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| Reviews Summary for Spiderbeam |
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Reviews: 10
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Average rating: 4.3/5
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MSRP: $300
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Description: The spider beam is a full size lightweight tribander yagi for 20/15/10m, made of fiberglass and wire. While the antenna is as light as a mini beam it maintains the gain and F/B ratio of a typical full size tribander. The whole antenna weight is only 5.5kg (11 lbs) making it ideally suited for portable use. It can be carried and installed easily by a single person.
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More info: http://www.qsl.net/df4sa/index_spider.htm
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F6DDR
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 16, 2009 16:46
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Very nice antenna
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Hello
I have the antenna SPIDERBEAM HEAV DUTY 5 BANDS for 2 years, it has been with 15m ground, I am really very happy, I make many DX you can listen to at this address files MP3.
http://www.f6ddr.fr/spiderbeam_f6ddr.htm
Best 73s
Phil F6DDR in F- NANCY / JN38DS
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M0CHK
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 1, 2008 05:17
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Update
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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18 months on & still going strong.(5 band heavey duty @ 20mtrs)
We've had some very high wind here over the last 12 months or so & it just flexes & comes back for more. Used it on many contests & DX chasing never fails to impress guest ops.
Re-newed the coax this weekend due to water ingress. All look O.K with the beam & few signs of weathering but nothing to worry about.
Again well done Con A*
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ZL2MAT
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Rating: 4/5
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Mar 11, 2008 22:42
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5 band h/duty
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Time owned: more than 12 months
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Well 1st things first.I have had the antenna up at this location ( Wangnaui,N.IS ZL land ) for over a year now and i have the following to say about this antenna.
1. READ the instructions.....as the other ops have said the instruction manual for the 5 band requires you to flick back and forth between the front and back due to different measurements as for the 3 band.
2. Measure correctly! Any difference will make the swr go out of sink.
For an extra charge con will send you a PRE-MADE antenna.All measurements done and that inc the balun.I bought the kit version and i must say it took a while to put together.But if i had known about the pre made antenna i would have gone for that version.I will be in the future purchasing these pre made up elements for future repairs.
3. I made the mistake of mucking the feeder lines up as i was getting VERY high swr on all bands. But a quick e-mail to con the owner and a few photos of the feeder line produced a set of feeder lines correctly made from Germany( at no expense to me..wow thanks con.)Now the swr is great on 4 of the bands.15m is out.My father was visiting from the GW land an i let him measure....!!Not again...lol.
4.Yes the antenna is large!..you do need space to put this antenna together ,but its very light and i was able to put it on the tower with help from ZL2FT jason.
5.Yes this is no monoband yagi...or steppir antenna..............but you are able to work all the band without the swr going to high.
Now for some other dissapointing points.
1. For a heavy duty antenna you will find if you live in a windy location that the 2 6mm bolts holding the u clamps to the centre plate will shear off....mine did about a dozen times.So sick of buying the 6mm bolts i drilled them out and now have 10mm bolts with an extra 2 exhaust u clamps and the antenna is sturdy as hell in fairly strong winds.I do however tilt the tower down in really gale force winds.
Comunication between Con and myself was first class even while he was away on business i received a reply within 24 hrs with the required help.No question,how stupid was answered.
I have found this antenna to be excellent ,especially on the 20m band...i have had excellent reports from all over the globe and have enjoyed many a pile up on 20m.
17m is excellent also...1;1 across the band and again have found the antenna to work well.
15m well ...due to heavy wind here in Wanganui..the 15m feeder line always breaks ..so now all i do is roughly measure it and put it back up..its a little high on the swr but the icom 756 pro 2 does the jo9b,even running 500 watts.
12/10m i havent worked many stations on these bands as they have been dead due to sun spot cycles.
Over all i would conclude that this antenna works very well for what its made from!!It keeps up with the motorised antennas and i would have no problem in putting another one up! But with the extras i have done myself.This antenna would be ideal for a weekend retreat, i look forward to when the cycle really kick in as i cant wait to see how this little beauty performs.I ahve managed to work other spider users..Volker ZS1Y with no problems both ways.
Front to back is also great but like most wire antennas a little gets left in through the back door so to speak.
Anyway.for those thinking of getting in touch with Con.Dont be put off by some of the negative comments on this antenna......all i have to say is check the dx cluster most evenings and see how many zl stations are spotted!!I have always been consistant on there since erecting this antenna....to some operators annoyance.....and remember..if something breaks on this antenna you still can use it on other bands...unlike the..well...you know the antenna!!I wont STEPP in it so to speak.
73 and take a look at my qrz.com web page for a photo of my antenna.
MAthew ZL2MAT
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LA8NHA
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Rating: 2/5
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Dec 3, 2007 05:30
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Heavy duty ?
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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Used 4-6 days during the springtime to put this thing together. Finnally mounted it 3m above the roof, about 10m above ground level. Connected the antenna to my TT Omni VII via 15m of RG8-x, and turned on the tranceiver. What a disapointment ! Compared to my other antennas ; one full size loop for 80m and a 43 foot vertical from Zero Five mounted on the ground with 90 radials total length of 4000 feet the Spiderbeam only occasinally produced a better signal into my tranceiver. But thats ok, here comes what you should remember. Living at 60 degrees north at 1200 feet close to the coast meens a lot of weather during the wintertime. First snowfall of the season the hole antenna collapsed, one one the fiberglasspole was broken. I could certainly have ordered a new from Spiderbeam, but enough is enough and I say 73 to this antenna and a SteppIR is on its way.
This was the Heavy Duty version, build as a 5 bander.
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VO1AU
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Rating: 2/5
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Aug 9, 2007 20:36
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Too tangly for a small space
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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I bought a heavy-duty five-band spiderbeam in 2006, and tried unsuccessfully to erect it in the spring of 2007. I had hoped it would be a good choice for my new restricted-space location in VE3-land. I was wrong.
My own experience with attempting to assemble and raise a Spiderbeam was very frustrating. I followed the directions very closely, but I noticed some contradictions. For example, when it came to measuring guy lines, the instructions gave a specific length in millimetres, then separately added the critical instruction to add an additional 20 centimetres to each end.
Assembling the 5 band version requires different element lengths form the 3-band version, but those lengths are contained in annexes separate from the main body of the instructions. That required continuously flipping back and forth between the main body of the directions and the tables of element lengths at the back of the instruction booklet.
The holes in the ends of the small black insulators are too small to accommodate the heavy-duty dacron rope used to support the elements. The insulators will not hold a guy under tension without slipping.
The instructions directed me to burn the ends of the dacron rope as I cut them. This was a bad instruction, as the rope did not respond well to flame. The outer layer receded at a different rate that the inner layer, and the two layers would not bond. My ends of dacron were just frazzled messes.
Assembling the antenna MUST be done on the mast you intend to use, at ground level. Only once it is completely assembled on the mast can you raise the mast and antenna to it's tower-top location. The directions are NOT explicit about this. They should be, as this can make a huge difference in planning you installation, or even deciding whether this antenna is suitable for your configuration.
The antenna is so large and has so many wires and cords attached that you ABSOLUTELY MUST have a large clear area in the immediate vicinity of your tower. This is not an antenna that can be erected in restricted space environments. You do not want to have any tree, structure, shingle or bush within 10 metres of your tower when raising this antenna. I suppose you could use a crane, but using a crane to erect an 11kg antenna sounds beyond stupid.
This antenna can ONLY be mounted at the top of your mast. If you have fantasies of erecting VHF antennas above your Spiderbeam, abandon them now. You will not be able to get them through your Spiderbeam.
The O-rings that are used on the fibreglass arms do not install well, and I am unconvinced that they afford any real advantage or security.
This antenna is great in concept, and I admire a great deal of the cleverness of the design, but mine is sitting in a box in my garage. In my case, therefore, it was C$600 very poorly spent. I am now looking to buy a conventional small tribander.
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K3SWJ
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Rating: 5/5
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Aug 3, 2007 08:05
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Terrific Light weight Beam
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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I bought the heavy duty Spiderbeam kit. The antenna has 3 el on 20m, 15m and 4 el on 10m. 17m and 12m are 2 el yagis. The antenna is not difficult to build but the directions on how to cut can be confusing. One must get the lengths correct to make it work. If you have questions, ask on the spiderbeam yahoo group before screwing up. I had to replace much of the monofil guying material with 200 lb braided dacron line. The antenna is weight balanced over the mounting mast which is great as it makes it easier to raise and rotate. After many weeks of testing, the antenna has between 12 and 18 dB front to back ratio on all bands. The antenna on 20m has between 3 and 12 dB gain over a dipole. Since I'm using a trap dipole with operates on the other bands as a longer antenna, the gain from 0 to 10 dB relative to that antenna. It is quieter than the dipole on all bands. I also compared it to a Gap Titan and it has alot of gain in comparison (3 to 4 s units). While it didn't let me break thru the BS7H pileups, I could hear the VU7 andaman and laccadive expeditions quite well. I have had only one problem and that was failure to adequately tighten the ubolt clamps from the spiderbeam to the mast. There is a considerable rotational momement ( for an antenna that seems light). The standard spider beam is 11 lbs and the HD version is 22 lBs. I use an HD 10 meter (33ft) spiderbeam aluminum mast to hold it up and that works very well. While I order from Germany, there is now a US distributor (www.dx-is.com) Once you have assembled it, it is easy to take apart, reassemble, move and re-erect. This is a great antenna especially if you do any portable or expedition work. Ed KE3D (ex K3SWJ)
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N2EIK
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 28, 2007 10:15
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Very nice!
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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I took down my Maco/Wilson sy33 over ten years ago and dropped back into Ham just a couple years ago so here goes...
I was 'surviving' on a windom and finally got fed up with that and built a 20 meter delta loop, and other vees and slopers for the other hf bands. I really wanted a tower and big-gun type of yagi again (having had one in the past) and found the spider quite by accident. It seemed like the answer to my prayers. Light, small rotator needed, small tripod ok, 5 bands and full legal which is good as I use an AL-1500 amp. After a few emails to paul and con I bought one. Delivery was fast. I counted all the parts and true to the reviews I have read there were bakers dozens on all the hardware. They must know im a clutz! I read the old qst review and the eham reviews and carefully started to measure and cut the Dacron and elements. I was VERY careful on the Dacron and ran short and had to buy 200 pound neon yellow (only color they had) dacron at the sporting goods store. It looks kind of cool and as an after thought I was thinking..."hmmmm, do ALL the supports in neon yellow?" The XYL quickly extinguished that idea :-(
So only the 20 end director is neon yellow and I thought that was cool because it points forward. A good visual from my window.
It took me a couple weeks to get it totally assembled as I could only cut one or two elements at 5am or 7pm as my very busy schedule allowed.
I had several questions along the way and Con was able to answer them quickly. My mistake here...I cut the 20 director of 1028cm to 1024 and had to use the 1024 to make two smaller elements and there was still several yards of wire left on the spool when I was finished. BE CAREFULLY, MEASURE, READ THE MANUAL, MEASURE, READ! Somethings in the manual only appear confusing at first, when you go to do the task they become very clear.
I found a used rotor on ebay and got the whole darn thing on the garage roof last night..YEEHAA!
My tests this morning so far was no higher than 1.3 :1 on all bands, an darn near 1:1 on 12mtr.
On 20 I was listening to the Florida QSO party people calling and was able to switch between my Spider and 20 Delta and I found S2 on the delta and s6-7 on the Spider. Very cool!!! The XYL is going to be very happy when I start taking my 20/17/15 wires down.
(1)I have the heavy duty 5 band version.
(2) I ran short on monofiliment, not dacron. I replaced the missing monofil with 200lb test dacron.
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K4WY
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Rating: 5/5
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Apr 26, 2007 12:32
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SUPER
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Time owned: 6 to 12 months
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In concert with other reviews I found this purchase to be the best I ever made for an mutliband yagi. The fiberglass and wire construction may put some prospective buyers off but I will confirm for you that the beam withstood 60 knot winds in March, and a winter of hail, snow, and the usual temps. Most recent contact of note was N8S on two bands, took 5 or 6 calls but I got him without a major hassle.
If the rating went to 6 I woudl give to them becasue they earned it with a great f/b plus gain yagi that has superb mechanical specs.
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GI7DBN
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Rating: 5/5
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Mar 19, 2006 11:34
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5 Band Heavy Duty Beam
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Time owned: 0 to 3 months
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Just got my 5-Band Heavy Duty version up in the last couple of days and to say
that i'm happy with it is an understatement!
It is a 3 element on 20m and 15m, 4 element on 10m and 2 elements on 12m and 17m, making 14 full sized elements in total on a 10m (33 foot) boom.
Today, in just a few hours I have managed to work Antigua, Canada,
East Malaysia, S. Africa and Zambia (the last two through pile ups)
all from Ireland using 400w on 20m with the antenna at 25 feet above
ground.
Oh, and I was even able to work HS0ZFA in Thailand when I was tuning
it in the garden at just 6 feet!
I bought the full kit from Con only a few weeks ago, it all went
together easily, SWR's are fine on all bands (only minor tweaking required)and
I can't think of a better antenna for the money. You won't be
disappointed.
73
Ed
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SM7VZX
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Rating: 5/5
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Oct 31, 2003 02:43
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Real Performer
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Time owned: 3 to 6 months
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The antenna is well designed and easy to assemble.
It's not a magic antenna but this is one great antenna. From the electrical to mechanical design, I have been happy. Easy to put together and it works like a nice performer.
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