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Reviews For: Hexbeam: WI4USA G3TXQ-6 Broadband

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

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Review Summary For : Hexbeam: WI4USA G3TXQ-6 Broadband
Reviews: 6MSRP: 700.00
Description:
Six band (20,17,15,12,6 meters)
G3TXQ-style hexagonal beam.
Product is in production
More Info: http://wi4usa.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0064.3
G4WBB Rating: 2012-05-10
Bad quality Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I bought this after reading the reviews on here. It was stored unopened in the garage for 2 years before installing on a pneumatic mast. After 6 months the wires had rusted and broken at the centre post. This was the 5 band version.
This has now been taken down and is being replaced with a yagi.
N9UY Rating: 2009-09-24
Performance does not disappoint Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I bought the 5-band version. After ordering the antenna and during construction, Thom was very helpful and always there when I needed him. He had fabricated a couple of parts wrong and promptly shipped replacements when I contacted him.

After a week of ground testing I put the antenna on my tower around the middle of August. The 20 meter element is at about 40 feet. I am turning it with a Hy-Gain AR-40 rotor. This is my first directional antenna so I have nothing to compare it with, but I do have to note that the SWR is low on all bands as advertised, with a wide bandwidth. I am able to use my amplifier without a full power tuner - one of my goals for this antenna.

In the month I have been on the air with it, I have gotten spoiled on making the contact first time, every time. I used the antenna in the Worked all Europe contest, running about 500 watts from my AL-811H amplifier, and I was busting pileups regularly. It was a real thrill being the one that the DX stations came back to!

Interesting to note, it will load up on 40 meters using a tuner, but the few signal reports I have indicate it is not an improvement over my vertical. The F/B ratio is not what I thought it would be but, again, that's maybe due to my lack of experience.

The one negative I have on the antenna is the use of stiff, copperweld-type wire, furnished at Thom's advice when he could not locate the "silky" more flexible wire. I fould that the stiffness of this wire deforms the supports - not a performance issue, but it detracts from the appearance. Insist on the silky wire if you buy one.
W4HZV Rating: 2009-04-17
A great antenna at a reasonable cost! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Thom, WI4USA, has brought the G3QTX's Broadband Hex Beam design together in a practical kit for us hams. His kit uses good materials and does the hard part of the assembly for you. All cable/rope assemblies are already measured and the clips installed. The center post is also assemblied. Final assembly is a snap.
This is a durable Antenna. Mine has withstood 40 mph winds with radial ice of about quarter inch. During installation the fiberglass arms were bent almost in a "U" shape. The Antenna is up about 35 feet at the base of the fiberglass arms.
The VSWR curves were well within the advertized values. The gain/FB curves were hard to measure but seem to be on target.
The Antenna is lightweight......I rotate my Antenna with a small Yeasu G-450A rotator with ease.
Operationally, the antenna performs very well considering it's specifications. Chasing DX was a suprise. Stations just seemed to pop out at me.
I'd recommend this antenna to any who wants a reasonably priced, well constructed unit that will perform.
73 de Temp (W4HZV)

WT4T Rating: 2008-10-21
first class -all the way Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi to all.
I ordered a 6 band hex beam total kit from WI4USA,Thom. The kit arrived a few weeks after I ordered it ,as promised. Checked out all the part,all there ,but beyond that, the workman ship in everything was first rate. The wires,the plate,the ties and the spreaders were all class A . I assembled the antenna on a ground post ,about 2 feet high....made it very easy. Total time to put it all together from box to testing, on the ground , about 4 hours. Thoms directions, downloadable from his website and the pictures make for a easy assemble.
Everything checked out ,SWR wise, fine on the ground, so decided to mount on the tower...a tilt and nesting tower. The antenna is a real hands full thing ,when fully assembled,but were finally able to get it mounted by myself. They sure look strange when lying on their side before raising the tower. Tilted the tower back up and low and behold the antenna looked just as it should when vertical. Using a Yaesu 800 series rotor and handles the Hex just fine. I added a 8 turn balun below the antenna, most likely not needed , but was there so I used it. Got a pretty good wind from a rain storm after the ant was up, didn't seem to bother it at all. All of the spreader om Toms hex are tied side to side ,makes the ant very stable.
Durning assembly there was nothing to make up or adjust.. all parts were pre made by thom. He suggests starting with the 6 meter loop ,I found it easier to do the 20 meter loop first..worked best for me.
So How does the WI4USA hex perform? Starting with the SWR,as shown on my MFJ 269b,I got the following readouts.
20 meters....1.3
17 meters.....1.1
15 meters.....1.1
12 meters.....1.2
10 meters....1.3 to 1.5..28.000 to 29.000+
6 meters....1.8@ 50.125
all the readings were well within the limits of all the hex antennasI ever read about. The slight blip in the 6 meter reading,will be taken care of with a adj of the loop. { was 1.2 at 49.000} easy fix to move the res. point up a bit.
So how does the Hex work? a bit too early to tell yet. The other ant on the station Is a R-5 vertical and the hex replaced a tennadyne T-6 log that was damaged in a hurricane.
So far its been, " if I hear them ,Iam able to work them" with the hexbeam. The vertical seems to less noisey than the hex,could be the hex hears better ,including noise. Front to back and the ability to null qrm a bit, seems pretty good on the hex.
Only time will tell,how well the Hex will perform but so far so good. It has big shoes to fill..the tennadyne T-6.... Will write ,how well it performs when I have a period of time to ring it out.
Thom should be congratulated on a fine product and first class materials. He is there for any questions or problems that come up and gets back to you right away with a answer. If you looking for a HEXBEAM.....wi4usa is the place to go.CHECK out his site.
thanks for reading
dale wt4t


K0AP Rating: 2008-10-06
Phenomenal Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
My WI4USA G3TXQ-6 Broadband Hexagonal Beam is up in the air. First of all, I must acknowledge the outstanding customer service and experience provided by Thom, WI4USA, from start to end of the whole project. I bought the 20-6m kit from him and let me tell you that every part of the antenna was first class material, nicely packaged and shipped in 2 separate boxes. Initially Thom said he will deliver the antenna in 3-4 weeks from the order date but guess what, the antenna arrived in less than 2 weeks. The communication between me and Thom was on the highest level and Thom answered every single question I had. And I did not have too many questions since the installation instructions were more than clear. It takes few hours to put all pieces together.
Now, about the antenna. When I bought my house I started looking into some ideas of putting decent antenna which will cover 20-10m (WARC bands included). I spent hours and days reading on eHam about almost every single antenna that is on the market trying to decide on the one that will fit best my needs. I live on a small city lot and I was looking into some small footprint but efficient antennas. Somehow I ran into an article about G3TXQ-6 Broadband Hexagonal Beam and mostly from curiosity I started reading more and more about this antenna. At first, I was very suspicious about this 2 elements wire beam. I wanted to learn more about the antenna and collect as much information as I could, before I make any decision. Not long after that I decided to go with the G3TXQ-6 Broadband Hexagonal Beam. The decision was made based upon the antenna performance, size, weight, cost, maintenance... At first I wanted to build it my self ordering the parts from different manufacturers and suppliers but somehow I ran into Thom's WI4USA web site and decided to order the antenna kit he sells. I could have saved couple of hundred dollars doing it my self but I neither have time or patience for that, plus with 2 little girls at home it would take months to complete the project. What a good choice I made when I decided to go with WI4USA product.
I am using Rohn 50 push up mast I bought from a local HAM
store. I bought 8 pieces of Mix #31 ferrite beads and 100' of LMR400UF coax. I would advise anyone to use good quality feed line. With one coax you cover all bands so it's worth the investment. Rotor is Channel Master a lightweight TV antenna rotor (Yes, it's that light). The base plate sits at 35 feet. I also used Dacron rope to guy the top section of the mast. When I first checked the SWR on the MFJ259B analyzer I could not believe my eyes how good it is all across the bands:
14.005 1.1
14.200 1.7
14.270 1.9
18.070 1.3
18.145 1.4
21.005 1.4
21.250 1.6
24.900 1.4
24.970 1.4
28.005 1.4
28.500 1.3
29.000 1.6
50.125 1.4

Great, great, great! What else I could say. Working DX is a breeze now. I am into contest, DX, IOTA...
I have been active in many contests operating from big gun contest stations with stacked beams so I know a little about antennas. G3TXQ-6 Broadband Hexagonal Beam is one heck of a good antenna. For it's size and other characteristics mentioned above it is a perfect solution for small city lots in urban areas. You get most bang for the buck and you will never look back, unless you move on acreages and put some large antennas.

Happy DXing!
73 Dragan K0AP, Z32XX
N7WNX Rating: 2008-09-22
Incredible Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm totally blown away by the good SWR's on all bands and the incredible bandwidth that they exist on. It was very as easy and fun to install this antenna. The only hard part was lifting the antenna up sideways to install it on the top of my tilted-over tubular tower with the end up
ten feet above the ground. Even this wasn't too
bad as I could lift the antenna with one hand
and different points during the install (25 lbs or so).

The antenna was made of really solid components and was sensibly designed for easy assembly. WI4USA (Thom) provided excellent customer service from the time of the original order through the installation process. I called him at work and at home several times and he was easy to reach and always helpful.

the first evening, when I listened to W1AW practice CW from the East coast, the signal came in about 4 S-units above what it did on either of my wire loops. The noise level on the antenna is higher than on my wire loops but that is to be expected.

While this antenna performs comparably to my
40-meter vertical delta loop (I use a tuner for all bands on it) up 50 ft. for semi-local (within 500 miles) QSOs, it really shines during a DX contact. I think this is due to the lower take off angles, directionality, and
FB. During a recent European contest on 20m,
I worked 20 European and Eastern European stations
within 45 minutes of each other. They all were 57-59+ and my reports from them were similar (running 100 watts). During these QSOs I switched back and forth to my 40 meter delta loop and my 160 meter horizontal loop and most of the time I could barely hear them or not at all.

I've also worked Guam, Tonga, Rarotonga - Cooke Islands lately as well as many gray-line contacts south and north, many US stations both to my east
and to my north. Although frequently a station I hear and try to call on my wire antennas doesn't hear me. I have yet to have this experience with
this antenna.

I no longer need to use my tuner on any of the bands this antenna covers. SWR is well below
2:1 across all the bands.

Jon
N7WNX