TGM comms MQ1 minibeam

[Andy Morgan]

Has anybody had any experience with the TGM range of minibeams (sold by
W&S). I have very limited space, tennamast on the side of terraced house. I
currently use a cushcraft R8 vertical which seems to work quite well but is
rather susceptible to noise ( s3 to s5 and sometimes s7 noise on all bands).
Any useful help would be appreciated.

--
Best Regards

Andy Morgan M5ZAP

[K4IA]

Andy

check out the reviews on eham.net

I am very happy with mine and will send you an email with a picture of the
installation. It is a very nice antenna for the size.
Radio K4IA
Buck
Fredericksburg, Virginia USA
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[Ed Cregger]

Is this a new version of the Mini Products HQ-1? If so, it
really works.

No front-to-back to speak of, but the nulls on the sides are
useful. I wish I had kept my old HQ-1. Great for 20 meters
and above in a small space. Certainly better than a dipole
and with a smaller footprint.

Ed Cregger, NM2K
nm...@my-deja.com

"K4IA" <k4...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20010516215709...@ng-fd1.aol.com...

[Nick G4FAL]

Andy

I have an MQ2 (5 band version of MQ1) on top of my house. I put it up a
couple of months ago.

Advantages:

1. It works on WARC bands as well as 20-15-10.
2. It is very small - 12' x 4' or so.
3. It does have directional properties and can be 6dB up on a wire antenna.
4. I would guess that it is better that the MA5B as it has only two elements
and they are both used on each band.
5. It gets progressively better as the frequency goes up.
6. Although front-to-back is not brilliant, side rejection is pretty good.

Disadvantages:

1. As the spokes are quite prominent, it is probably as much of an eye-sore
as a bigger 2 ele minibeam or say a 15m 2 ele full size.
2. It has a very narrow bandwidth on 20m and 17m; although I do tune it up
100kHz from its resonance, it is not very effective there.
3. On 20m and 17m it is pretty much the same front as back - I have lots of
contacts off the back.
4. Due to the position - on top of the house - I get excessive field
strength in the house and cause lots of breakthrough. Can't really blame the
MQ2 for that!

Recommendation:

1. If you can use a full size beam then don't consider a minibeam.
2. It you need a minibeam then this is a damn good contender.

It isn't really a quad - only the reflector has a sort of diamond quad
arrangement. I think some people would call it a quagi.

I intend to put something bigger up eventually. Probably a full size two
element 15m single bander.
--
Regards

Nick G4FAL
ntott...@riverauto.co.uk

[eh...@bellatlantic.net]

I like mine. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't
think twice - I'd go for the same antenna. But, be
realistic in what you expect. This is a physically
small antenna - don't expect 3 element monobander
performance from it. It offers some gain, some F/B and
F/S and multibands, as well as small size and weight.