| WB0KWJ |
Rating:  |
2023-12-17 | |
| Worked 20 years. Eventually wore out. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
The 14AVQ is a self-supporting trap vertical for 10, 15, 20 and 40 meters. Like most of these type of antennas, it is constructed of aluminum tubing, has traps inside larger aluminum tubes, is about 18 feet tall, and is supposedly capable of legal-limit power. (I never tested that.)
I got my 14AVQ used in 1974. It travelled with me for about 16 years, going up and down at various new QTHs. Ground-mounted, it worked moderately well and stood up to every Kansas thunderstorm during all those years. That means surviving winds occasionally close to 100 MPH.
In those days, antenna manufacturers would claim that all you needed was a good ground rod. This effectively set up the coax as the counterpoise, leading to low-efficiency operation. But, the antenna would tune up well enough, with good bandwidth on all bands, 40 meters being the narrowest. A set of radials changes everything. It is like adding a linear amplifier--with 8-16 long wires on or buried in the ground being the minimum for reasonable good efficiency.
As for tuning, you have to pick a frequency range on 40 and 20, such as CW or phone, and tolerate a little above 2 to 1 SWR outside. You can get almost the whole band on 15 and 10. Adjustments are interactive between bands, but not too difficult. Remember, also, in the 1970s, there were no hand-held antenna analyzers. You used the transmitter and an SWR meter, or maybe a noise bridge. Adjustment back then was an hour or two, if you worked alone, and required lot of running back and forth between the antenna and rig. It's maybe 30 minutes today.
Over the years, the antenna wore out. The traps cracked at the bottom end where they attached to the antenna tubing by a screw. The insides of the traps got loose too, and required disassembly and repair. Regular yearly maintenance, including retightening the screws inside and outside the traps, would have delayed the inevitable metal fatigue, and maybe added another 10 years to the antenna's life.
This is very good, durable antenna with some construction compromises that will lead to trap failure. The electrical design is good, and it provides very good performance, close to full-size verticals on all the bands, assuming you use radials. It cannot installed and ignored. So plan to take it down each year or so to check its health. |
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| AA3GL |
Rating: |
2018-03-04 | |
| Excellent Vertical |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| I was perusing Craigslist when I ran across a ham ad giving one away, had to remove it and all associated parts, ie; ground rods, post, etc. This wasn't a problem for me. It was missing the second tube from the bottom. I downloaded the instructions and manual (MFJ website), ordered the tube from Hy-Gain (MFJ parts)and they came in a week. I installed per instructions next to a raised garden in my backyard, 4 ground radials only 10ft long, used the measurements for phone. The SWR was tweaked using a MFJ-259B analyzer, all bands below 1.5 end to end. It works great but am thinking of trying it on the roof and instead of using the HY-Gain roof mount kit making a ground plane out of 4 RS 102" whips. |
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| K5VSH |
Rating: |
2018-02-22 | |
| Second Evaluation |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I recently purchased a 14-AVQ vertical. I have had, over the years this vertical and a Hustler 4-BTV. I sold my beam, rotator, and tower, along with my home-brew 40M non-trap vertical. Therefore, I needed "something" to work 40-10 Meters. I did not want an expensive antenna; for I don not work these bands often. I am usually on 75M. In addition, I wanted it ground mounted, far using it, as a ground-plane, requires too many radials, does not seem to work well, etc. My installation is as follows:
1. Set up the vertical, per the instructions, for the phone band.
2. Drove a 4' piece of 1-1/4" EMT tubing into the ground, leaving about 1'-6" exposed.
3. Set the bottom of the 14-AVQ base section, 6" above ground.
4. Drove an 8', 5/8" copper-clad ground rod 6" from the EMT and connected it to base of antenna.
5. Set out six, 32'-4" insulated #14 radials, spaced at +/- 60°, about 2" below my lawn and connected to the base of antenna.
6. Guyed the vertical with 3/16" rayon cord in three places, above the top (20M) trap.
7. Fed the antenna with a home-brew air-choke, consisting of 20' of RG-8 wound on a 4" PVC form.
My water table is at +/- 3'
Initial SWR readings, per the "phone band" settings, without a tuner, using my tranceiver SWR meter and the one in my tuner (on Direct line), with 100 watts:
1.14:1 @ 29.200 Mhz and 1.11:1 @ 29.000 Mhz
1.06:1 @ 21.350 Mhz and 1.04:1 @ 31.325 Mhz
1:1 @ 14.280 Mhz and 1.1 @ 14.250 Mhz
1.20 @ 7.270 Mhz and 1.15:1 @ 7.225 Mhz
The SWR at my chosen frequences was very good, the bandwidth was good, so I decided not to do any tweaking.
I'm happy, NOT TOO BAD! |
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| VE3EUT |
Rating: |
2014-07-18 | |
| good antenna but little surprise |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I've purchased this antenna from Hy-Gain on Dayton 2012. Nice finish, antenna connector is cheap but good enough. I didn't expect silver plated one for the price I paid. The only thing, is a crack on the one of plastic trap cap. I applied some pvc primer and cement and made it like new. Another problem was oversized U-bolts. I had to insert another piece of 1 1/4" pipe to secure antenna on pipe mast. And the last but not least, they put in antenna box a bag with good but random stainless steel hardware such as bolts, washers, nuts and stuff like that but forget about clamps. This is good that Lowes is just a mile away from my home but they might definitely make rural ham pissed off. Tuning procedure took just 2 iterations to make sure it fits 40 and 20 metres exactly how I want it. Yes, I'm picky with that.
I'm not sure if this is the best one you can have for that price and size but this one is far far more predictable than GAP Titan DX. I would recommend this antenna to anyone who do not want to dance around antenna with MFJ-259 and shaman amulets to tune that properly. |
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| NW3Y |
Rating: |
2014-04-16 | |
| Good antenna if done right |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| My experience with this antenna has been good. I bought my first 14AVQ in May 2005 for my Vermont QTH and it works very well with five 12ft radials. I worked FT5ZM with 500 watts on 40cw with this antenna. Bought second one a few years later for my home QTH while I renovated the beams. It works well too. Periodically I have to clean the traps from spiders and yes you can get water in the traps. If SWR gets screwy, see prior sentence. Its easy to put together and will perform well as a trap vertical. It takes up very little space. Very satisfied. |
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| IT9JCB |
Rating: |
2013-05-21 | |
| MFJ poor quality |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I owned two 14avq in 25 years, good antenna with solid construction. So when I moved to the new QTH about one year ago I bought a new one from MFJ.
After six monts the last section in the top collapsed in a very strange horizontal position without apparent reasons as wind etc..
So I decided to buy another one to use as spare part, I replaced the top section and the antenna was ok again.
Just few days ago I noticed the that under moderate wind the 40m SWR was going up and down, noticed also as the resonance point moves about 100KHz up or down.
I did not unsderstand where the problem is because all the other bands are going well, may be something in some junction or trap.
I got very disappointed, remembering how good was this antenna when it was built by Hy-Gain. Forget old Hy-Gain brand and its legendary antennas...
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Earlier 5-star review posted by IT9JCB on 2008-02-15
The 14AVQ is probably one of the oldiest trapped vertical still in the market, but I can surely state that It's still the best one. If you give a look to other HF vertical's reviews you'll hear guys speaking about fused traps, dummy loads, bad swr etc etc. I had my first one in the 80's, but the wind did its job and I'd always went back to a new one replacing the old, now I've my fifth 14AVQ on my roof still working great. Yes, there is another side of the coin: the 10 meters trap is not very strong and brokes after few years but, found the problem and fixed it forever with a simple mod. Whit this antenna you can load all the power you need very safely in a very wide 1.5:1 swr bandwidth. Of course the best you can do (like me) is to put the antenna not on the ground but on the roof, about 40 feet up and with two radials per band: in this configuration the antenna will probaby outperforms many triband beams mounted at low height, as I'm experienced many times in 20 years.
There is not a vertical better than this.
(but do not forget the radials !!)
73s Claudio
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| N7INO |
Rating: |
2013-01-20 | |
| 80 meter add on |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Mine has been in use for 5 years and never a problem. I added 80 mts and works well. 60 feet of electric fence wire under top hat screw and tied off about 6 feet off the ground and works well and helped receive on the other bands. A easy fix and works like it should. For the cost of the add on about $3.50 It is now the cheapest 10-80 vertical out there and works GREAT. 73 Jim |
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| W4NRY |
Rating: |
2012-01-23 | |
| Good Old Antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Purchased it in 1969 from Hy-Gain and it still is in great shape (no trap leaks)! Apparently, the newer ones weren't made as robust. I added 20 ground radials and the difference was very noticeable, loads great. Worked a lot of European DX. I have a space limitation and have considered replacing it with a newer model, but it keeps on surprising... |
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| IT9BQP |
Rating: |
2010-11-30 | |
| inverted 20 mt trap |
Time Owned: N.A. |
| I recently purchased the antenna directly from the 'HY GAIN', unfortunately in my case, the trap of 20 meters was also reversed, and lacked the protection of black plastic, which I had to build the lathe. The quality of materials looks good to me. I suggest the manufacturer to make changes due. 73 from IT9BQP. |
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| NR7N |
Rating:  |
2010-08-15 | |
| Awful |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I purchased the 14AVQ to replace an aging Hustler. When I assembled the antenna I found the materials inferior and all of the joints fastened by hose clamps slipped somewhat even though tightened. When I put the antenna up, it was ground mounted, it would not even remain vertical. It "listed" about 15 degrees to one side. This problem was caused by the traps being mechanically wobbly. Fortunately I was able to return it but it took several months to get my money back as there was a complicated route between the dealer I bought it from and Hy-Gain. I called Hy-gain about this issue and I did not receive much of an argument about the antenna.
This is not the old Hy-Gain quality I was used to. It's a shame. |
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