| W9RTB |
Rating:      |
2023-03-02 | |
| Hearing is Believing |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I can hardly believe how well the VHQ Hexbeam worked. My friend did a demo on 20 meter Saturday afternoon. He was answered by several other hexbeams. He was 10-20 over and the others were barely S8-9. There is something to the increased gain of this antenna. I heard it with my own ears. The VHQ HEX was the strongest signal on the band, constantly. Need I say more? There were several other yagi antennas in the mix. This new design sets a new standard in hexbeams. Based on performance, I wish I could give it more than 5 stars. |
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| K7PAP |
Rating:      |
2023-02-22 | |
| Truly The King of Hex Beams! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Putting a directional antenna of a cliff edge in Montana was my goal. No access, everything had to be hand carried up. We spent a great deal of time figuring out how we might make this happen. This is a super harsh and exposed tower setup and mil spec equipment needed to be used. A Mosley Yagi was to be the antenna until I came across the VHQ Hex Beam. This antenna is a beast. From the massive center post which is the foundation of the antennas strength, to the mast Hub, to the little things like added stainless steel bands on the spreader arms. It's built right and I'm sure that's why it has a life time guarantee...So how does it perform? The SWR across all bands are as advertised. It has great front to back performance and great gain. As good as the VHQ is, the best part of my experience with this product is the mad scientist Dave who builds it. Dave has answered every call and every question I've thrown at him and has been a great partner with us. I can't thank him enough. Do yourself a favor and do it right. The VHQ is clearly the best out there! Please reach out to me if you have questions...Scott K7PAP
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| VE3RTG |
Rating:      |
2022-12-20 | |
| This thing should be nicknamed BUSTER |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| This thing should be nicknamed "BUSTER" for that's what it does. Busts in on pile ups and gets it done. After looking at every hex beam available, I went with the one that is made to be put up and stay up, taking the shitty weather and smiling back at it. I live in Ontario where the weather can and usually does destroy antennas. It might be a few dollars more up front. But I'm betting in the long run it's cheaper if I don't have go through the hassle of remove and rebuild. Shipping was fast, assembly was easy and no tuning required. I've posted pictures posted on QRZ. https://www.qrz.com/db/VE3RTG |
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| N4CPT |
Rating:      |
2022-12-05 | |
| Engineering Masterpiece |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Just received my New VHQ Hex Beam from Dave and my first impression. WOW! This hex beam is top quality and surely a masterpiece of engineering. Made from superior parts and craftmanship. All parts are neatly packaged, marked, and looks like a breeze to assemble. Just setting my shack back up after a disastrous lightning strike 2.5 years ago. The radio (FTDX 5000mp) is being repaired by Bill Grassa - N4ATS I lost everything when I took the strike, antenna, rotator, tower, computer so I am starting from scratch again. Previously had a Mosley TA-63N w/40m kit and 60' tower. Lightning strike welded tower together, welded coax to tower, blew parts off antenna, burned up rotator, so my only option was to drop the tower and start over 2.5 years later. This time I decided to go with the VHQ Hex Beam after doing a very lot of research. Pricey but you get what you pay for and what I got was quality and engineering. Updates to follow after everything is back up and running like new. Very excited to get back into my missed hobby..73's |
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| KC1JD |
Rating:      |
2022-11-06 | |
| The Best Hex... |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I totally do my research on all major purchases and really take my time before pulling the trigger. I won't go into the details on how the VHQ HEX is engineered as it's already covered in these eHam reviews, and in an awesome CQ Magazine article. A quick search of "VHQHEX" will get you to the article and the independent test results that they performed on the antenna. These resources along with speaking directly with other hams about it is what sealed the deal for me.
Being in the western part of NH at 1,300 ft above sea level, we get our share of winter weather here. I chose the VHQ HEX mainly for that reason. I didn't want a hex beam that would require major maintenance or repairs due to harsh weather. All of the research I did came up with only one answer for me... VHQ HEX.
Since I live in NH, and VHQ HEX is engineered and built in NH (made in USA!), I thought I would try to contact the OEM supplier, versus just placing an online order. Am I glad I did. Though this contact, I was able to meet David Lavoie (the owner of VHQ HEX), see his operation, and best yet, get assistance from him at my home QTH with installing the hex (he climbed the tower for me). The installation help was in exchange for giving him a tour of my lake in his amazing bass boat! Definitely a fun day.
On to the antennas performance. I have a 40M EFHW, an 80M EFHW and a Vertical. With these, I hadn't been able to get my WAS (Alaska signals were not being nice), and getting into South America and Europe was possible, but not easy. With the VHQ HEX at 33', within the first 12 hours... I got Alaska with 5-5 reports both ways on the OMISS net. Prior to the VHQ HEX I couldn't even hear him, ever! I recently worked a POTA station in AK as well, earning my POTA WAS hunter award. I have also received good digital reports into Japan, Indonesia, Australia and Fiji to name a few. SSB DX is amazing as well. It almost feels like I'm cheating!
Yes, the VHQ HEX is expensive compared to the other commercial HEX beams, but I come from the school of "you get what you pay for". Sure, there are cheaper ones out there, but all things considered, I'm extremely happy that I went with the VHQ.
73, KC1JD |
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| KE0YJJ |
Rating:      |
2022-08-19 | |
| AWESOME ANTENNA AWESOME SUPPORT |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Ok I paid a bit more than others sell for HOWEVER the VHQ Hex beam is awesome. VHQ must mean Very High Quality. I could not wait to get this up, so I mounted it on a12 foot sked 40 galvanized pipes. Although not awesome reception It was noticeably working very well on FT8.
I decided I wanted the AWESOME reception, so I went to mount it on a 42-foot tower my brother and law and I made. In the process of mounting the antenna it all came crashing down. I don't care how strong something is when you fall from 42 feet something is going o break. and it did three of the fiberglass struts were crushed. When contacting CVHQ to get replacement parts the 3 struts that were crushed. VHQ sent me the replacement struts I need to rebuild the HEX and all I had to do was pay shipping. Awesome Support. The HEX is up and working beautifully at 42 feet. I am picking up signals from EXTEME DX as well as the hard-to-get local contacts that require ground wave. Bottom line I love this antenna. I will never own anything but VHQ HEXBEAM |
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| W3CFE |
Rating:      |
2022-08-05 | |
| GREAT ANTENNA |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| Wow! Sums it up pretty much when it comes to the VHQ HEX beam. I put it up about a month ago and it works great on all bands from 20 meters to 2 meters. I've done a side by side comparison between the VHQ HEX and an Opti Beam 12-6 that I run remotely from Vermont and often I get better DX reports from the HEX Beam. It's rugged as "H" built like piece of military gear. That's good since I've got the beam about 100 yards off the Atlantic here in Maine. |
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| K1GUY |
Rating:      |
2022-02-16 | |
| Best Hexbeam EVER! QUALITY IS AMAAZING |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
After loosing 2 Hexbeams to weather and each bought from a leading commercial Hexbeam company, I purchased the VHQ Hexbeam from vhqhex.com
Lifetime guaranteed and built like a truck ! or brick...
Amazing CNC made from Billet Aluminum. More than 1,000 lb breaking strength of the center post, the weakest point of any Hexbeam as the cheaper ones can easily bend and fail, leading to arms breaking...So I decided to stop throwing bad money into hexbeams and reached for this one. It has LOWER SWR, and GREATER GAIN. This is due to the heavy wire and proprietary design. No more paying for tower climbers and replacementv hexbeams. So well built, it has a lifetime guarantee. This is the last one you will need. I recognize quality and like to buy quality things. I paid for quality,
and I got what I paid for. It also shows in the performance, way better than my last two Hexbeams.
See for yourself in CQ Magazine Varified: https://www.vhqhex.com/qcmagazinereview |
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| K1RLB |
Rating:      |
2022-02-15 | |
| TERRIFIC ANTENNA! |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
The hexbeam antenna is a great antenna for reaching out and snatching distant or hard to hear stations. It has been my go to antenna for over 3 years.
However, the first hexbeam I purchased did not stand up well to the elements. The first winter I had it up, 2 of the wire elements broke when they were loaded down with ice and snow. We repaired those broken wires.
The 2nd winter I had it up 4 more wire elements broke, and so did one of the spreader arms. Two of the other fiberglass arms were also delaminating.
We made the necessary repairs, but I started looking for a replacement.
Last fall, I found exactly what I was looking for when I met David Lavoie at the New England HAMFEST, and he showed me his VHQ HEXBEAM.
The VHQ HEXBEAM is built to last, and last, and last. It uses strong, durable materials in all its components.
Since we erected this antenna a few months ago, it has survived totally unscathed through 3 bad storms, 2 involving very high winds, and 2 which coated the antenna with heavy wet snow. The result: no broken wires, no bent or broken spreader arms, just continued
excellent performance.
I enjoy DXing. I don't use an amplifier, so I'm restrcted to the the maximum 100 watts that my ICOM 7300 puts out. I get many compliments from distant stations on the strength of my transmissions, and the sound quality of my audio. I'm positive that the VHQ HEXBEAM is a major reason for this.
This is a terrific antenna. I would recommend it for anyone looking for quality, reliability, durability, and performance in an antenna. If you get one, you won't be disappointed!
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| KC1OSX |
Rating:      |
2021-10-12 | |
| Quality antenna w/exceptional support |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I'm a firm believer in overkill, when it comes to ham radio equipment, and the "buy once - cry once" philosophy on paying for quality. At my location, about the only option I have for a directional antenna is a hexbeam, and I wanted something of high quality that would stand up to the severe winter weather we sometimes have in NH, with heavy snow and ice. I did a lot of research that led me to the VHQ hexbeam, and I contacted David, its creator, to get answers to some questions. David was very responsive and answered all my questions. And when we discovered that his shop was just a 40-minute drive from my house, he invited me over to see it firsthand along with his entire operation. He had a collection of hexbeams from other manufacturers that had failed in various ways. After the 3rd or 4th one was destroyed by our winter weather, David decided he could build a better hexbeam. He looked at every single component and how to make them better. Every clamp and bolt needed to be better, and the center post is a thing of beauty, designed to withstand the worst possible conditions. The result is a hexbeam designed to withstand the worst conditions and engineered for low SWR and higher gain across all the bands, and it assembled seamlessly. David then came to my house, helped me figure out where and how to do the installation, and then we did the project together. Now that's great customer support! While I've only been using it for a few weeks, I couldn't be happier with its performance. Previous contacts are reporting a 2 S-unit improvement in my signal strength over my end-fed wire antenna I was using before. I'm making contacts where I was unable to make them before (or even hear them well enough to make contact before)...such as long path to South Africa (over 17k miles). The directionality of the antenna is even better than I expected, and the sensitivity on receive is as good as the boost I'm getting on the transmit side. I couldn't be happier with this hexbeam and the customer support I've received, and I highly recommend this antenna. |
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