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[K4RKX]

Hello friends,

About as far as I can hear / talk on 100 watts IC-7300 is Spain / Italy.. seems like others have mentioned this .  I have QSOs from that area.

I would like to reach other areas . For starters how would a hexbeam Clothes line antenna work if I install it on my TV tower that is about 50' up at 325 ft above sea level.

Would this be a good start?  Also if you like the hexbeam , which brand/ or fellow Ham would you purchase one from? 


I am in Central North Carolina

I really appreciate the help!

[WY4J]

NA4RR, affordable and easy to build. Had one and loved it. http://k4hex.com/

[K1VSK]

Hello friends,

About as far as I can hear / talk on 100 watts IC-7300 is Spain / Italy.. seems like others have mentioned this .  I have QSOs from that area.

I would like to reach other areas . For starters how would a hexbeam Clothes line antenna work if I install it on my TV tower that is about 50' up at 325 ft above sea level.

Would this be a good start?  Also if you like the hexbeam , which brand/ or fellow Ham would you purchase one from? 


I am in Central North Carolina

I really appreciate the help!

I’ve worked well over 240 countries with less than 100w since installing a Hexbeam at 30 ft so it is what it is - a small low gain antenna with some directivity and some F/B ratio. Higher elevation is always better.
 You can achieve equivalent or greater results if you operate on CW.

[K8AC]

I don't think anyone refers to a hex beam as a clothes line antenna, but being an old guy I know what you mean.  The Hex beam is a two element beam and will perform as well as any other two element beam, yagi or etc.  No reason you can't work the world with it.  I used one on my 35 foot TV tower for 10 years, turned by an old TV antenna rotor, and even worked North Korea on it from central North Carolina.  I suggest you go to the reviews section here on eHam and look at the HF Antennas item.  Sort it by number of users and you'll see that the majority of the top antennas in terms of number of users is the hex beam.  All of the current (and past) manufacturers are in that list and they're just about all rated highly.  Pick one at your price point and read through the reviews, particularly the negative ones, and see if they are particularly difficult to assemble or have other problems.  Everyone is going to recommend to you the one they've purchased, but the reviews will help you sort out some you might want to shy away from.  The hex beam is less likely than a yagi to be damaged in high winds and its very low rotating mass allows you to get by with a TV rotor (or other light duty rotator).  Beware of any with unpainted or uncoated fiberglass spreaders as they will be damaged by the strong NC sun over a few years.

73, K8AC - West Jefferson, NC

[KH6AQ]

A Hexbeam has 3.5 dB of gain over a dipole mounted in the same location. That is enough to make a difference and I think it's similar to a small tribander or a Spiderbeam. I installed a Hexbeam for its relatively low wind loading and six band capability.

I have a KIO Hexbeam and it was truely plug-and-play. Every wire and cord is precut. After painting the fiberglass spreaders assembly took about an hour and a half. The only thing I don't like about the KIO Hexbeam is that the feed assembly is not electrically isolated from the mast thereby making one side of each driven element common to the mast. To fix this I replaced the short aluminum tube at the bottom of the feed assembly with a fiberglass tube.

[N0GV]

The F/B ratio on the lowest frequencies of the hex beam and it's relatively narrow BW  are their Achilles heels. Their strengths are that they have some gain (~1/2 an S unit) and some F/B (about an S unit or so) while covering a number of bands.  A small Yagi (Cushcraft MA-5B) would outperform the hexbeam in my opinion.

Grover

[VR2AX]

It's a 2 element yagi, of the Moxon or Vk2AbQ variety. 3dB gain means double power in the chosen direction. F/b well behind a single band. .

So, assuming you have a good dipole atop the tower and 100 watts, to start, you can predict:

- it will sound like you were TX with 200 or slightly more watts to the other station
- you will receive stations running 50 watts instead of 100 watts equally

The physical construction is not up to the standard of a much heavier traditional beam. But it works and when it breaks you can fix it.

[K8AC]

It can be a bit confusing as to whether or not it's worth the investment for just a few dBs of gain.  Here's another way to look at it: With the hex beam, you will hear things you've never been able to hear before.  Signals that were formerly just below the noise level will now be just above the noise level.  And, that far DX that couldn't hear you calling before because you were down in the noise might now be able to copy you.  The bands will appear to open earlier and close later. 

73, K8AC

[KB4MNG]

I think the hex beam is one of the best antennas around period. I ran one for 2 years. CONs, the materials they use for construction will not weather well like the traditional yagi. After the two years, I saw a lot of problems coming. It looks really bad when up in the air, if you even care about that.

[W1VT]

I've consistently found adding two or three dB more gain to be a noticeable improvement.
I was having trouble working China on 10M so I took down my dual band 10/17M open wire match dipole and replaced it with a 43 ft Extended Double Zepp.
 I worked China about 5 hours after putting it up.  Then I worked two more the following day.

Similarly, my 4 element 6M beam consistently works better than small 2 element Yagis for 6M.
This is especially noticeable trying to break multi-hop E skip paths to new countries I need.  In theory the small Yagis would be useful for finding DX stations but in practice it didn't work that way.

Zak W1VT

[K0AP]

Hello friends,

About as far as I can hear / talk on 100 watts IC-7300 is Spain / Italy.. seems like others have mentioned this .  I have QSOs from that area.

I would like to reach other areas . For starters how would a hexbeam Clothes line antenna work if I install it on my TV tower that is about 50' up at 325 ft above sea level.

Would this be a good start?  Also if you like the hexbeam , which brand/ or fellow Ham would you purchase one from? 


I am in Central North Carolina

I really appreciate the help!

HEX would be an excellent start. I have been using a HEX beam at 40ft for 15 years. Currently using K4KIO HEX for the past 7-8 years. Prior to the K4KIO, I used WI4USA brand (out of business) which was also very good. K4KIO makes great quality HEX, no issues.
As far as performance, I worked 332 DXCC countries on 20m alone, with the HEX. Last new DXCC worked was 3Y0J on 17m with the HEX DXCC #333. FT8WW was also worked on 20m CW. So, this should tell you a lot.
I know there are many non-believers (or should I call them sceptics) in this antenna but most of these people are using big antenna arrays or other large yagis which of course the HEX cannot compare with. Those who can't afford big antennas and are limited with real estate, antenna restrictions etc... HEX should be on top of their list. My DXCC scores and successes using this little gem in the pileups is a testament of its actual performance.

73 Dragan K0AP

[G4AON]

There is a huge amount of information on the original and later wideband Hex at this site by Steve G3TXQ (SK):
http://www.karinya.net/g3txq/hexbeam/

Unlike trapped beams, it is relatively straightforward to model a Hex, Steve provides an EZNEC model that includes actual measurements as validation for EZNEC SWR and F/B predictions.

73 Dave

[NA4M]

Does your QTH's weather have chance of icing?   The recent ice storm here in Texas etc. resulted in lots of antenna damage.  Saw pictures of hexheams that were completely collapsed and broken down like a folded umbrella due to icing.   

[W1VT]

I know my portable 4el 6M Yagi won't handle icing, so I only have it up during the Summer E skip Season.

With the high cost of aluminum, it may be worthwhile to put a Hexbeam as a temporary antenna knowing that it won't handle icing.
You may decide on something else after gaining experience.  Maybe a bigger beam!

[K4RVN]

Howdy Chris, Frank here born in Charlotte, raised in Georgia.
I have had the K4KIO hex for 12 years without a problem. There is a lot of bum information posted by
those who don't own a hex and are reading old stuff off the net with no experience whatever. The G3TXQ
broadband design is improved over early hex beams.  K4KIO , NA4RR and maybe others use the newer design which is now old and proven from G3 TXQ now a silent key.
My 12 year experience is:
The hex replaced a 5 band Cubex Quad at 50 ft which I owned for 20 years. There is not enough difference between the antennas to write home about in 5 band performance for reported signals sent or received on a transceiver.  I think  the hex performs better than the specs which I believe were modeled at 30 ft. At one half wave over ground,  the hex is claimed to have 9dBi gain . Subtract 1.5 from dBi to get dBd, or gain over a dipole. Antenna ratings are usually in free space so one has to take them as qualified not actual installation or height variables. Antenna makers like to fool buyers with the larger numbers of dBi as we are not in free space. It does standardize gain ratings so probably a good thing.
The hex beam uses no matching devices but Yagis and Quads need a device because they are balanced antennas fed with unbalanced coax. They also have interaction between bands which I have not noticed with the hex beam. Mine is less than 1.8 to 1 on 5 bands across the entire SSB portions.
To summarize: I have owned Yagis and 4 quads over the years. It is my opinion the hex beam will perform as well or better than a 2 element Yagi or quad at the same height and multiband operation with one feed line of 50 ohm coax. Also the hex is a light antenna weighing about 25 pounds and will stand lots of wind. If you have concerns over rare ice storms in N.C., buy the ice cords for your hex. Be sure and paint the spreaders. I did not, no failures yet, but they sure are sticky and will fill one full of fiberglass splinters. No problems with my K4KIO in 12 years, still performs like it should, same coax.
I use the MFJ 1 to 1 current balun rated at 1500 watts. The beam is rated at 2KW. I have a phot of mine on the tower on my QRZ if interested.
Luck to you and
73,

Frank