| F6GLX |
Rating:  |
2015-11-02 | |
| Remarkable antenna ! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The hexbeam of Waldi is an excellent two elements antenna in any points of view. Solidity, quality of materials, lightness and obviously the technical conception which is very successful. With 50 meters of coaxial cable, the ROS is lower than 1,2 on almost all the bands, except maybe 24 mhz where it is a little higher but remains moderate and lower than 1,4.( ROS analyser). The assembly is a children's game and without hurrying up we arrive there for the first time within 3 hours, without hurrying up. Once the installed and settled plastic claws for the band's, in 1 hour it is easily feasible in mobile.
This antenna amounts easily on a telescopic mast and considering its reduced scale (6,25m and its low weight (8 or 9kg), it settles down and shows itself perfectly centered without balance of the mast. At my home she is 9,50 m and she works perfectly. The signal/noise ratio is excellent in reception and the emission is perfectly directive. This hexbeam suits well for the reduced spaces and If we take into account the quality of the antenna, then that was worth waiting...!
But Waldi is very certainly also a victim of his succés! The delay between the command and the reception is situated in more than 6 months for me, and it would be highly desirable that it sees again all his organization of production to try to stay for the suitable delay.
Having said that, Waldi is a very open OM and very sympatique man, he answers all the e-mails and is available for advice on simple request. He designed this hexbeam with a remarkable care and an efficiency, which deserve to be underlined and known. Thank you very much Waldi.
André, F6GLX |
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| SQ2FRF |
Rating: |
2015-10-16 | |
| Great antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
This is a really great antenna especially if you have limited space. Antenna was perfectly packed and easy to ass'y without any experience. It is easy to put together and to mount on the mast.
Low SWR, one coax for 6 bands, high input power, very low weight and high quality of materials.
Communication with Waldi is perfect, in few minutes you can get response.
I strongly recommend Waldi's antenna.
Keep up the good work Waldi! |
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| F6DFZ |
Rating: |
2015-10-02 | |
| Very fine experience |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My Hexbeam replaces a Mosley Mini 32AW, miniature beam with 2 elements on 20/15/10 m and a dipole on 17/12 m, that gave good results.
It is installed on a 10 m HD Spiderbeam aluminum push-up mast.
The Andrew FSJ1-50A coaxial cable is 35 m long.
The transceiver is an ANAN100, with an extremely precise S meter, with 6 dB per S points, not like the average Japanese transceiver with 3 dB for each S point.
I compare the Hexbeam with a center-fed at about the same height ; of course, specially on the higher bands, the center fed has some gain in some directions.
I ordered my Hexbeam cut for the CW portions of bands. As read on my ANAN, the SWR is nearly flat on all bands, never exceeding 1.5 on the upper part of some bands.
About noise, the Hexbeam is an average 10 dB more quiet than the center-fed.
About gain, 10% of time the Hexbeam and the center-fed are neck to neck, 80 % of time the Hexbeam shows about 6 dB of gain over the center-fed, and 10 % of time the Hexbeam is 10 dB over the center-fed. If you own a Japanese transceiver, the results will be more spectaculars as read on your S meter !
The antenna looks nicely on the mast but the visual impact is greater than those of the Mosley Mini 32AW.
I have not experienced heavy winds, but with moderate winds the antenna seems very sturdy and the torsional effect on the mast and the rotor are limited.
The quality of craftsmanship is excellent, and it was plug and play. Because you have to adjust the clamps on the fiber glass poles to locate the wires for the 6 bands, you need about 4 to 6 hours to (slowly) assemble the antenna.
The manual is correct, thanks to the large number of pictures.
Delivery delay seems the only weak point. Even thought I offered to translate the manual in French, with the help of F8BSI, it took 10 weeks to get he antenna. I think Waldi should clearly state this fact, the quality of manufacture and the very correct price are worth some weeks of waiting time.
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| IV3XNF |
Rating: |
2015-09-05 | |
| Great Support |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
Waldi is a great, always available, Waldi gives great support, a whirlwind I pulled off two wires Kevlar, I wrote an email to Waldi and quickly sent me two links kevlar with S-hooks.
Performance antenna Waldi are excellent.
Waldi is ready to help with any problem and I would thank you very much.
Thanks Waldi. |
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| CT7ABD |
Rating: |
2015-09-04 | |
| Great antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Pros:
- Quality of the materials looks very nice seem to be durable.
- Good package, antenna was carefully package and dispatch, no damage in the box.
- Easy to mount and install, no adjustment needed, just follow the instructions.
- Good SWR in 20-17-15-10-6m
- Good performance
- Is not too big when the top of the tower, neighbors maybe think that is your new drying clothes and not your HF antenna :)
Cons:
- SWR at 12m band was 1:3,0 at 24.940 MHz and 1:1,1 at 24.600 MHz. Once I not use this band, will not make any adjustments on spacers.
- Waited too long to receive my antenna :(
- The tape was not inside the box as mentioned in the manual, not big issue, just an observation.
I recognize that Waldi do his BEST EFFORT to build each antenna and might have a lot of orders to place,
and my suggestion to Waldi is try to predict better de delivery, after my antenna was build I waited +/- 1 month to finally recive my order.
Waldi need to find a way to make this process better.
Recommended!
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| RC2A |
Rating: |
2015-09-03 | |
| Excellent antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I just have installed this antenna and did not elevated it as planned due to very strong winds these days in Portugal. So being just 2m above the roof of my house (the latter is built from bricks and the roof is about 4m above the ground) antenna showed excellent results with just 200W power from my Yaesu FTDX 9000. I did not find problem to break through few pile-ups.
Comparing with Spiderbeam (my antenna at home) I would say that SP7IDX HexBeam is much more pre-assembled and, thyerefore, requires less time and effort to assemble the antenna. No tuning was required, SWR is well below 1.5 on each band except 12m where it is about 2. However, antenna can work using built-in tuner, so it is not a big issue. I would not make the final judgement as I need to elevate the antenna first.
The quality of materials used seems to be well - down the road we will see. Here in Portugal my previous vertical antenna from MFJ died in 2.5 years - I hope this HexBeam will live much longer!
I have installed the antnna at the mast also supplied by Waldi. Good mast and installation was easy.
To complete the picture I have to admit that delivery time was long. However, as I am visiting Porugal three times a year for vacations I was in the position to wait, so it was not an issue for me.
Summarizing, I am happy with my new antenna. Would I recommend it - definitely YES!
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|
| UA9CDC |
Rating: |
2015-08-19 | |
| Good but there is room for improvement |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I have 3 different Hex beam antennas. This one came the last so I can compair it with the other two.
Positive:
1) Good quality of material and well manufactured.
2) Performs as advertised (SWR, F\B )
3) Packed well
4) Includes balun.
5) Waldy quickly responds to emails.
Negative:
1) Promised delivery time is not kept. I and couple of my friends had to wait 3 month instead of promised 1 month. One can speed up delivery by paying 100 EURO extra.
2) Unlike MW0JZE hex beam this one is semi kit. You have to install wire holders on 5 spreaders yourself using 1 spreader (where wire holders already installed) as the example.
3) Antenna come s with no manual. You have to request it by email.
4) Antenna is tuned for SSB. I wish it is tuned for CW instead because shortening wires is a lot easier then extending them.
5) No adapter offered for central hub tube that would fit into standard G800 rotator. You have to source adapter yourself. I wish this part of antenna is a bit more universal. |
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| F8BSI |
Rating: |
2015-08-16 | |
| Hexbeam antenna SP7IDX |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
First of all, a big thank you to Waldi (SP7IDX) for his kindness and availability all the time !
Really great OM.
Waldi gives great support.
No matter what I asked and when I wrote him an email, I got a reply within a short time.
All the positives :
1.Excellent quality, excellent design and very easy to build.
2.One coax for 6 bands
3.High input power 1,5kW
4. SWR is very good on all 6 band's.
5.Very lightweight only 9kg (version HD)
6.Good compromise between performance, size and weight
7.Highest quality materials
8.Small wind load
9.Small size (garden antenna !)
Very good price for a high-quality antenna, both technically and performance.
I'm totally satisfied with the Hexbeam antenna by SP7IDX and recommend Waldi's Hexbeam to all.
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| RM2D |
Rating: |
2015-07-27 | |
| Fully meets (and exceed) expectations |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
My idea to look into Hexbeams and Spiderbeams started when planning for my upcoming XV2D expedition later this fall. Criteria was light weigh. solid mechanical construction, easy to assemble, performance at low height.
After having scanned through basically all producers of such antennas, I decided to go for the SP7IDX antenna. I also ordered his lightweight aluminium telescopic mast (7 meters high).
I must say waiting time was a bit annoying. Promised delivery time was not kept, and a bit of funny excuses were made from Waldi's side about logistics and customs control for delivery to Russia. Having been importing goods from all over Europe, including Poland, I think some of the "explanations" were a bit too easy to fool me...
Never mind, I was not in a big rush - just wanted to assemble the antenna in Moscow before bringing it to Vietnam.
Packaging and quality of all parts was simply EXCELLENT when finally arrived here. Installatio instructions were missing, but Waldi is always very quick on email replies, and a few hours later I had a good English installation manual. Actually to be honest, I would have managed to install it without manual, because everything is so perfectly marked.
Results can only be determined from low height installation (actually even less than 7 meters). SWR on all bands within stated limits. My Expert 1.3 K-FA easily tunes any SWR that exceeds my own limits.
F/B and F/S is a bit lower than the measurement shown in the diagram, but I am sure they will be 20-25 dB at least when raising the antenna to 12-15 meters, which is my plan.
The antenna is so good that I am considering to leave the DX-expedition antenna as my fixed antenna, and then order a new one for portable operation eventually.
So, all in all, this is a VERY good antenna, and I can recommend SP7IDX as a supplier and builder of the antenna. What he maybe should focus on, is to be better in estimating delivery times... If you need the antenna quickly, you can add an extra fee for quick deliveries. I think several did around the time I ordered it for standard delivery time - and I eventually had to suffer that other added money for quick deliveries. I ended up last in libe behind those who paid more...
Anyway, despite of this, SP7IDX makes super antennas and when going to an expedition, do not hesitate to go for this solution. I have been able to break many, many rare piles to the Pacific Ocean even on 20 meters with a kW and the Hexbeam mounted at 6 meters height. Simply amazing performance! |
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| M6LDZ |
Rating: |
2015-07-20 | |
| Great but for the Wait |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
This antenna is to be recommended and, had I had it a while ago, there is a chance that the StepIr might not have been installed.
As it is, because of problematic transport issues out of anyone's control it took 6 months to get to me. By then, being new to the hobby, therefore super keen and having a planning battle on my hands for my old Gap Titan (another superb antenna) I had to move to get something up. That process lead to a DB-11 on the pneumatic mast and I have reviewed that elsewhere.
So the Hex will be used portable, for which it is ideally suited. Once built for the first time it takes half an hour to put together and when partnered with the mast Waldi offers is a great proposition for portable. That's why loads of the Dxpeditioners use it.
So how dose it fare against the StepIr. Thankfully, as the DB-11 costs £2,000 more than the Hex, it is not quite so good on the weaker signals but it is pretty close. On my blog you will see a comparison on a strong signal and reports were no material difference between the two antennas (the DB-11 being 2m lower).
I am taking it on its first mini dxpedition outing next week and there will be some more in depth tests posted in the blog after that.
Construction is very good and even with me dropping it on its side whilst trying a one man mast erection it is still fighting fit.
So in conclusion; would I recommend it yes, and I have done to some friends. Would I still buy the StepIr over it. Yes. No question. Is the StepIr worth £2000 more in performance terms? Probably not but for all the other things it can do...it is to me.
Luckily I have the best of both worlds and have the Hex, which I consider the best portable HF antenna for expeditions. You could not consider easily taking the StepIr on holiday.......although we do take the 4 element portable for club comps when we have the manpower to put it up. Its not something I would get Mrs LDZ helping with though!
What could be improved...not much. I am working on a quicker way to clip the elements in and a carry bag would be nice. But let's face it most will be using it in a permanent location so neither of these is relevant.
There are some pictures and words on my blog of you want to delve deeper
http://chopcat.co.uk/page1/blog/index.html |
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