| W9ZX |
Rating:   |
2021-10-20 | |
| basic structure is good... for the most part |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I have a TH6DXX tribander I bought new in 1978. It is still in the air and works great. Because of that experience I bought this 6 meter beam. Things have changed. I won't bother to reiterate all the criticisms others have listed for this antenna. I encountered all of them and they are valid. The boom to mast clamp hygain included is made of thin stamped metal and is a joke. Mine wasn't stamped properly so I couldn't use it anyway. I ordered a new, far more robust, one from another source for $50. The "balun" Hygain included was another weak point. A new high quality replacement 4:1 balun added another $150. If you look at the cost of the beam plus the parts I have added it looks like I am putting the $500 saddle on the $10 horse. I have to hire a 110 ft bucket truck to work on this antenna once it is up. That costs a minimum of $100/trip. It is cheaper to use good parts and have fewer trips. With the new components added the beam works great. The SWR is flat where it is supposed to be flat. The clamps that hold the elements on are the same ones Hygain has used for years and appear to work well. I did add some self tapping sheet metal screws at the feed point to insure a good connection there. With the modifications I have made I am now pleased with the antenna. Knowing what I know now, would I buy this beam again? Probably not. |
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| KG6SVF |
Rating:      |
2018-08-20 | |
| A GREAT BUILD |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
On unpacking I found it could use a bit more bubble wrap, but otherwise it was fine....all parts were there and in good condition. I had been reading the instructions before I bought this antenna so building it was not a problem .....2 minor issues 1 the coax balun was put together wrong (the shields were soldered together with a crimp eye.) a call to HY-GAIN and a replacement is on the way....second problem the clamps for the balun to elements are to big connection is not solid.
The antenna can be built 3 different ways PER FREQUENCY you want to work,,,,I build mine from 50.5 - 53.0....my SWR is 1.3 on 50.110 and 1.1.1 on 50.313...can't ask for anything better
I called a buddy and we talked across town with great report off the side of the beam. I have it on a 2 piece push up pole ...can't wait for the next band opening to really try it out.
All and all for the price it went together ease |
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| K9RE |
Rating:    |
2017-11-12 | |
| Experimenter's Dream |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
This is a decent antenna for the price, but there are a few issues. The main one is that the clamps that attach the balun wires and your coax to the driven element are too large to fit snugly over the tubing. The antenna is unusable the way it comes; you'll need to come up with a different solution. You can either make new clamps, wrap the tubes to increase their diameter, or use hose clamps; but those are not ideal for trapping the wires and making a connection. MFJ sent me replacement clamps but they were the same as the ones that came with the antenna and did not work either.
It will take you awhile to assemble this antenna because you have to measure and position everything. All of the element lengths and their positions on the boom are completely adjustable and I had some difficulty getting all of the elements lined up. However, this gives you the option to fully optimize the antenna to your preferred operating frequency.
Be careful not to overtighten the hose clamps as they will break (get replacements at your hardware store). Ditto for the mast to boom clamp. I didn't have the feeling that I could tighten this clamp enough to completely secure the antenna without deforming the boom. Use caution.
If you plan to run more than 100 W I would suggest replacing the balun. Also, be sure to protect the ends with coax seal or similar (do the same for your feedline).
As some have pointed out, if the antenna will be subjected to windy conditions, you should plan to insert twine or rope inside the elements to dampen vibrations.
There are a lot of fasteners in the kit and in mine, the plastic bag containing them had broken open during shipment. I was short a few here and there, and had extras of others. You can get anything you are missing locally.
I would be reluctant to mount this antenna high on a tower or other location where it would be difficult to maintain or repair. Mine is on a TV mast on the roof so if it needs work it is fairly easily accessible.
The antenna works well and I would recommend it for the budget conscious op. Just be aware of its mechanical aspects. |
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| WA6APQ |
Rating:     |
2016-08-07 | |
| good |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The QC on this antenna is lacking a bit. The 7 inch long element tubes that mount to the boom are not swaged small enough to fit tight on the main elements. The #4 hose clams supplied are really too big and should be #2, smaller size. Cutting additional slots on the small tube allows for a better grip and keeps the elements from moving inside the small tubes due to wind.
The 4:1 “balun” supplied is RG-58/U coax and has round terminal lugs attached to the stripped ends. The lugs are too small to be mounted on the 1/4“ mounting bolts as shown on the instruction manual. I preferred to make my own balun out of 9913F coax where I could cut it to my specific frequency (50.15 MHz) and attach the correct lugs along with some water proofing to protect it. Information on making 4:1 coax baluns can be found on the internet.
I choose to use a 1:1, 50 ohm balun with an SO239 connector for the feed point instead of just stripping the coax line and attaching as shown. The other option would be to buy a 4:1 balun with a SO239 connector and discard the coax balun all together. Just make sure the balun is designed to work at 50 MHz.
The antenna works well with good forward gain. I would recommend this antenna to anyone needing a reasonably priced 6 meter beam, but you will have to do some reconfiguring to get it right.
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| K4TAX |
Rating:    |
2016-03-10 | |
| Poor Mechanical performance |
Time Owned: N.A. |
More to my earlier review.
In my earlier review, I did "blast" HyGain/MFJ/Cushcraft on the issue. Today I did get confirmation they will supply me a replacement element. For that reason I did increase my review rating.
From the following, quoted from an earlier post, it seems that I'm not the only one that experienced the elements breaking off.
Here on the plains of Western Iowa, we get frequent high winds and many storms. One day, I decided to get on 6 meters and make some contacts and my SWR was way out of whack. I went out back to the tower and saw that half of one of the elements was totally MISSING! I found it out in the corn field a little ways from my tower.
Unfortunately, after dropping the antenna down and replacing the element with one I had on-hand, we reinstalled it only to have a different element break off a couple weeks later! All in all, I lost 4 half elements in less than 6 months.
If you choose to purchase one of these antennas, make arrangement to purchase some Poly rope and install a length inside each element to dampen the vibrations.
73
Bob, K4TAX |
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| KE8CQ |
Rating:      |
2013-11-18 | |
| Happy Camper |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| I purchased the VB64DX since it was not too expensive and was lite weight and could be rotated with a cheap rotor. I assembled the antenna and put it up at 25 feet. After hearing an opening on 6 meters I was actually able to work my first contacts on 6 meters. To date, using this antenna I have been able to work out to around 1200-1500 miles when the band is open. Honestly, when I had a vertical (MV6A) on 6 meters I had never heard a peep on 6m. My only concern was the cheap feeling boom adapter. However, the antenna is still on the tower and I say that only because we just finished up a 14 hour blow here with winds sustained at 25 and gusting to 60mph. The local utility classed the wind storm as the worst in 10 years. 73s |
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| ZS6RJ |
Rating:      |
2012-04-02 | |
| Excellent back-up service |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
This is a reasonably robust antenna for the price range, but for me any purchase experience is only partly about the product - commitment to the customer and service when things go wrong is a whole lot more important in my book.
I ordered a VB-64DX for delivery to my QTH down in South Africa. It arrived promptly (4 days - fast for Africa!) via courier but had the wrong hardware pack for assembly included. Mistakes can happen, I accept that, and this is where the customer service side of the relationship kicks in and becomes important.
Tom Stone at Hy-Gain was really great when it came to sending me the right parts. First attempt via regular post went missing in transit (again, an occupational hazard in my part of the world), but Tom persevered and sent a second replacement pack via courier free of charge which sorted everything out.
When you don't have any local antenna vendors in your country and shipping often costs more than the product itself, it's good to know this type of commitment to back-up service is available. Kudos to the Hy-Gain team from down here in Africa - you've ensured a repeat customer!
73, Roger, ZS6RJ |
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| VE3CWJ |
Rating:     |
2011-08-19 | |
| Needs better design, but ok |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
Used it a lot during the 90's and early 2000's, worked just fine for what it is. Re-building it now, since the boom/mast clamp is a piece of junk - regular steel that rusts!. Hygain mast clamp simply clamps and holds the two boom pieces together (through steel, not AL). No interconnection/screws/clamps between boom pieces except the steel mast clamp. Matching balun coax weathers quickly (rg-58), allowing water incursion. Feed line is pigtail connect - no coax socket!
Rebuild involved adding 1-3/8 and 1-1/2 inch AL tubing over the ends of boom sections (each splice is 1.5 foot long approx.), with machine screws, to fasten 2 boom sections together as one piece before mast clamping. Used DX Eng. clamps (1.5" boom and 2" mast) and AL plate to make a proper boom to mast clamp. Removed cheap coax balun, and put on manufactured 4:1 6M balun mounted with AL angle piece near DE. SWR is about 1.2:1 at middle setting resonance (51.5Mhz on the ground).
Now I have a 64DX that won't weather (rust), won't allow water into the matching balun, and actually have a SO-238 socket to plug my feedline into... With new Balun, I can now go over the 500W limit (power was limited by RG-58 coax balun)
Would have given it a 3, but I like my rebuild, think it may be a 4 now hi hi. |
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| W4DL |
Rating:  |
2011-02-20 | |
| Garbage |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
| Purchased one of these at Dayton 2 years ago and had it shipped to my home. Past experience with Hy Gain had been good up to this antenna. The tubing was only slotted on one side making the clamps provided inadequate in compressing the sections together, so I had to reslot the entire antenna; the coaxial balun provided was for a 2 meters setup so I had rewire that as well. The boom to element clamps are the only thing worth a darn. Did I mention that I also had to drill the matching section connections to the driven element since the cheapo clamp fails to compress properly? I wrote to MFJ, the owner of Hy Gain, about their quality and never received a response. I had the antenna in service for one 6 meter season and it performed well, took it down and will replace it with something else for the upcoming 6 meter season. |
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| FORMER_W3AMF |
Rating:      |
2010-11-23 | |
| Great antenna for the money. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| It took 12 hours to build. The instruction manual is great, but there are many small parts. Only weakness noted was the steel hose clamps supplied. I recommend that you buy about 4 extras from Home Depot to replace the ones that you may break in the assembly. If you don't need them, you can return them. Mine is installed at 47 feet, 5 feet above a TA-33JR and 1 foot below a vertical 2 meter yagi. An S 6-7 signal from the front will disappear from the rear. That is a good F/B ratio! It seems strong and well-designed, but it has only been up a month. |
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