| STEVEF |
Rating:  |
2024-11-15 | |
| Excellent Antenna/Support |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I want to send some praise for the KIO hexbeam antenna and Leo, who takes care of his customers.
Like many hams I have an impossible situation. I am not allowed to install a Yagi at 80 feet, nor do I want to spend that kind of money. I don't want to do an amp and hanging a wire is ok, but I wanted more.
I put up my hexbeam, took me a couple of hours. I still only have it five feet up with the 20 and 10 meter band installs.
Great antenna, nice and quiet. People forget you can't work them if they're covered in noise. I've been using a Hermes Lite 2 Plus transceiver at 5 watts and some Thetis software. 80 percent of the time if I can hear them I can work them.
And Leo? If I have a question he gets back to me right away. He continually improves the design while keeping the costs as low as possible.
Want to improve everything in your shack? Buy Leo's beam. |
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| W4AXW |
Rating: |
2024-07-30 | |
| Excellent Rx/Tx! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Just flew the antenna this past weekend and already hearing/working contacts I couldn't before on Inverted V's. Antenna is only 24' AGL to the 20m elements but working superbly! Worked VK-land on 20m with 100w in, got a 5/8 signal report back. It seems to have great rejection off the back in a high-QRM suburban location, it's very quiet. Operationally it's just what I was looking for.
During assembly I found a damaged 6m wire set, contacted Leo and a replacement was on the way that afternoon. Can't ask for better service than that, thank you Leo.
I feel that the redesign of the center post from square tubing to a round 6061 T6 tube was a great move on KIO's part. It's solid and strong and clamps directly to a 2" aluminum mast (I also ordered 2ea. of KIO's mast clamps, nice and stout). I expect no issues with this center post.
Mechanically my only reservation was having 4 of the SS hose clamps on the 3/4" and 1" spreader tubes (holding elements in place) break during assembly. And no, they were not over-tightened, they seemed to break after the antenna heated up and expanded slightly in the hot July sun. I replaced them with heavy-duty hose clamps.
Will update this review after more time passes. 7 3
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| KI7NZP |
Rating: |
2024-07-10 | |
| Great purchase! |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Nice to buy something American made. The antenna came well packaged and all necessary parts were there. The assembly instructions were excellent and it went together easily. When doing an initial function test, I talked to a guy with the antenna about 2 feet off the ground on my Workmate.
Only running 90 watts just to see how it performed and I talked to Australia, Russia, Italy, and Slovenia the first week. Hopefully it will hold up well to wind, as I live along the face of a mountain range with lots of gusts. |
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| KW8L |
Rating: |
2024-05-30 | |
| After several years of use. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
My Hexbeam still looks and works great after years of use exposed to Michigan weather. It was taken down in order to replace my tower winch with galvanized steel cable with a new winch and stainless steel cable. The old lift did not weather nearly as well!
While down the antenna was temporally placed on a ladder. Just for the sake of trying, attempted and completed several FT8 contacts.
Exceptional quality, support, documentation, and parts availability. Thanks Leo. |
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| W4PF |
Rating: |
2024-04-24 | |
| Great durable antenna |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I put mine up in 2014 and still works like a charm. I have no problems busting pile-ups with it. The beam is well constructed and a breeze to put together. It can be a little awkward installing onto the tower though.
All I can say is if mine comes down tomorrow, I'd replace it with another K4KIO. |
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| WB4CW |
Rating: |
2024-04-23 | |
| Awesome Antenna |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| I just assembled my KIO hexbeam. I'm 71 and prone to skimming instructions! If you are old enough to have tried to assemble Sears toys on Christmas Eve, rest assured the KIO assembly was different. It was a pleasure to assemble. Everything fit, the material quality is fantastic, and the instructions were not written in China. It was clear and concise, but it defeated my ability to half-read. No issues at all. I could easily work European stations barefoot with the hex sitting eight ft. off the ground while awaiting a tower. Very broad-banded, and SWR never reached 2.0:1 from the low to the high edge of bands(6 bands) except for the top of 6 Meters. On most frequencies, discounting 6M SWR was always less than 1.5:1, which is the most impressive. |
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| KD5FX |
Rating: |
2024-03-21 | |
| Great antenna! For over 10 years now. |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Put mine up the summer of 2013 and it's still working great in 2024! Only problem I had was a 1/2 inch ice storm in 2015 with 60 MPH winds! Broke one of the spreaders, less than $25 to repair and it's been working great ever since. I have all the bands from 20 to 6 along with the ice cords which I added after the ice storm. |
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| KE0SOR |
Rating: |
2023-11-27 | |
| Couldn't be Happier!!!! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
Received the Hexbeam from Leo and couldn't wait to get it assembled. However I decided I would paint the spreaders a flat black, making sure that my spray paint did not contain metal. As much as I wanted to get the antenna in the air I knew that some prep was needed.
Fortunately I have pastures at my place so I was able to pound a metal pipe in the ground to support the antenna while I put it together. In all it probably took me about two hours to install the spreaders, clamps and string the wires. I purchased bands 6, 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20.
I had looked at the other Hexbeam's offered and was impressed with the positive reviews and comments regarding the K4KIO product. The materials and construction of the antenna were impeccably done and it was obvious that everything was pre-assembled by Leo and his staff. I did not have to drill any holes, or fiddle with parts that did not fit exactly. The instructions were explicit and easy to follow!
I placed my Hexbeam on a 2" mast that is mounted to Rohn standoffs mounted to the side of my shop wall. The antenna is approximately 25' above ground. I am using a Yeasu 450a rotor, and I used my own 1:1 balun.
To say that this Hexbeam exceeded my expectations is an understatement. The performance has been outstanding and the contacts just keep piling up. I have never received so many 59 reports. Even when the beam is pointed 180 degrees from a contact I still get great contacts and reports. The SWR is unbelievably low on all bands.
I live in Colorado so in terms of weather we see it all. The wind this summer was at times 60-70 mph. We just had a major snow storm with wind, ice and snow. The antenna not only survived but I made around 20 contacts the day that the storm was at it's height.
As far as I am concerned you can't go wrong with the K4KIO hexbeam, I am glad to happy recommend it to anyone. It really was a pleasure doing business with Leo and am extremely pleased with Leo's communication. |
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| WK2M |
Rating: |
2023-11-14 | |
| Great beam |
Time Owned: 3 to 6 months. |
| I bought a KIO beam a while back and finally installed it. Boy am I happy with this beam. I have been working off of wires for that last 5 years. Prior to the wires I had a Cushcraft MA5B. This antenna works much better than any other antenna I have ever owned. My setup is a Rohn 25 at 30'. Thats it! It have worked many of the DXpeditions with just 50w! I highly recommend this antenna. |
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| WG9U |
Rating: |
2023-10-17 | |
| Absolutely Amazing! |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
After 7 years I'm still in love with this Hexagon Antenna! It has held up under a myriad of weather conditions and it still performs amazingly. I've added several additional bands and it is about to go atop my new 50 ft tower.
However, Originally I had this K4KIO up 40 feet on a push up mast and it was phenomenal. Due to a bad storm my guyed mast was damaged so I had to let it down. The antenna has been sitting at about 15 feet off the ground and I've talked and had digital contacts around the globe. Even at 15 feet my swr on 20 meter is 1.2 to 1, and 10 meters is 1.5 to 1 The 15 meter swr is 1.2 to 1. I can't image what kind of performance I'm going to get when this is installed atop the new tower.
Just an update for an exceptional antenna. The people at K4KIO certainly knew what they were doing with this one. Thanks Leo and the gang in Vestavia AL.
While I've only owned my K4KIO Hexbeam antenna for a short time, I've made over 125 contacts within two weeks, almost all DX OSOs, but I'll get to that later.
For many years I've been very skeptical concerning the claims surrounding hexbeam antennas. Just recently I moved from Florida to Northern Alabama, almost on the Tennessee border. I have a lot more property now, however, I have not had the opportunity to put up my crank up tower. That being said, I decided to look for a compromise while I wait for fall to erect my tower. After looking through the myriads of mid sized triband beams, and various hexbeam reviews, I decided on K4KIO Technologies for my purchase.
I looked at various hexbeam offerings and prices and was particularly impressed with the reviews for hexbeams concerning the ability to run them without a tower. What caught my eye concerning the K4KIO hexbeam was the customer service comments. Those reviews proved to be quite accurate. Leo at K4KIO was extremely helpful and very responsive.
I decided upon a configuration of 10, 15, 20 meters. In retrospect I should have also purchased the 6 meter option. An interesting customer service note here; Leo realized that I had placed a separate order for a 10 meter kit in addition to my antenna order. I had inadvertently left the 10 meter band off when I place the initial order, and realizing what I'd done I ordered one of the add-on kit options to rectify the oversight on my part. Leo promptly emailed me and stated that he noticed the second order and would go ahead and install the 10 meter option. That might not sound like much, but I've dealt with a lot of manufacturers and most would have just shipped the kit separately. Not Leo.
It took me all of one hour and forty five minutes to assemble the antenna. This even included an adjustment to the 15 meter band wire to remove a little slack, which was very easy. I also painted the spreaders the day before assembly, which I highly recommend.
The overall materials and construction of the antenna is excellent! I was very impressed with the quality of the materials and the practically "bulletproof" pre-assembly that K4KIO had performed. It is basically a "plug & play" design that they have come up with. The ONLY item that was not in the kit was the Balun. I used a Comtek 1:1 isolation balun for my antenna. The antenna when together quickly and easily, AND everything to make the job a snap was included. There was no need to modify any item(s), drill holes, or deal with parts that did not quite fit. Everything in the kit was perfect and to spec! What a pleasant surprise!
I placed my hexbeam on a Rohn H9H50 push-up mast and secured it with a 3-way 14 gauge 6 strand, 4 segment SS guying system using aluminum turnbuckles. The mast sits atop a Glenn Martin 4.5 foot roof tower mounted on an 4 foot elevated deck. A Yaesu 450A rotator is mounted in the base and turns the entire mast without issue. The antenna sits approximately 40 feet above ground level.
So much for the configuration. While I purchased the hexbeam as a compromise antenna until my tower went up, I was quite surprised by the performance. NO, it is not a full size, massive multi element beam , nor did I expect it to perform as such. However, this 2 element hexbeam has greatly exceeded my wildest expectations. I won't bore everyone with the the technical details of gain, front to back lobes, etc, others can take up that cause. It suffices to day that the proof is in the on-air, real-time performance. The K4KIO hexbeam has been outstanding in breaking through "pile-ups"... I've received many, many 59 reports and even in bad band conditions it's been a solid performer. I was very surprised by the reception ability of the antenna. Even with my heading toward Europe, I could hear stations 90 to 180 degrees off of my beam heading. I never had that kind of reception with a tribander, but in fairness the lobe is more focused. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful capability to have. I have also not seen an significant "detuning" issues in rainy conditions, which was a concern for me initially.
After several months of using the hexbeam in all kinds of weather, band conditions, etc, I have found it to be a very reliable and effective antenna. We've have several severe thunderstorms in this area and in 60+ MPH winds it has been rock steady.
In conclusion, if you have limited space (turning radius of 21 feet), no tower, need to keep your cost down, and you need an excellent performer, this is the antenna for you. I can assure you that you will not be disappointed with this antenna and/or the service from K4KIO Technologies. If you wish to see the antenna config I current have go to my QRZ page and take a look. |
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