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Reviews For: RADIOWAVZ RWST40LL-6 Sentinel Hex Beam 20-6m with 40m section

Category: Antennas: HF: Yagi, Quad, Rotary dipole, LPDA

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Review Summary For : RADIOWAVZ RWST40LL-6 Sentinel Hex Beam 20-6m with 40m section
Reviews: 2MSRP: 975.95
Description:
The Sentinel Hex Beam is a directional antenna that provides great performance and reduced size. The G3TXQ broad band hexagonal beam for 20,15,10,6 meters is constructed of six fiberglass arms and insulated stranded copper wire. The Sentinel series single band hex beam consists of two elements. The driven element is in the shape of an “W” and the reflector element is wrapped around the four spreaders to the back. This reduces the need for a heavy supporting structure. The supporting structure consists of six flexible fiberglass arms attached to a base. The arms form a hexagonal shape hence the name "hexagonal beam".
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.radiowavz.com/product/sentinel-hex-beam
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0023
NB4R Rating: 2022-05-11
Very good antenna so far. Would have loved some instructions Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I have come in to do an update and upgrade to my initial review. The antenna was up over eighteen months. In that time I have made many contacts around the world. The antenna is very durable and has worked perfectly in the heat, cold and wind. I've never had any issues with icing at all. I recently moved to a different QTH and had to take the tower and antenna down. When i took it apart I discovered that everything looked like new. The ropes looked like new and were still flexible. I was expecting to find it hard and brittle. Not at all. I also expected to find the insulation weathered and cracking, Again, not at all. I had put that brush on liquid rubber to each terminal. All the connections were still tight. When I put it back up I may add terminal ends to the wires for better connectivity. The fiberglass also looked like new. Maybe it wasn't up long enough to show any indication of weathering and UV damage. When it goes back up I will also go through and tune it better. Resonance was a little lower for each band than I like so I will shorten them a little. Lastly, when it goes back up it will have some sort of tilt lock device under the beam to ease in raising and lowering of the tower. Unlike some aluminium antennas I've seen stay up 30, 40 years with no issues (or needed maintenance). I expect this antenna and all of it's type will require frequent checks and preventative maintenance. That is something I believe in. Therefore I raise this to a five star rating for performance and durability!
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I don't do reviews often. I thought I might do this one. I purchased this 6-20 meter with the 40 meter add on in December 2019.
It was cold outside so I was in no hurry to get it. But, after a couple of months I was beginning to wonder where it was. I called the vendor.
He said He would call Radiowavz and let me know when to expect it. They said it would be a couple weeks and it did arrive. i received it in a long box late one evening.
It arrived in a long cardbord box that had the antenna partially hanging out one end. The box looked like it had been dragged behind the FedEx truck.
I cut the end out and pulled the parts out and made a cursery inspection. Everything looked good.

I wasn't able to get it assembled and put up until September 2020. I also had to install the tower. I drove a short piece of conduit
into the ground. to build the antenna on. There were no instructions. I watched a YouTube video of two Radiowavz employees assembling the exact same hex beam. Between starting the assembly and rewatching parts of the video, I had it completed in about two hours. It was very simple to assemble and went together easily. I was impressed with the fiberglass spreaders. They look and feel like they should last a long time. The thing that made it go so easily were eyes the wires pass through were made so that all you have to to is drop and twist the wire into each eye. If I were building another one I could probably do it in less than 45 minutes. After I had all the wires and rope strung, I had to go around and adjust the wires so they were as taunt as they were going to get. If the antenna didn't have the 40 meter portion, the wires could probably be adjusted tight. Each 40 meter driver had a portion where the wire was wrapped back and forth through plastic forms that formed a caged section. This was to lengthen each driver. The reflector had two such sections. The added weight between several spreaders caused that section to sag. With the extra weight it was impossible to make that portion tight. Attempting to tighted them resulted in the other six band wires to loosen. I setteled with just a little droop in the 40 meter portion. After I put it atop the 40 ft tower the droop was barely noticable. With all the damage to the box the only thing broken was one of the wire eye guides. I contacted Radiowavz. THey set it immediately and I had it in less than a week.

Before I put it up I ran tests with my RigExpert tester. All bands were resonant at the lower end of each band on the seperate band sections. The SWR was highest on the lower bands and lowest on the upper bands. The highest SWR for each band was around 2:1. The 40 meter portion was resonant in the middle and was wide banded. It had two dips. It also looked really good on 80 meters as well.

I haven't made many contacts as of yet. I have been using a 160 meter loop. During this work I shortened it to 80 meters. I have been listening and amking comparisons between the two. The hex beam is quiter then the loop. I live in the country and the hex beam is really quiet. It was so quiet I thought something was wrong with it. It was fine. The first signal I heard was very loud and punched through with no issues. A QSO I was listening to was quite comparable between both antennas. The bands change so fast lately makes it difficult to be sure of what I'm hearing. Time will tell. There is good side rejection. It's really difficult to tell the difference between the front and rear. But, like I said, rapidly changing bands make things difficult.

There are almost no reviews on the antenna. The ones I have found were all, well, not good. In contrast to the review that found the kit badly made and difficult to assemble I found just the opposite. The only thing I found lacking was assembly instructions. I found some papers in the box that was advertising other items Radiowavz sells, BUT NO INSTRUCTIONS. PLEASE, sit down and draw out some instructions. Not everyone out here is a well seasoned ham. Some of us are new to antenna building. I had never as much seen a hex beam before and didn't have a clue where to start. I stumbled across their very well made assembly video. That made what I was dreading into almost a pleasure.
I am very curious to know how well this is antenna is performing for others.

I do like the antenna. Could I have saved money by DIYing my own? Yes, maybe. I would buy another antenna from Radiowavz. I'm anxious how well it will work. I'll try and return with that review in the future 73,NB4R
N5WNG Rating: 2021-07-26
Sentinel Broadband that includes 40m and 80M Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I typically avoid writing reviews, especially poor ones.
I have also installed many antennas at my own QTH on several towers.

I have spent the last 6 months, primarily due to weather, helping a vision impaired ham build and install a Radiowavz Sentinel Hex Beam that included both the 40 M and and 80 elements.

let me point out the antenna was an estate sale item, but the box was unopened, and was approximately 2-3 years old.

No parts were missing or broken. Assembly for the 20-6 was fairly straight forward. The 40 and 80 meter assembly has been a very different story.

Firstly the the assembly instructions are simply the worst I have ever encounter, after 60 + years in the hobby.

Once assembled and installed on a 30 foot tower, SWR on 20-10 was acceptable. 40 Meters dipped at 7.515MHZ ( using Rig Expert), and 80 meters was an open. Inspection showed the 40 and 80 meter pieces had steel washers at the wire connection and were severally rusted. This has not yet been fixed and may be a contributing factor to the SWR issues.
Discussions with RW via phone on the 40 meter issue was in Texas they typically se them low, not high - add wire.

On the air 20-6 performance has been reasonable. However, I would be surprised at its longer term durability. Having just assembled a JK 40 meter antenna and installed by myself at my QTH, what a difference!

Could I recommend this antenna to another ham - NO. There are better designed and built products out there, by contrast my C31 has been up 22 years. You do get what you pay for.