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Reviews For: BuddiHex by Buddipole

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

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Review Summary For : BuddiHex by Buddipole
Reviews: 3MSRP: 599.00
Description:
Lightweight and portable 6 band (20m - 6m) hex beam perfect for everything from POTA activations to camping trips to small backyards or Field Day, and everything in-between. Total weight with wires for all bands attached is 9.5 lbs, making this one of the most lightweight hex beams available commercially and easy to use with most push-up masts. Antenna package comes complete with all support cords and tensioners, wires for all bands 20m - 6m (pre-tuned, no adjustments/trimming required), 3 figure-8 line winders for wire storage, BNC terminated feed point (PL259 style soon available), and a padded Cordura carrying bag with shoulder strap. Turning Radius 10 feet (3 meters) Total Weight 9.50 lbs (4.3 kg) Power Handling 1.5 KW
Product is in production
More Info: https://www.buddipole.com/buddihex2.html
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
1434.7
W2SCT Rating: 2023-01-30
It was OK for Winter Field Day Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I did my first deployment of the Buddihex with the 7 meter Mastwerks mast for Winter Field Day. I had a lot of help and it was up in about 45 minutes. Make sure you guy the mast first while extended then bring it down and put the assembled hexbeam on. Almost had a bending catastrophe. Also, watch the angle of the tripod legs. If the legs are extended beyond 90 degrees from vertical (counterclockwise), it will fracture the edge of the plastic platform that houses the level bubble. This happened to me by accident.. There are no videos on how to set up the Mastwerks mast but several on how to set up the Buddihex. I watched the videos and read the instructions. The set up of the mast is not self intuitive. The written instructions for both the antenna and mast could better IMHO. That said, the only way to learn to assemble it is to just do it. Bottom line, the antenna performed well but whether it was worth the price and effort to set up is still questionable. It is well thought out and materials used are excellent. I'm not giving it a five because the initial user experience was at times frustrating. In terms of effectiveness during WFD, it did not wow me when compared to an endfed inverted L at 80 feet. I hope that with time and practice, I will learn to love it like others have.
VE3IPS Rating: 2022-09-01
Rugged and Light Portable Beam Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This antenna can be deployed in 30 minutes by one person if using the Mastwerks mast. Set up tripod, and raise telescopic mast and guy lines then lower the mast.

Starting with the Vertical Feed Point Hub, install the 6 arms, connect the tension wires, walk around the hub and clip the pre tuned wire elements based on the colour code. Add coax and install hand crack.

Pick up the antenna and place onto mast. Raise telescopic mast until guy lines are tight.

Go on air and make contacts and rotate antenna to increase signals both ways and reduce noise.

This is an ideal antenna that is pre-tuned out of the box (no spending hours tuning with cryptic instructions from other vendors) and its easy and quickly deployed.

The Mastwerks has a Buddipole adapter so you can rotate the BP dipole or yagi as well.

Like all Buddipole products this product will delight you.
K4TMC Rating: 2022-08-30
Great Portable Lightweight 20 - 6M Hexbeam Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Background: Currently, my ham radio activities consist of portable operations from a family beach house in Atlantic Beach, NC (FM14PQ, IOTA NA112, US Islands NC010S), mostly weekend HF contests. Due to the coastal environment, moderate to severe weather conditions and the neighborhood being a vacation area, I do these activities similar to Field Day, performing antenna setup and cable runs the day or two before the contest starts, and subsequent breakdown after the contest. As a result, finding good antennas with some gain that can be safely setup, used and taken down in windy conditions by one person, has been a 3-year experiment. This review is about my most recent findings.
Finding 1: I finally realized that a good 10-15-20M tribander that was heavy-duty enough to survive the coastal environment was not a light-weight antenna. The current tribander I have weighs in at over 40 lbs. Several unsuccessful attempts to get it mounted to my portable mast system were made in moderate winds. So, around January this year I started looking at Bird Yagi and Hexbeam designs and what was currently available in the market. These designs use wire elements which lowers the wind-load and weight of the final antenna. Still the weight and size of the central hubs and spreader arms seemed to make them somewhat difficult to handle by one person in winds. So, I narrowed my search to light Hexbeams. And, the Buddipole BuddiHex popped up. There were several good Youtube videos showing the assembly process and how easy everything went together. So, I set my goal on acquiring one as soon as possible. Well, it has taken me about 6-months to finally get one of the new Buddipole BuddiHex antennas.
Finding 2: I can report that the assembly process is as easy as shown in the videos. The fact that a lot of the parts are already measured and assembled makes this a simple process. Each spreader poles consists of 3 sections that are held together with shock-cord. The low profile hub assembly (5-inch diameter) and small diameter (1/2-inch) spreader arms keep the wind load very low. The attachment of individual element wires (each color-coded to match the attachment points on the central pole) is about as simple as you can get. Attach the hook lug to the central pole and clip the element wire into the color-coded clips on each spreader pole, then place the end hook lug on the opposite side of the central pole. The antenna comes packaged by itself in one of Buddipoles nice Cordura zippered bags. The bag and the Mastwerks system are then packaged together in a Series 2 SporTube, which then makes for a great package which can be mounted on your vehicle’s roof rack or carried as airlines checked baggage. One unique feature of the BuddiHex central hub assembly is that it currently can only be mounted on the Buddipole Mastwerks system, which uses teardrop (maybe egg) shaped mast sections. For ease of assembly on the tripod, there is an optional special 33-inch long Setup Tube that temporarily replaces the telescopic mast. This way, you don’t have to stand on a ladder to assemble the antenna. Hopefully, someone will manufacture an adapter that will work easily with more conventional round masts.
Finding 3: I just erected, used and disassembled the BuddiHex and Mastwerks system this past weekend during the US Islands Awards Program sponsored W/VE Islands QSO Party. I easily made 290 QSO’s with 50 states/provinces on 20M during the contest. So, this is a first-time use review, and I am giving it a 5-star rating based on the light weight, ease of assembly/disassembly, performance and innovative implementation of the hexbeam design. I hope to use this in some future contest efforts over the next months and then I may provide a follow-up review.