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# Two Names. Decades of Signal. One New Home.
## The Story of Hy-Gain and Cushcraft
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## 🔩 Hy-Gain: Born in a Nebraska Garage
It started in 1949 with six dollars, a borrowed ladder, and a car that barely ran.
Brothers Andy Andros (W0LTE) and Ted Andros (W0URN) founded Hy-Gain Electronics out of Lincoln, Nebraska with nothing but ambition, ingenuity, and a deep love of radio. Their address on N.E. Highway 6 would eventually become one of the most recognized names in the antenna world - but in those early days, it was just two hams trying to build something better than what was already out there.
They succeeded. Andy's TH-3 triband trap beam became an instant legend in the amateur radio community - a compact, multiband Yagi that punched well above its weight and gave operators across the country their first taste of serious DX performance. A wave of successors followed: triband beams, HF verticals, log periodics. The LP-13-30 log periodic, designed for MARS and deployed at military installations and embassies worldwide, became one of the most widely used antennas ever to grace a rooftop mast.
At its peak, Hy-Gain was a multi-million dollar corporation employing thousands - all grown from a six-dollar stake and a family handshake.
In 1999, after a period of ownership under Telex, Hy-Gain was acquired by MFJ Enterprises of Starkville, Mississippi, where production continued for the next two and a half decades. The HAM-IV rotator - still regarded by many as the most reliable antenna rotator ever made - continued rolling off the line. So did the T2X Tailtwister and the legendary TH-11DX, an 11-element 5-band beam that remains the standard against which serious DX beams are measured.
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## 📡 Cushcraft: Precision Out of New Hampshire
A few years after the Andros brothers broke ground in Nebraska, a different story was beginning on the other side of the country.
In 1954, Richard Cushman founded Cushcraft Corporation in Manchester, New Hampshire. Where Hy-Gain leaned into big multiband beams and rotators, Cushcraft carved out a reputation for lightweight aluminum construction, clean mechanical design, and antennas that hams could actually assemble in an afternoon without reaching for the instruction manual twice.
The A-series beam antennas. The R-series verticals. The CR-1 Ringo - a collinear vertical that became a go-to for VHF operators who needed gain without a complicated feedline arrangement. Cushcraft's catalog grew through the 1960s and '70s alongside amateur radio itself, then expanded further into CB and commercial communications as demand surged.
By the time the CB radio boom hit in the 1970s, Cushcraft antennas were showing up on cars, rooftops, and tower masts across North America. Their designs were practical, durable, and honest - the kind of gear that earned loyalty not through marketing, but through years of quiet, reliable performance.
In 2009, MFJ Enterprises acquired the Cushcraft amateur radio antenna product line, bringing it under the same roof as Hy-Gain, Ameritron, and Mirage - a consolidation of some of amateur radio's most respected names under one Mississippi operation.
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## ⚡ A Difficult Chapter - and a New Beginning
In spring 2024, Martin F. Jue (K5FLU), founder and president of MFJ Enterprises, announced the end of on-site production at the Starkville facility. For many in the amateur radio community, it felt like the end of an era. The antennas that had graced towers from Minnesota to the Maldives were suddenly in limbo.
But the story wasn't over.
In April 2026, ITU Corporation - a 25-year-old Indiana engineering and manufacturing company led by Dave and Kambi Carpenter - acquired both the Hy-Gain and Cushcraft brands from MFJ, including all designs, tooling, specialized equipment, and manufacturing rights.
In announcing the sale, Martin Jue expressed exactly what the community needed to hear: "Dave and the ITU team share our commitment to American-made quality and customer satisfaction. They bring the engineering expertise and manufacturing passion necessary to keep these products and these trusted American high-performance antennas on towers worldwide for years to come."
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## 🏭 Linton, Indiana: The Next Tower Goes Up
ITU Corporation wasted no time. They acquired the former National Guard Armory at 2000 East Highway 54 in Linton, Indiana - a 15-acre, move-in-ready facility built for exactly this kind of serious, purpose-driven manufacturing.
The entire operation is being relocated from Starkville, Mississippi to Linton, bringing 20 to 50 new jobs to the community and a genuine commitment to continuing what the Andros brothers and Richard Cushman started decades ago: American-made antennas, built right, built to last.
The HAM-IV will rotate again. The TH-11DX will reach for DX again. The Cushcraft verticals will load up on 40 meters again.
The signal never really went silent. It just found a new home.
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Hy-Gain and Cushcraft - now manufactured in Linton, Indiana by ITU Corporation.
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