Best hexbeam is....?

[W3HKK]

or are they all the same - other than price?

Am looking for easy assemble-easy take-down-simple reassembly without the parts getting scrambled in the process.

Also, any opeating differences of note between the three main competitors that I know of?

And reliability/durability issues?

Impact of height above ground on performance?  Although we plan to use ours at around 30 ft...it might go as high as 50 ft.

Tnx.

[K2MK]

If by the three competitors you mean Traffie, K4KIO, and DX Engineering then be aware that the Traffie is the original design which makes it slightly smaller and slightly lighter weight than the other two which are a newer design. Details can be found on the individual websites.

I have the Traffie 5 band and it is in my opinion very robust considering a hex beam is a bunch of fiberglass and copper wire. Performance for all 3 is very similar and all will work well at 30 feet and better at 50 feet. All 3 are broadband but the newer design is considered the broadband design. However, in practice my Traffie (at 30 feet) is under 1.6:1 SWR over the entire range of all 5 bands.

I've had mine down, disassembled, stored and reassembled with no difficulty. Under an hour for either disassembly or reassembly. First time assembly for the Traffie and K4KIO should be under 2 hours but I think some cutting and measuring might be required for the DX Engineering. All can be done by one person but a helper for one or two of the tasks would make things easier.

73,
Mike K2MK

[M0TTB]

The 'broadband' aspect and design goals of the G3TXQ design (K4KIO, MW0JZE, DX engineering) is less to do with nice low SWR across the wider bands, more to do with slightly more consistent F/B and forward gain across the bands.

I spoke to an HK who has had both, and he insists the F/B is far better on the G3TXQ version he now has...  but I'm not convinced it would be that dramatic a difference, and we're talking very small differences in forward gain as well.

[G3TXQ]

The 'broadband' aspect and design goals of the G3TXQ design (K4KIO, MW0JZE, DX engineering) is less to do with nice low SWR across the wider bands, more to do with slightly more consistent F/B and forward gain across the bands.

Correct! My revised design was aimed primarily at extending the performance bandwidth, not the SWR bandwidth. It was serendipity that it also happened to place best F/B at the same frequency as minimum SWR, which is not the case with the original design.

73,
Steve G3TXQ

[K4RVN]

I just finished assembling Steve's Design from K4KIO 2 days ago. It was prebuilt, then taken apart and shipped to me so I had nothing to do but assemble it. That's a good reason for lazy people like me to buy it. It works better than expected at 47 feet on a Rohn 25 with a modified Hazer. It has big shoes to fill as it replaced a 3 element 5 band quad. So far I am happy with the purchase and think you would like a hex beam. This is plug and play as they advertise. I have used all five bands and made contacts on all. I don't know about the other hex beams but this one should be up with the best from my brief use.

Frank

[KH6DC]

Bobber Hex is another brand that came into the limelight maybe a year or two ago.  You have Traffie, K4KIO, DX Engineering and Bobber Hex.  There may be other which I failed to mention, sorry but these 4 are the ones I know of.

73 Delwyn KH6DC

[G3TXQ]

Outside of the USA you also have:

http://www.g3txq-hexbeam.com/
http://www.dl7io.de/reflectedw/reflectedw_parts.html

MW0JZE, K4KIO and DXE versions are my broadband design; the others are the classic Traffie design.

Steve G3TXQ