I purchased a lot of replacement parts a few years ago from MFJ/Hygain to
refurbish/modify six older Long Johns. I found that the hard plastic
element end caps are junk. They were splitting and falling off with the
antenna still on the ground. McMaster sells thicker, more resilient caps
with UV protection - I bought a bag but have not tried them in action yet.
I also found that the smaller size worm drive clamps provided by MFV strip
out very easily. US made SS clamps hold up much better. Regarding
element damping, in the past I used roll clothes line cord from Home Depot
which worked fine. I did not have any issues with aluminum I received from
MFJ/Hygain but it was mostly 7/16 & 1/2 pieces.
Maybe I'll get those antennas finished and back up on the towers one of
these days... hopefully before the next sunspot cycle arrives.
73
Matt
KM5VI
-----Original Message-----
From: TowerTalk [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com] On Behalf Of N4IJ
.
Sent: Friday, March 30, 2018 10:01 PM
To: towertalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] HyGain Antenna Quality control issues
I had read that after MFJ bought HyGain that quality had suffered. Is that
the experience of any recent purchasers? I bought one from DXengineering the
beginning of March.
Hy Gain LJ-203
Both inner thick wall boom sections were not swaged enough for the two outer
sections to fit over the swage. MFJ acted quickly and sent replacements. The
replacement tubing had one of the sections drilled wrong
(90 degrees off where the Beta match connects to the boom. I drilled another
hole and fixed it.
One of the middle element sections had a couple of cracks in the swage the
tip section slides into.
All of the element sections had four (4) slots instead of the one I am used
to seeing. That would not be so bad, but the tip sections were actually
smaller than they should have been and the 4 slots are required to squeezed
enough to retain the outer section. The tip sections are not a proper fit.
Since the hose clamp was the only mechanical support, I had to put yet
another small hose clamp (two in each element side) in order to keep the tip
section from flopping around.
The larger sections were the same way, but I ended up putting a aluminum pop
rivet in each swage prior to the slots to make it solid. Also used the
provided hose clamps.
The driven element is supposed to be drilled for the beta match/coax to
connect. No holes anywhere so I measured and drilled myself.
The vibration damping rope is supposed to be 6 ft long in each tip section.
Only 24 ft of rope was supplied, so I skipped it on the director tips.
The antenna is finally together and I think it will be ok - but a lot of
issues.
I saw comments from a LJ204 buyer complaining of the sections not being
solidly telescoped too.
Positive: customer support
Negative: quality
Doug, N4IJ
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