Buoyed by the success of my latest antenna project—a homebrew version of the Cobra doublet antenna—I’ve decided to put up a hex beam in the spring. I think I can mount one on a simple mast attached to the side of my house.
In order to learn more about the hex beam, I have subscribed to the the hex beam Yahoo Group. Yesterday, someone asked, “What is the best off-the-shelf Hex Beam ? Looking for it to work out of the box and not need trimming/adjusting; well built, will not require maintenance, I am willing to pay for quality.”
This, of course, prompted many different responses. Here are some of the most cogent:
- “If you are in the UK the only one to go for is the one built by MW0JZE. Straight out the box, in the air and no messing about setting up. http://www.g3txq-hexbeam.com/“
- “Even if you’re not in the UK, Ant, MW0JZE, makes a Hex Beam that is worth the shipping cost to the U.S.A. It is robustly built. Yes, it will cost you more, but the quality is well worth it.”
- “I had both a Traffie and K4KIO. Both worked great with no tweaking required.”
- “http://www.k4hex.com/ this is a great buy I have had mine up for a couple of months and its been perfect! Very well built! SWR perfect on all bands no tweaking.”
- “I have a NA4RR (http://www.k4hex.com/) and after driving a short pipe in the ground it took about 20 minutes to put it together. Now up at about 15 meters on a homemade tilt mast and working fine. I did give the fiberglass a coat of Rustoleum before I put it together. If it was destroyed by lightning or something, I would buy another one.”
- “I installed an SP7IDX hexbeam on my carport roof in September. Very high quality and no tweaking required. I am still amazed how quiet this antenna is. Just don’t be in a hurry to get it. Mine took about 3 months to get here.”
- “Same experience with the SP7IDX hexbeam. Made of the highest quality materials and advanced engineering. Waldi’s hexbeam was easily assembled, no adjustment required, covers 6-bands, but expect a few months for delivery. Excellent support from Waldi.”
- “The K4KIO and NA4RR Hex beams are both plug and play and simple to assemble. I assembled both brands and it took about 45 minutes to assemble either one. No cutting or trimming involved. I own the NA4RR and have it up 3 years now with no issues.”
- “Ditto for the NA4RR Hex wonderful unit.”
- “I have a Waldi SP7IDX Hexbeam (HD), and it’s a marvellous antenna. It’s hand made, and so you need time to receive it. Approximatively three to four months, but the SWR id perfect on all bands. Quality is great.
18 months ago I purchased a Textenna Tex-Hex from Texas Towers. It is a plug-and-play version of the G3TXQ broadband hexagonal design. All elements are pre-tuned, and the installation was quick and easy. The Tex-Hex employs high-quality UV-resistent resin / fiberglass tubes for the spreaders and 13 support cords for additional support and strength. Customer service is excellent from both Texas Towers and the manufacturer of the antenna. I live on the coast in Gloucester, MA and last year’s winter with 100 inches of snow put the antenna to a severe test. We had several days of 40-50 mile per hour winds and icing. There were absolutely no problems.”
So, it looks like there are a number of good choices out there. I’m going to do an analysis of how much it would cost me to build one myself versus buying a ready-made one. I know that DX Engineering sells parts for DIYers.