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.
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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.
I listen to 100 Watts and a Wire podcast off and on…. Christian (K0STH) one of the hosts of the show visited http://www.radiowavz.com. His interview with the folks at Radiowavz put them on the map for me.
Dan:
I wrote two articles for eHam.net on the hexbeam, one about my homebrew version and another on the post-mortem when key parts of that DIY version ultimately failed. Go to the eHam “Articles” page and put “N4KC” in the “Author” search field. The hexbeam articles should be obvious by their titles. Or you can go to my web site at http://www.n4kc.com and click on the “Articles” tab.
I am thinking of putting up a HexBeam as well. Debating on getting rid of the vertical or the dipole, but a HexBeam is definitely going up.
Materials add up to approx $150, admitting $100 for labor, this antenna should not cost more than $250. if it was I would buy 0ne today. just to experiment. I love experimenting . I’ll assemble it in the back yard, “try” to move it up to the chimney and then compare to my “other” “classic” full size yagi. since it is so expensive, I should perhaps buy the center plate only, I have bamboos or fiberglass spreaders left over from my old quads, I have wire and rope. Lets wait for the price and temperature to drop its too hot even to mow the lawn. buy the time it “cools” down its already midnight.
Must you have a rotor on the hex beam or can you n
manually turn the antenna ? Any Ideas ?
ant
You can manually turn an antenna, but using a rotor is much, much more convenient.
The great thing about a hexbeam is that it is LIGHT. You can use a [relatively inexpensive] TV antenna rotator to turn it!
Assembled the $750 DX Engineering mark 2 Hex beam. Nice hub and the fiberglass spreaders are adequate however the hardware is of low quality. The hose clamps are spot welded to the wire support clips. They are poorly constructed and break easily. Pre cut driven and reflector wires are nice, however none of the rope is pre cut. Recommend that the fiberglass is sprayed with a uv protectant and that anti seize is used on all hardware. Neither of these is provided in the kit.
I have an NA4RR hex beam. Probably one of the best purchases I’ve ever made in ham radio. Extremely simple to put together, in my case, less than an hour. It’s up on top of a 40-foot crank down, tilt over steel tower with a Yaesu rotor. I have been impressed with this antenna since the day I put it up, almost 2 years ago.
Thanks for the info. What 40′ tower did you use?
WB6QEX, Peter
Check out the VHQ Hex Beam, its built to withstand harsh environments.
I’ve lost two Hex Beams to ice and snow here in NH. After getting everything down the defect was consistent, ice/snow accumulation unevenly on the wires and spreader arms, this induced uneven force at the connection point at the top of the center post forcing the post to bend at the bottom.
I purchased the VHQ hex after hearing about it on a local net and am very satisfied with the design and overall quality of this antenna. This is not the least expensive Hex on the market, but when you consider the time, effort and cost to replace faulty antennas, the difference becomes negligible.
73,
K1GHC
Thanks. I will check that out. With propagation getting better, I’ve been thinking of putting up a hex beam this year.
Thanks for the comparative info on the hex beams. I have been working world wide dx from operators using hex beams in Portarico and Panama with s9 plus signals on 10 meters I wish to build one with bamboo spreader in our new location in Chapin South Carolina. The most expensive component is the 2,850 feet of wire.
Any suggestions on a n inexpensive source copper stranded antenna wire