| K9AUB |
Rating:  |
2014-04-19 | |
| Good beam for the low power op with limited space |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've run Mosley beams since about 1960, and have had a lot of them. I also met and got to know Barney St. Vrain, the engineer who designed the TA-33, back when he was alive. I had a lot of conversations with Barney, and learned a lot from him. Several observations: 1) the TA-33 line of antennas are a great value for the money, and perform well CONSIDERING its size, short boom, etc. This applies to all Mosley beams that I have run as well. They are very well made antennas. 2) You must not have unreasonable expectations about what a short-boom trap Yagi can do. They will NEVER match a good 3 or 4 element full size Yagi. Ever. 3) The Mosley beams have a fatal flaw, and Barney admitted it to me. They use a BALANCED feed point, but try to convince you that you can feed them directly with UNBALANCED Coax. You CAN'T. Barney told me that, under certain circumstances, which vary with physical location, location in the band, etc., you CAN encounter a situation where all your power is feeding into one trap or the other. Barney admitted to me that they rated their antennas by power INPUT, not power OUTPUT. Thus, a "1 KW beam" was actually designed to handle what a normal linear amplifier running 1 KW could put out, e.g, about 600 watts. And that power was BALANCED over two traps, e.g., 300 watts per trap! (This applies proportionately to their Jr. line of beams. A 300 watt beam has about 100 watt traps.) If you fed your antenna with unbalanced line, you COULD end up putting much more than 300 watts into one trap, and they will burn up. (I don't know if Mosley has redesigned their traps, but I don't believe they have.) The SOLUTION to the problem is to run a Balun. Mosley does not tell you that because Mosley does not sell baluns, as does HyGain, or some other manufacturers. So, you NEED to add a GOOD balun to your Mosley antenna. (They sell some very good ones on Ebay, or DX Engineering makes some excellent baluns. Spiro makes very good baluns. Although discontinued, if you find an old Palomar balun at a hamfest, they were very good, too. I am NOT a fan of the W2AU/W2DU baluns, and have had failures with them at less than legal power. I have also had some very poor experiences with the HyGain BN-86 balun, but they might be OK at less than 300 watts.) When you feed a Mosley split-element beam (such as the TA-33 or TA-33 Jr, etc.), use a balun! That will solve SOOOO many problems with burned up traps at lower power levels.
I love Mosley beams, and had a great relationship with Carl Mosley back when he ran the company. But I DON'T like their trap design! I have briefly tested a Cushcraft A3S at 900 watts RF power out, and the traps held up just fine. And the Cushcraft antennas are cheaper than Mosley. So, until Mosley redesigns their traps and makes them more electrically rugged, I am recommending the Cushcraft line of antennas for a buyer who just wants a simple all-purpose tribander that holds up to LEGAL power input. If Mosley ruggedizes there traps, I will probably recommend the Mosley antennas. But, even with the Cushcraft (or any beam with a split driven element), USE A BALUN! I run an old Telrex balun on my A3S, and it holds up to legal limit just fine. (I believe Cushcraft sells some smaller beams similar to the amaller Mosley, too.) But if you only run 200 watts or less, then the smaller Mosley beams are excellent value for the money, and are very rugged mechanically. They perform well for their compact size.
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| N4NDX |
Rating: |
2011-10-26 | |
| Amaizing Little Giant |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
First of all I have a ZeroFive 43ft vertical which I had made many DXCC contacts with, but like many of them you can't get to every corner of the world. I decided then to make a little improvement and erect a "small beam", due to my real state condition I couldn't go too big so I had to compromise. Well after the installation to make the story short I had so much room to work with that I did not had with my Vertical and starting to add new countries to my list. Very well made did not had to test it before erection, it loads up 1.2 swr on 10-15 and 20. Easy Africa contacts Japan, Australia, Alaska, Europe Asiatic Russia etc. If you do not have the space to erect a big beam, this is a very good solution. You can see it on my QRZ page and can also check the erection process on my Web page from there.
David |
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| KE5OQV |
Rating: |
2011-07-21 | |
| Works as advertised |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I can't say enough good things about my Mosley Mini-33-A Tribander. I have been using it for 9 months and have worked many DX stations on all continents breaking thru pileups usually on the first or second call. Just recently, I worked VP6DB, JW/DG5NFF, FO8RZ, JH3DNG getting acceptable signal reports from each station.
My station is neither high power nor ultra sophisticated; a Collins KWM-2A Transceiver with a Collins 30L-1 Linear running 500 watts SSB. The antenna is mounted on top of my house using a GlenMarine Roof Tower. The height over ground is 40 feet; the height over the roof is 10 feet.
The secret to success is carrying out the installation of the antenna in the right way without shortcuts.
Assembling the antenna is easy; it's not rocket science. However, the steps listed in the manual have to be followed as written. Read the manual several times. Assemble the pieces on the ground using duct tape and do frequent testing with a SWR meter.
Initial measurements of SWR can be conducted with the antenna sitting on a non-conducting ladder but this is just a reality check of the assembly technique. Final testing should be done with the antenna in place at the correct height.
An excellent series of photos of the assembly process is available by a Czech ham at http://anteny.xf.cz/manuals/beams-mini/mini-33-a.pdf.
Photos of my installation are available at QRZ.com. The antenna is mounted on a 10 ft aluminum mast made from two 5 ft sections of aluminum tubing telescoped together. The rotator is a Hy-gain Ar-40.
A bucket truck was rented for installation of the tower/antenna on the roof. Steel angle-iron laid against the rafters was used to receive the thru-the-roof allthread bolts that hold the antenna on the roof.
SWR results are flat thruout the phone band; 1.2 (20m), 1.15 (15m) and 1.10 (10m). The SWR will vary slightly for 20m as the beam is rotated due to roof effects; no variation is noted for 15m and 10m.
The antenna has an excellent front-to-side gain and a good front-to-back gain on 20m. On 15m and 10m, the antenna has an excellent response for both front-to-back and front-to-side gain. When you turn the beam to a DX station, you see an improved S-meter response from 2 to 3 S-units.
Results are always relative (as Einstein once said). I live in the middle of a city with lots of close neighbors. In the past I have used wire antennas with marginal results. Now I am in Ham heaven! |
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| KI4FIA |
Rating:  |
2011-06-21 | |
| Nothing But Problems, both with Antenna and Customer Support |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
In October 2010 I received the Mosley Mini-33-A antenna I had ordered. I installed it and everything working fine until November 9, 2010.
The problem was that if I would operate on 15 meters my SWR after a few minutes of operating would go very high (6:1). If I would stop operating for an hour the SWR would go back to normal. 20 and 10 meters were never
affected.
On November 9, 2010 I called and spoke with Gary. He suggested that I replace the 15mtr traps. I paid $76.89 and received the traps. Gary was not going to cover this under warranty claiming I was using too much power (more on this later).
While inspecting the old traps I couldn't see anything that would have indicated a problem.
After installing the new traps I checked the SWR on 20, 15, and 10mtr, everything seemed fine. I made about 100 QSO's on 20mtr CW during the ARRL
DX contest, all was great. I went to 15mtr, made 4 contest QSO's then the same problem, 6:1 SWR. The only difference this time is that now I have high SWR on 20 and 10 meters.
As per Mosley’s advertisement for this antenna, it is rated for 1KW on SSB and 500 watts on CW (I
don't do RTTY or other Digi-modes). My rig is an Icom IC-756 Pro 3 and the amp is an ACOM 1000. However I'm only running the amp off 120 Volt lines and on CW usually only get about 480 Watts (CW is what I run mostly).
After calling Mosley again I had received a voice mail from Gary. Basically he said that I should
have been using less power on CW. However not once did I exceed the advertised 500 watt power rating. If your antennas can't handle 500 watts
on CW then why advertise they do?
Next, Gary offered no suggestion on how to fix my antenna, he simply said I should reduce power. Well as it stands now the antenna has high SWR on all bands, I've already (at Gary's suggestion on Nov, 9, 2010) I replaced the 15 meter traps (at my cost!).
I've paid $531.00 for the antenna, couple weeks later another $76.89 for 15mtr traps. Now I have over $600.00 in a new antenna with high swr.
This
antenna never was operated past the ADVERTISED specs.
In summary I bought the antenna because the advertised specs were just what I needed. The antenna as made less than 200 qso’s (that’s $3.00 per QSO!). The antenna was never operated out of spec as I don’t have the ability to run more than 500W on CW or about 600 on SSB. Gary leaves phone message that I shouldn’t be using more than 300W on CW (what happened to the 500W spec??)
During my last phone call go Mosley I was told that someone would get back to me. It appears that Gary has a ‘real’ job and is never at the company. I’m still waiting! I have well over $600.00 and many hours of wasted time in this project. All that I have to show for it is about $10.00 of scrap aluminum at today's prices.
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| KC6ZBE |
Rating: |
2007-11-14 | |
| Great performance for small size! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I recieved the Mini from Mosley in May.
I assembled the elements in one evening in the garage with no problem. I dont know if Mosley re-did their manual but I can see how it could be confusing to a new ham.
The Mini is curently fixed to a Rohn H-30 push up mast in the backyard since I live in an HOA neighborhood. The antenna is VERY light and with the antenna only up about 15 ft. Ive had numerous contacts stateside and several DX (the furthest being in Nigeria).
With the antenna set to factory specs. I get a good 1.3:1 across the whole band on 20m, 15M, and the majority of 10m.
I previously owned a Mosley TA-33 but because of my HOA restrictions, there is no way to put it up. Mosley makes one fine damn antenna and the Mini was my best option. I highly reccomend this antenna to anyone!
73's Dave |
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| KC0ZRX |
Rating: |
2007-10-04 | |
| Great antenna for small size |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I've had a Mosley MINI-33a up for about 5 months now and I've been very pleased with the performance. As other reviewers have mentioned, the assembly manual leaves a lot to be desired, especially for the first time Yagi assembler. However, I managed to get it together in any case. I set the element lengths at the suggested default values and put the little beam up on top of a 30 ft. telescoping mast. To date, I have worked over 125 countries with the MINI-33a, mostly on 20 meters. SWR is low enough that it does not even bother my solid-state amp and although I have a tuner it is not really needed. Weighing only 10 pounds and having a six foot boom makes the beam easy to handle for installation, even alone. For anyone with limited space or lacking a support for a larger Yagi, this small beam is hard to beat. |
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| K7FD |
Rating: |
2006-05-28 | |
| Surprising! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
There are 'mini' reasons for choosing such a small antenna, i.e., lot size, neighborhood restrictions...but for me, it was time to downsize and get back some challenge in DX'ing.
Down came the 3 el cubical quad and up went the Mosley Mini 33a. Hmmm, that IS a small antenna...what have I done to myself?? Never fear, the mighty Mosley is here!
The Mosley arrived via FedEx (a week late from Mosley, a day late from FedEx) on a rainy day in Oregon. After waiting ANOTHER week due to weather, I finally got it up in the air. Construction was a mixed bag; the antenna quality is excellent from start to finish, but the MANUAL will bring a grown man to tears!! Reading it will have you either laughing or crying...it's THAT BAD. OK, so who reads the manual anyway. Tossing it aside, I followed the color-coded elements and had it up in no time. Using factory defaults, SWR checked in at specs on all bands, about 1.3:1 at the dip...
Results: first weekend w/ the antenna found the CQ WW CW WPX in full swing. Using a barefoot '756PROII, it's a little past midway through the contest and I just logged my 61st DXCC entity. Not too shabby considering relatively mediocre band condx!
Overall, I'll give it a 5 if you look the other way on the rediculous manual supplied w/ the antenna. What counts is how it works, and for a dinky yagi on a six foot boom, it's pretty darn impressive! 20m provides the least gain and F/B, yet working over 50 countries there at the bottom of cycle in about 36 hours is really quite awesome!
The Mosley gets my vote...clean classic lines, small foot print, made in America...hey, it's got it all, baby...
73 John K7FD |
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| KB3IFH |
Rating: |
2003-09-13 | |
| Great Compact Antenna |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
I've been very pleased with this product so far. I was using a G5RV and a homebrew 2 element beam and the Mini-33-WARC definately works better. I didn't have the space for full size elements so this did the trick. Fairly easy to assemble. As a previous review stated the manual could use some work, but still no problem with assembly. I might try to experiment and increase the boom length for a little more forward gain. Just so you know I posted this same review in the Mini-33-WARC area, but I thought it was worth repeating here since they are so much alike. I did upgrade my rating from 4 to 5. I'd also like to add that the tech support at Mosley has been very helpful when I've had questions.
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| N2PVP |
Rating: |
2002-08-18 | |
| MINI 33 A |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I found the MINI 33A performs as well as any Tri- bander I have owned. Whatever improvements were made from the first MINI 33's by Mosley has done the trick. I am getting great single reports with just 100 watts. I would recommend this antenna to any one with a space problem or to use as a field day antenna. The customer service was also great, before I bought it I talked to a rep for over a 1/2 hour and he was very patient and answered all my questions. Also you could not ask for a better made antenna.
Mario / N2PVP |
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| W4OB |
Rating: |
2002-05-26 | |
| Great antenna! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| The Mini 33 has given me outstanding performance on 20, 15, and 10. It consistently outperforms my two G5RVs (one at 35 ft. and the other at 65 ft.) as well as a GAP Challenger vertical. I have tested it extensively using a remote coax switch to switch between antennas. Pretty amazing performance for such a compact, lightweight antenna. Mounted on my roof about 35 ft. above ground. Had no problem putting it together. Great design from Mosley! |
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