Mosley Mini-32A Beam

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Just before Christmas I got the Mosley Mini-32A two element triband antenna installed on the roof top at about 35 feet.  The job took two roofers about 4 hours to install and they did a fantastic work.   The majority of their time was spent in the attic adding the blocking and the braces required to support the roof-top tower as recommended by W8IO.  

I believe the tower was made by Glen Martin but not 100% sure since I got it in a trade Grant, W5XJ.  The mast is 1.5 inch EMC. I used a Yaesu G-450ADC Medium-Duty Rotator, and a Yaesu GS-065 thrust bearing.   The tower is grounded to an 8ft ground rod right outside the entrance to my shack.  The antenna is fed with 100ft of brand new RG-213 coax.

Mosley does a great job packing and shipping the kit.  The material is top quality.  The instructions were clear and easy enough to follow.  I assembled the antenna about 7ft off the ground and completed the test recommended in the manual and added the RF choke at the feedpoint.  I tuned the antenna accounting for the lower SWR readings due to the ground coupling.   I did expect the SWR to be affected by some coupling and artificial grounds from the chimney cap and the heater exhaust vents on roof but there was not much I could do about that. 

I've never used a beam before, so didn't know exactly what to expect.  Receive on 20M is about the same as my OCF dipole, but much better on 15M and 10M.  The SWR dips nicely across each band, and I specifically tuned the antenna to work the CW portions of each band.  The tuner works great on the upper segments of each band.   

I also use the beam as a diversity receive only antenna for the other bands I work using the dipole.    In the first few days I've worked some new DX that were readable using the beam but way down in the noise floor of the dipole.   The beam is doing what its supposed to.   In the future I'd like to add the three element 33A conversion kit, and the 17M rotatable dipole.   I'll also trim about 1/2 inch off the 20M elements, to raise the resonance point to mid band.   

Overall I'm very pleased with the results.  Pictures below.

73 Chris de WX7V












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