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Reviews For: Hy-Gain TH2-MK3

Category: Antennas: HF: Yagi, Quad, Rotary dipole, LPDA

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Review Summary For : Hy-Gain TH2-MK3
Reviews: 13MSRP: 369.95
Description:
Hy-Gain 2 Element Trapped Tribander
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.hy-gain.com/products.php?prodid=TH-2MK3
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
14133.7
KX2T Rating: 2023-05-25
Good small tri band beam Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I would have rated it a 5 but since MFJ purchased HY Gain the overall quality of parts needs some attention but if you have been a ham for a few years and been around the block this can easily be overcome. Having owned most of the popular brands of antennas such as HyGain,Mosley,KLM,Force 12 plus a few HB beams this was a very small issue for me but for a NewBee ham it might be a PITA. The bad is the swaged elements are not manufactured like what the old HYGain company produced, MFJ did a poor job. I should rate it a 3 or worse if I could not rebuild the basic antenna were it should be but I am still amazed how well this simple trapped antenna does work.
What I did to compensate for the poor swaged element joints is to use a hack saw and cut another slit so when you clamp down on the tips that slide into the swaged part it does what it supposed to plus use two clamps. I also drilled another hole to use a pop rivet once I had the antenna adjusted for the proper part of the band. The riveting is the ole F12 system which has always worked well. I must say the ever since MFJ bought the ole Hy Gain company there attention to a quality product has gone down hill.
Case in point, recently this antenna weathered a storm which I never thought it would last which was Ian, sustained winds for 5 hours of 145MPH with gust of 190 in my area were recoded by the Fire station up the street. I thought this antenna would be in parts all over the place but only had taken one element tip which was easy although it looked more like a quad then a beam.
I had taken apart every single trap which we kind of lose when I assembled this antenna years back but they were sloppy lose now because of the beating they went threw. I had made sure everything was re tightened and used lock tight on every screw plus I had to modify the trap housing were it joins to the element as well and this was on 8 traps. This had taken a hole day but was worth the effort. Once up in the air again I had seen much better and wider SWR curves then before so hear again MFJ's HY Gain can't even manufacture these traps proper, my guess is if you buy there trapped antenna please do this cause it may never perform the way it should. I have no antenna range but this antenna performed far better than before plus wider better SWR curves. I have never seen suck a botched job and MFJ should be ashamed to try and sell such a piss poor job of a product, when hams say mighty fine junk this company deserves that name!
The good is its performance for a TRAPPED antenna, first off they use hy Q traps so don't expect to cover the who band and still get gain, you decide which part of the band you op most and set it , I set this one for phone and when I use CW use the antenna tuner cause its around 3:1 in CW. But the performance on phone is good, @ 45' this antenna is easily 3-4 S units over a 80-10 OCF dipole a@ 60' when the station is broadside to the wire but off its ends it like no copy on the wire and great on the little TH2. I would say the gains is right were they spec it out and maybe better even on 10&15 but the FB is not to shabby, anywhere from 15> 20db depending of were the station is, around 15db on most stateside and I have seen around 20db on DX. Front to side is >40db besting any of the hex beams.
If MFJ could work harder on trying to copy the early HyGain antenna manufacturing they could make this antenna a five star. Use different hardware plus the boom to mast system is a huge waste, two galvanized 2" muffler clamps would be better. Also in there final assembly of the traps tighten down all the screws.
At my new QTH I had come across a F12 LPT42 crank up and this antenna being only 3.5sqrft was an excellent way to go plus the front to side being much higher than the hex beam helps from our Florida QTH to reject allot of qrm when trying to work EU when half the US is calling. As far as the trapped Tri Banders go they are decent antennas but do not expect them to cover the whole band with the same performance, its either phone of cw with them not both.
So for beginners I would not recommend but for the ham who has been around the antenna block this is an excellent under $400 antenna.
I must add this last comment that the TH2 did not turn into tomato stakes in someone's yard after Ian came crashing threw North Port with sustained winds of 145MPH, yes Ian rattled the traps almost apart, yes the two element looked more like a quad BUT the basic core antenna is still here. One full day of rebuilding every trap plus overhaul of the outside traps can to make contact again, new balun plus coax its back up in the air with even better performance then before which tells me MFJ has to start with better QC on there trap building. The locals with Hex beams are still picking up the pieces of all the fiberglass!
N8SDR Rating: 2020-02-22
Good antenna for restricted space Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
As others have stated with MFJ involved you need to inspect all parts, I had one trap in which there was a long extruded piece of metal in which would not allow you to insert the element. A replacement was sent and the antenna assembled. I choose this antenna based on the smaller footprint it required, having a small area in which I am able to put a tower and beam. Previous antenna I used were DX-EE, a 43 foot vertical, and a 40M OCF. At a height of about 34 feet this small tri-bander has worked very well! having a rotatabale antenna is a big plus compared to wire antennas, a big benefit to keeping down noise and allowing signals in which you wish to hear and be heard a better chance, the small gain factor is a big plus as well. Overall I have been happy with the performance of the TH2MK3. SWR curves are decent as well, even at the lower height. I use this antenna a lot of 20 meters. If your looking for a small space antenna, don't care for the looks of a hex beam and want to increase your performance over a dipole or wire antenna, then this may also work well for you. I have worked a good amount of DX even in downfall of cycle 24. Not just saying that, there are fair number of YouTube videos under my call using this antenna on 20 meters. The F/B is decent as well as side rejection given the short boom. It hasn't had any issues with 700-900 watts thus far and doesn't look like a inside out umbrella.
W9RNA Rating: 2019-11-10
Very good beam Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this little beam for about 21 years. I purchased it from AES in Las Vegas in 1998. This was built at the Hy-Gain plant in Lincoln, NE. This antenna has moved 2 times, and has never missed a beat. It up at 35ft at my current location. Where it has been thru 2 tornados, and many thunderstroms, and snow stroms. All I can say is I feel bad for the people who get one now. MFJ does not do it justice. The beam does a very good job for what it is. And if it keeps going as good as it has over the years. I will not let it go.
NY6DX Rating: 2015-09-20
EH Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I read reviews and figured nuts and bolts would be missing but having to make missing tubes for the traps. Quality control seems to be a big issue with Hy Gain. Guess I will be going back to force 12 antennas.
EA3AJP Rating: 2014-06-01
Good antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Excellent antenna has great performance over the 14 years that I have had installed has never had any problems, the best directional antenna for small spaces, with her win first place in Spain in 20m WORL WIDE DX CONTEST 2000 in fonia cw and first place in 2011.
Easy assembly and quality materials.
Deshacer cambios
PD2R Rating: 2011-12-29
Needs work out of the box but performs OK Time Owned: more than 12 months.
When I assembled this antenna two years ago, it needed some some work before it could fit together properly. The tubes wouldn't fit because the lager diameter tubes were considerably bigger then the smaller diameter tubes. Instead of using shims to make them fit I decided to cut the tubes a little more. This way the provided hose clamps were able to compress the bigger tube snugly around the smaller tube. Unfortunately it took me two hose clamps before I figured this out so I had to go to the hardware store to get replacements.

Up until now I have only used the antenna during field day and one IOTA contest. For a two element yagi it does perform nicely. I was able to compare this antenna with a Spiderbeam yagi. The Spiderbeam performed better but that is to be aspected since the Spiderbeam uses full size elements and has three elements on 20 and 15 meters, and even 4 elements on 10 meter.
The TH2-MK3 still performed very good on 20 and 15 meters. I can't say how it performs on 10 meter because 10 wasn't open when we used this antenna.

Can't say anything about the longevity of the antenna since we only used it for a couple of days at a time.

All in all I think it's a reasonable antenna at a fair price. However, I do feel the manufacturer could do a better job manufacturing this antenna so it will fit together nicely straight out of the box.
WC1X Rating: 2008-05-05
Missing parts, poor workmanship. Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Missing parts. Poor workmanship.

Purchased antenna in Jan '08. Moved home at that time so I did not "take inventory" until March 2008. Discovered that the hardware pack was missing. The ham radio dealer was informed and he said "tuff shitski" since it had been more than 30 days since purchase date. So I ordered a new hardware pack from the manufacturer($70). Received the hardware pack and discovered it had 9 missing 5/16"-18 hex nuts. I then purchased these missing hex nuts locally. Finally it was time to assemble antenna, discovered that 4 of the alluminum tubes were not swaged properly and I had to insert alluminum shims to fix.
I had the same issue with another antenna from the same manufacture. I will never again do business with this company.
WB1FFI Rating: 2008-04-14
Excellent for its size Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have my tribander for 18 years, recently had the beam down to change out the rotor. My beam is only up about 30 feet mast mounted. I have had good dx particularly on 20 meters recently, though also on 15 meters in years past. Not very active in past on 10 meters. The side rejection is adequate and the gain is sufficient to hear weak signals and be heard working barefoot. The beam has a neighbor friendly profile and stands up to high winds extremely well. If you have limited space and desire some direction to your signal, this beam does the job.
PD3GIJ Rating: 2006-12-24
For a two elements beam very good Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I made my first contacts with this beam on 10 m with Moldavia (5/9) and Italy (5/9) on 20m. I use only 25 Watts so this results give a good feeling about this antenna. As I am a Novice-station with a small mast for light-weight antenna's I think this antenna is ideal in my circomstances. Even the wind has little grip on this antenna and for neighbours its acceptable.
KC4CP Rating: 2006-12-16
SUPER Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I owned this beam for 8 years ... & then gave it to a friend (who has had it up for another 5 years). It has performed flawlessly! I would have never gotten rid of it, except that I wanted something with 17 meters (I now use the Cushcraft MA5B).

I worked my first 160 countries with it ... and I ran legal limit through it. No, it is not a 6 element monoband beam. But for what it is ... it performs great! The boom is only about 6 feet long. So, it keeps the neighbors happy.

For the difference in db gain ... and the hassles of a larger beam ... I prefer the Hy-Gain.

It is a huge improvement (and I mean "huge") over a dipole or a vertical.

David ... WR4N (ex KC4CP)