold Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had one of these for 1 1/2 years. Ground mtd out back it's worked its fair share of DX and then some. Gold won't corrode, but antenna parts do, and after a 1 1/2 the base coil was really grungy. So much for the heat & humidity of Fl. Called Hy-Gain who said send it back with a copy of the receipt. In less then 1 week I had a new one. Many thanks to Tom for the fast service over there.
WA4JM Rating: 2003-06-01
Not Bad! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased this antenna for FD 2003. The construction quality is is quite good, however, I did have to go to the hardware store to get the right sized hose clamps to finish the assembly. I added a homemade ground plane made from light guage stranded wire 18 feet in length. (a total of 24 radials) HyGain says the wires need to be a 1/4 wave for the frequency ur running on. Not So! The radials need only be as long as the radiating element. In this case, 18 feet. Good Job HyGain on a nice portable antenna that collapses down to 5 feet.