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Reviews For: Hexbeam: by K4KIO

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

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Review Summary For : Hexbeam: by K4KIO
Reviews: 191MSRP: 669
Description:
A six band, broadband, G3TXQ- designed, hexagonal beam with performance on par with a two element Yagi but a much smaller physical footprint is fully tuned and ready to go. This is a plug and play antenna, not a kit. It can be assembled in an evening with no measurements or tuning needed. No traps or coils are required and a single coax feeds all bands. Available for Bands 20 – 6 meters in various combinations. All steel components are stainless and non metallic components are UV resistant. Mount on a push up mast or rooftop. The sturdy aircraft aluminum base plate has never been reported to fail by hundreds of users. A “no questions asked” 30 day refund offer comes with each beam.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.k4kio.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
24.51914.9
W4PGM Rating: 2014-09-30
Excelent Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I purchased this for our new QTH and used it at 8', 25' and now 40' in various stages of house construction. The antenna is great. Well made, easy to assemble, lightweight and it works. Most of the time I do not run and amp with the antenna it performs so well. Loe has great support and builds a great product.
WA9JOQ Rating: 2014-08-27
Completely Satisfied! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Like most purchasers I did quite a bit of research on this antenna and hoped that what I read was, in fact, accurate. Well am happy to report that the claims about easy assembly, low swr and great performance are all true. After upgrading from a G5RV it was great to get routine complimentary reports from dx stations about signal strength. Mounted mine about 25 feet up on a Glen Martin mini tower on the peak of my sun room with the help of my son. It performs flawlessly...would recommend to all! 73
KJ2U Rating: 2014-08-19
Best antenna value ever! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After having fun with WAS and working a few common DX entities with a multi-band vertical and a G5RV I decided to get an antenna with some gain. The K4KIO hexbeam had these great reviews and the price was right for antenna and a modest mount (push up mast). Within a couple of months I had DXCC and now (18 months later) I am up to 164 DXCC mostly barefoot and working only an occasional weekend and evening. I have had two "accidents" in raising my hexbeam and both looked like catastrophes. Bent a push-up mast but the hexbeam bounced. A few dollars to replace a couple of arm segments and I was back up. I'm a living testimony that this antenna is pretty much "idiot proof." Top notch communications and service too!
N5WRX Rating: 2014-07-29
Great antenna ... Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I was looking for a multi-band antenna to place up on my tower that is between my house and the next door neighbors.
The small footprint of the hexbeam made this a logical choice.
I ordered the 20 - 15 - 10 - and 6 meter bands and got it all up this morning.
It works great.
Very quiet as compared to my A4S beam at the other end of the house where I have more room.
As a bonus it is resonant on 2 meters as well.
Dont know why but it is.
Dont tell K4KIO or they will what to charge for an extra band! ... LOL.
Dont be afraid to try one of these antennas ... it would be an easy project to repair any failed parts many years down the coax.
I give it a 5 because of its ease of assembly, high quality parts, and its great performance.
WB9KPT Rating: 2014-07-26
Great Antenna and Company Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I'm very pleased with this antenna. I can easily make contacts, and often break through pileups on the first or second try - running barefoot with my IC-7600. The antenna was simple to assemble with no missing parts. I ordered the larger base, and the hardest part was drilling the hole to prevent twisting on the mast. The SWR was as advertised - with no tuner required on any bands. Very fast response from Leo with any questions.

Count me as another satisfied customer. You can see the install on my QRZ page.
N7LVS Rating: 2014-07-13
Great Antenna Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is a very, very , easy antenna to build. It is very well engineered and thought out. I put it together in about an hour. I mounted it 30 feet off the ground, on top of my RV barn, by myself. It is light but very hard to manage by yourself. I highly recommend two people.

All bands are used without an antenna tuner and works very well. I am constantly amazed what this antenna will pickup. I am new to HF so I don't have anything to compare it to but I don't see how you can go wrong with this antenna.
W2RMS Rating: 2014-06-20
Awesome antenna and service! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
This is my first directional antenna so i have nothing to compare it to. Ordered it few months ago. It was sitting in the boxes until around March of 2014. Assembled it first in the back yard. Using Glen Martin 4.5 foot roof tower and a 5 foot mast. So around 10 feet off the ground. Tested it with my MFJ-269 and it was mostly below 1.4:1 on all six bands! Took it apart, painted the spreaders with olive "military" color paint for UV protection as well as "blend-in" factor. Put the roof tower on my roof (3-story semi, about 30 feet up). So the antenna is now around 40 feet off the ground. Assembled it again on the roof (around 40 minutes with a friend of mine). SWR may have changed a bit on some of the bands but it is still below 1.6:1 everywhere and 1:1 on few bands. I have a picture on my QRZ page if anyone is interested.
Due to the painting of the spreaders the antenna is completely invisible at night. I actually thought that it was stolen the first night after final assembly because i looked up and it wasn't there. I'm using it with the Elecraft K-Line. Before i bought the KPA500 i was running with just a K3/100 and usually the first question from a DX station was: what amp are you using?
In the wind it seems to just sit there. I have a 10m vertical aluminum antenna 18 feet away from the HexBeam and its painful to watch it in the moderate winds.
I'm using am older CDE HAM IV rotator which i upgraded with an ERC board for RS232 capability. Controlling it with HRD is simply awesome. Point and click. It sure is an overkill for this very light antenna but i already had the rotator.
Service from Leo is unbelievable! I've gotten e-mail replies from him on a Saturday, 5-10 minutes after i sent it!
All in all its an amazing package, especially for someone with real estate restrictions.
KA4MAY Rating: 2014-06-11
Complete Satisfaction Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I purchased the 5-band Hexbeam with the 6-meter option in May of 2014. I chose this product for the following reasons: 1) I live on a lot with large trees that do not have enough clearance for larger antennas, and 2) It represented the best value for the gain, front to back ratio, and bands provided for the dollars spent.

When the unit arrived, I was impressed with the care that the components were packaged and organized. I took my time with the assembly, which was very easy due to the quality of the instructions.

I placed the hexbeam on my 14-foot "test pole" and was pleased with the SWR curves on all bands from 20 through 6 meters. On-air testing and comparisons with my Butternut vertical within minutes demonstrated that while the gain of this antenna is not overpowering, on reception, rejection of signals from unwanted directions is outstanding. Even at this low height, DX from many areas of the world previously inaccessible to me have been easily placed into my logbook.

The only caution I can pass on to potential buyers is that if you are using a non-standard mast size, as I have, a little ingenuity will be necessary to securely mount this antenna.

Support via e-mail has been outstanding, all my questions before and after purchase have been quickly and thoroughly answered.

I am very happy with this product and enthusiatically recommend it to other amateurs with space limitations.

Thank you,
Mark, KA4MAY
K8BZ Rating: 2014-05-29
All reviews are Spot On! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This antenna meets and in most cases exceeds all of the claimed assembly, specifications and performance. I purchased the 6 band version with 6 meters included. Assembly was completed without assistance in about 2 1/2 hours. The antenna was tested on the ground with an antenna analizer and had good center of resonance and reasonable band width, although not necessarily in band centers, but it gave me confidence that it would be fine when mounted on the tower.

This antenna replaced a Cushcraft A3S, 3 element tri-band yagi that gave me good performance for 9 years. After the antenna change I found the MAXIMUM SWR ACROSS THE BAND, as follows:

20 meters 1.3 to 1
17 meters 1.4 to 1
15 meters 1 to 1 across the entire band
12 meters 1.2 to 1 across the entire band
10 meters 1.4 to 1 from 28.005 to about 28.300 and a flat 1 to 1 for the remainder of the band.
6 meters 1 to 1 from the low band edge and did not raise to 1.5 to 1 until reaching 51.370 Mhz.

The KIO Hex beam has a great deal more rejection of signals off the side and back of the beam than the A3S. The difference was more than slight. With the A3S, if a signal was S-2 off the front of the beam I could usually count on at least hearing the signal from any other side or back of the beam. Not so with the Hex. There are sharp nulls at 90 and 180 deg.

In the 5 days since this antenna went up here is a small sampling of stations worked:

JT1DX SM3EVR JA2DHF E51KJW OH4MDY UT7UJ BV3EK Z36T LZ2014KM XE1XR EY7AD OH0CC OU5UK TM4U JW/W2NAF SV9CVY IW1GGR E73Y

Some of the above had decent pile ups calling and I had no trouble getting through. I use an amp but most of the above were worked at 100 watts.

I have a 1.5 KW tuner that I can completely bypass on 20 through 6 meters with the KIO Hex Beam.

I have found the eHam.net reviews to be very helpful when considering a major purchase. I read most of the reviews of the KIO Hex beam before I made the pruchase and I was expecting a good performing antenna just based on the reviews I read. It's not often that I can say I was "blown away" by the performance of a product when I had great expectations in the first place. But I was "Blown Away".

When I first started seeing photos of these antennas showing up on QRZ.com pages I thought they were the pretty ugly. But I have a whole new appreciation for them now and I'm getting quite used to the goofy looking things.
K4ELO Rating: 2014-05-04
Bargain antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have to thank Leo for an excellent product. Simple to assemble with quality parts. Built it a few weeks ago and finally got it up today.

My other antennas are 2 super loops at 45'. The hex beam is at 36'.

On 17M today listening to EU stations. They were 4 to 6 S units stronger on the hex beam compared to the loops. Weak EU stations on the hex beam were not even heard on the loops. Plus, the hex beam is quieter on rx than the loops.

Maybe half the gain of an expensive beam but a small fraction of the cost. I'll be working more dx now.

73
Wayne
K4ELO