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Reviews For: Max-Gain Systems Fiberglass Push-Up Mast

Category: Towers, masts, accessories, climbing & safety gear

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Review Summary For : Max-Gain Systems Fiberglass Push-Up Mast
Reviews: 44MSRP: 139 + Shipping
Description:
Forty-two foot fiberglass push-up mast kit.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.mgs4u.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
12444.5
K6SLR Rating: 2022-10-07
Could be much better Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This review is for the MK-8-HD 50' push-up mast.

Max-Gain has addressed a market for relatively lightweight telescoping masts. There are some practical limitations to carefully consider before buying.

Construction
The mast kit arrives in parts. Max-Gain has given up control over the product’s functional quality by having the end user glue the clamps to the tubes. This makes the final result dependent on getting the larger clamps aligned on the tubes accurately. They are a looser fit than the smaller ones, at least for the clamp set I received, and that can affect how the tubes slide once the mast is erected.

Tubes, Loading & Stability
The provided glass-reinforced polyester (GRP) tubes are strong but very flexible, a normal material trait of GRP. My 80m/40m stacked dipole bent this mast over like a fishing pole when I first put it up with three sets of guys in a triangle position, making for a frustrating afternoon trying to remedy the situation instead of getting on the air. Even fully extended with nothing attached, the mast bent over uncomfortably. I eventually had to shorten the mast to about 38' for it to be usable, which calculates to an immediate $50 loss, as I could have just gotten the 38' mast.

This 50 footer really needs four sets of tensioned guys positioned in at least four vertical locations on the mast. Even after that, there is still significant flexure in the smaller top sections. I used concrete forming stakes made from heavy steel for my guy stakes—plastic just isn’t a strong enough option. I also used 3mm Dacron rope that does not stretch, and it fit nicely through the holes in the optional guy rings.

Clamps
The material for the clamps are the weak point in this system. The plastic is soft enough so that the tightener’s screw threads may wear out eventually. I also found that I had to use a screwdriver to loosen/tighten the reverse-threaded clamping screw before the clamp would release the tube enough to get it to move on the two larger sized clamps (see my note above about the misalignment probability when gluing the clamps). Herculean strength was not required to get the others to clamp sufficiently, however. I found that once I had gotten the screw just until it caught the paddle and caused it to flip up, that was enough adjustment so that the clamp held when pushing the paddle back down. Still, that’s a difficult process when you’re trying to hold upward tension on the tube with one hand and manipulating the screwdriver with the other. This defeats the whole point of a quick-release clamp.

Final Thoughts
At the current price of this mast, I had much higher expectations. I could easily see having a 2m/70cm vertical and a multiband dipole on such a mast, but there’s no way this mast can handle that without extra guys and/or higher guy tension, which makes setting it up a significant operation requiring two or more people. Even then, I doubt the 1” top tube will be able to handle the modest weight without bending over. The weight limitation makes this mast unusable for anything other than a light gauge wire antenna. The clamps are fairly well-designed but the material is insufficient for expected long-term use. Additionally, I think the clamps should be pre-mounted and fit-tested on the tubes to avoid problems later.

These masts are an adequate solution as long as one is aware of the limitations, and willing to put in some effort to overcome those limitations. I've given it two stars because I think it's a good concept and has some good design, but the materials choices are not well matched for the intended use and the cost is a bit high for what you ultimately get.
W4IU Rating: 2022-07-07
Awesome Product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I recently purchased an MK-6-EXT (43 foot) fiberglass mast from Max Gain Systems. As recommended, I used JB-weld to attach the couplings to the fiberglass tubes. Once cured, I attached the mast to a 3rd party hitch mounted on my SUV and used to support multiple antennas during the 2022 June VHF contest.

The intent was to fully extended the mast when we stopped at high points along our planed route, and retract the mast to below 14 feet when on the road. After a 700 mile trek, we were driving through a town that had numerous low hanging tree branches. As it happened, it was late at night and we were focusing on navigation that momentarily distracted us from looking out for overhead obstacles.

The distraction turned out to be catastrophic to our endeavors. One of the antennas caught a tree branch and knocked the mast clear off the hitch mount, resulting in us dragging the assembly about 30 yards down the road. We managed to scoop everything up and strap it to the roof rack so we could get the the hotel and call it a day.

Next morning we assessed the damage and observed that the mast was intact!!! The 3rd party metal mast mount was mangled, but was quickly reshaped thanks to a good size hammer. Within an hour, we were able to reassemble the mast and two of the antennas so we could resume contesting and safely travel at highway speeds.

After the contest, I carefully examined the fiberglass mast and could not detect any damage from the tree encounter. I believe that, in addition to being partially retracted, its strength and flexibility were key in absorbing the shock without damage. My guess is that the bulk of the shock was transferred to the metal base which did not fair as well as the MGS fiberglass mast.

I highly recommend MSG masts and will I’ll be purchasing an MGS fold-over mast mount to allow for safe passage under low hanging trees!.



KN6KFM Rating: 2020-10-24
Just an awful buy Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I erected this with my light G5RV antenna. Today the prevailing wind speed is 9 miles per hour. This thing is like a fishing pole swinging wildly. It bend with the antenna weight. No way is this "heavy duty". Comes in like a kit with a bunch of fiberglass tubes and clamps. Mine is a 43 feet. At approximately 25 feet it is behaving like a 4wt fishing pole that just caught a big trout or something. Really that is the best way I can describe it.

The basic problem with this thing is that the company wants to ship a "PRODUCT". When you want to do that then ship a complete "Product". Don't ship a bunch of tubes and clamps to be assembled as a product by the customer. If you want to do that them provide the required marking, fully glued assemblies and clear instructions. NOT just a bunch of tubes and clamps.
This is a real half-ass thing.
KN6AZK Rating: 2019-12-20
Hands down the best push-up mast money can buy. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the 38ft MK-6-HD from mgs4u.com recently. WOW! What an amazing mast system!

I had read ~100 reviews before purchasing a mast system. I had heard so much about masts breaking and bending over and being unstable. After a lot of research I chose Max Gain System's masts, and am very thankful that I did!
For the first use I had it shipped from the mfg to my parents house in Idaho where we went for a week over Thanksgiving. I was able to set it up in my parent's narrow backyard with a hamstick dipole and get on my daily Ca net. It was my first time using a hamstick dipole, and my first time using the mast. We decided to guy it at just one point at the very top. What a rigid and sturdy system! It blew, it snowed, no issues.

Shipped it back home and flew home and set it up here at our RV. Easily went up. Added my vhf/uhf antenna to the top with a hamstick dipole on it for digital modes.

I've probably had the mast up and down 70 times or more now with zero issues. The clamps work flawlessly when you set them up according to the directions.

Before writing this review I went and read what people wrote who gave it poor reviews; I'd like to address them because I think on their part it's user error and not the fault of the system. If you're going to ignore the directions outright, you really shouldn't write a review.

The clamps are AMAZING. They are not flimsy. If you're snapping them off, you've got it adjusted WAY too tight. I was flipping them back and forth, over and over well below freezing with no issues. To adjust them properly you have to tighten/loosen the screw with is a *reverse thread*. When it's in the sweet spot it takes very minimal adjustment to get it right. Just a smidge. If you're cranking a half turn or more each way you're not going to get it. Slow down, be patient, dial it in. When the flip is open, the tube inside glides out smoothly. When the flip is locked down, the stuff above doesn't move. At all. Not even a little. Very easy. I haven't needed to make any re-adjustments once they were dialed in correctly.

Anyone who's running a fiberglass tower up to full height and complaining it's bending over isn't guying it. The guy rings for this mast system allow you to rig for 3 or 4 point attachment using the same rings. They're extremely lightweight and rotate around the pole, which is nice for some arrangements.
With just 3 guys coming down from the top guy ring on a 38ft mast (so, the ring is at ~32ft), I've had 65mph gusts blow through here and that mast hasn't budged.

Moving on to the guy tensioners.....I was skeptical at first. I bought 3 and figured if they sucked I wouldn't be out much. DAAAAANG! They work SO EASY! I immediately bought more and have 6 now. I'm going to use them wherever possible from now on.

I tried the silicone and it didn't work so great for me. Later I found out my silicone was old and wasn't bonding properly, so that was my fault. But, what I tried after the silicone was 6" strips of gorilla tape. I just use the tape around the joint between the clamp collar and the pole and have had no issues. They don't pull off when you're pulling sections up. They don't move at all. Not duct tape, use Gorilla tape. It doesn't even look bad because it matches the collar color.
(Using tape or silicone allows you to remove the collars later, if you want it as compact as possible for shipping/transport; a handy feature).

When the mast system arrived I wiped each pole down with a slightly damp paper towel to remove any fiberglass dust from the mfg process, and to ensure that the sections would glide smoothly against eachother.

Then I marked each tube all the way around with a sharpie to know where to stop when pulling them up to get the right overlap. I used a stepladder next to the mast to stand on while pulling the sections up. At one point I was pulling too hard when most of the tube had come up already and I pulled the tube all the way out! So now I've got the collar and base section in one hand, and 15' of mast with the antenna mounted atop it held in the other hand...and it was so light I was able to just maneuver them back together and fit them back up; though it did have me freaking out for a few seconds. Ended up not being a problem. Since then I added another set of sharpie rings 2" above that as well so I know when I'm getting close.

All the fears I had about purchasing a mast turned out to be unfounded. Can't say enough good things about this setup.

I'm putting up a full-wave loop for 80m and will be using more of these masts to accomplish it. Have emailed the folks over there several times and have always had friendly knowledgeable responses; they are very easy to do business with.

When I pulled the stuff out of the box I went, wow...this is made really well. I've had great success with mine so far and if you get one I'm sure you'll appreciate it too.

73 Ken KN6AZK
N7WY Rating: 2019-07-01
Durable Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have used their 43.3 foot mast for several years during 7QP county expeditions and ARRL Field Day. After getting some Goop, I cemented the clamps on the sections, adjusted the screws in the flip-lever clamps, and then welded 3 feet of 2 inch channel iron onto a piece of square receiver hitch stock to make a mount. I use 2 stainless 3 inch U-bols from DXE to attach the mast to the mount, attach 2 sets of 3 guy ropes, connect a pulley to an eyebolt at the top for use in pulling up an inverted vee, push up the sections from my pickup bed, and am on the air in less than 75 minutes. Three t-posts anchor the guy ropes, and two more are used to tie off the ends of the wire antennas.
NC6K Rating: 2019-06-04
Not very sturdy and clamps stink Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have had this mast for over a year with only a 2 M/440 vertical on it, and have had several of the plastic clamps fail. In addition, the mast does have a mind of its own as far as bending one way or the other.

For what it cost, I would have expected more durable hardware, especially the clamps.
W2JKT Rating: 2019-01-21
UPDATE! Even better Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Just adding to my previous review...

I was operating HF one day and heard a large crashing sound outside. At the same time, the SWR on my dipole went sky-high. After I got the dogs calmed down, I went outside to investigate. A huge branch of a tree had broken off of its trunk and fallen across the guy lines of the mast.

The mast was bent all the way over such that my vertical was pointed down at the ground.

But, the mast didn't break! Not even a crack. I got my chainsaw out and removed the large branch, and put the mast back up, and it was like nothing had happened.

These things are so flexible they can take that kind of torture and ride through it. I need to get some more of these things.
KB6E Rating: 2018-05-07
It works Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I have the MK-8 HD, which extends to 50 ft. I only extend it to about 33 ft though, for a 20m HW dipole. I use it with two MFJ-1979 telescopic whips and it works great. It's attached to a wall at a height of 1 ft and 6 ft, nothing else. It does well when it's windy, but I don't keep it up all the time. I colapse it and push it back up a lot.
K0LEF Rating: 2017-11-23
Great mast, great quality Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Purchased just before Thanksgiving 2017. Put it up to raise the feed point on my dipole up to 33'-35'. Improves the signal quality. I have it guyed at three levels. Great customer service.
N4VLK Rating: 2016-11-01
MK-6-HD and other accessories -Great company Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I just purchased an MK-6-32 push up pole along with an additional 8 ft 1 3/4 tube. I plan to use the 4 HD tubes for a permanent installation and the other 4 tubes for portable use. I didn't realize until I was about to place my order that the Max-Gains location is only 35 minutes from my QTH. I email and asked about local pickup. I quickly received an reply from Allen and he suggested I call to confirm availability. After a very pleasant conservation, I placed my order and picked it up the next day. Allen was great to work with and be aware that Max-Gains also carries a huge selection of RF connectors and other ham items at very competitive prices. I was fortunate to save shipping, but would have ordered anyway. A great company and great service. I highly recommend.