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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: 181MSRP: 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
74.91814.9
KY6N Rating: 2014-04-20
Great! and good value. Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I am a very happy customer.

The K4KIO Hex beam is so simple to assemble that I had one of my maintenance employees put it together while I was working on the rotor.
The employee had never seen a Hex or any other beam. I handed him the box, as received, and said "just follow the instructions".
In a little over an hour he had it all together. We did some final adjustments to balance out the arms, tightened all screws and it was ready to go up.
It required no cutting or drilling and no radio related skill....I put it up and it worked perfectly on every band.
Doesn't get better than that....
...and I have worked the world with it.
I have had big towers and long boom mono band beams.....yes, they work better....but the cost and work to put them up and keep them up is huge.
All in all, for a minor amount of money and effort I think the K4KIO Hex beam is great.
It is also a low visual impact antenna. If it is located among or near trees....it almost disappears.
W4RCY Rating: 2014-04-20
Excellent!! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Excellent Service, Quality, Design, & function. Very easy to construct, Flat low swr on all bands, quite with 'BIG EARS". Excellent DX signal reports. Can be mounted on a pole. After installing on a 30 ft push pole, I immediately went in the shack and worked 5 ZLs, several Russian Stations, Europe and SA from Tenn. with 100 watts. This Bird does Sing. I think it is the best low budget directional antenna available. My Thanks to Leo. The only antenna that I have owned that will possibly outperform a Hex Beam was a large Quad, it was more costly, required a tower. and weighed considerably more.
KC9RNK Rating: 2014-03-16
Ice Cords, Thanks Leo! Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
Living in Chicagoland I figured spending the extra money for the ice cords was a good idea. Last week we had a wet heavy snow that was downing tree branches with ease. I looked up at the Hex Beam and immediately started to worry. The beam was LOADED with ice and snow, inch or so on spreaders, 1/4 inch on wires and support cords. Not what I wanted to see. It gets worse! 20 to 40 mile an hour wind gust! The Hex Beam was hanging in there!! This lasted 2 days! Ice finally melts, beam was in perfect shape, and below 1.3-1 SWR on all bands before storm. This is my second review on this Hex Beam. I'm very happy with the quality build of this beam. The way the weather has gone this last winter all over the states, even if I lived in HI, I would get the ice cords...you never know anymore, do we?
KENWOODUSER Rating: 2014-03-07
Excellent 6-band beam Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
OVERALL
This is a good antenna and I am very well pleased with it. If you can get past the look of a hex beam and can get one up in the air, you will appreciate the performance. Do not overlook the fact that it only requires a very inexpensive and modest mast and/or rotator. Those can be important criteria because while there are larger beams with more gain, they also require a serious (and often expensive) support structure.

STRENGTH
This antenna has held up just fine in the elements. It has seen wind, rain, snow, etc. I especially like the quality, strength, and flexibility of the wire sets.

TUNING
No need for a tuner. Just jump around the bands and pull the trigger.

ASSEMBLY / INSTALLATION
The antenna is currently installed atop a Us-Tower MA-40 mast. The mast was a beast to install but that's another topic. The actual hex beam install only took a couple of hours and went together well. I was able to carry it by hand over to the tower mast. With the mast retracted to around the 20ft level, scaffolding was then installed. A rope was tied to the hex beam and a person on top of the scaffolding hoisted up the antenna. We then placed the antenna on the mast. Yes, the MA-40 could have been tilted over as well, but that may require a winch or the raising fixture because the mast is very heavy.

Instructions are easy to follow. It's really a very simple job.

KIT DESIGN
I haven't built the other kits on the market but each have their good points and also things that can be improved. This kit is simple and the center hub is nice but I don't like the way the spreaders clamp to the hub plate. There are a few other things I think could be improved, also.

PERFORMANCE
This antenna performs extremely well. It sits at about 45ft above ground, which helps tremendously. It will bust pileups and exhibits good gain, FB ratio, etc. For its designed bands, and in specific ways, this antenna easily outperforms the ground-mounted vertical situated close by. It's quiet on receive and packs a punch on transmit. This antenna has no problem bagging DX.

SUMMARY
A very good multi-band beam antenna that requires only a modest support structure. It is reasonably priced and holds up in the weather quite well. It's also very easy to build and install.
KB1OSY Rating: 2014-03-05
awesome Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
i will start with ordering the hex from k4kio it was shipped quickly i also got the 6m add on it arrived a few days later on a fri morning and i couldn't wait to set it up so fri afternoon i started on it at around 1330 by myself i built it in about 2 hrs i was impressed with the quality of the materials and the ease to assemble it i was able to get the beam on the roof and on the mast alone plugged it in and away i went the ts590 came alive i was working stations i couldn't hear on my cobra ultralite for about 24 hrs the swr was flat on every band i didn't need the tuner at all then it happened the swr shot up and was very bad my problem was the coax i was so bummed so the next morning i was on the roof and i replaced both 259 conecters and bingo back on with a flat match i couldn't be happier the only thing i can tell people is that follow the directions and pay close attention to the choke balun and placement of them the beam is very light weight and easy to work with no its not a stepper i r but for the money i am not disappointed
AA5JD Rating: 2014-02-09
I highly recommend this antenna! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is an outstanding antenna. I have my 6-band K4KIO hex at about 10 ft on a tripod with rotator. I have made several DX contacts on 10-meters with the farthest being Australia from my Texas QTH. Signal reports have been mostly 5-9. I plan to get it up to 35 ft on a push-up mast, but it works so good where it's at I have not made the move yet.
When I first put it up it was missing one nut on the center post. I emailed Leo and he sent the part to me asap. My experiences with this hexbeam have been outstanding from making contacts to getting assistance from K4KIO.
W5ZAX Rating: 2014-01-12
Survived Ice Storm Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
This is a follow-up to my May 2013 account of having added a KIO Hexbeam to my amateur operation. During the 2013 holidays an ice storm deposited 1/2 inch of ice on everything around including my antenna. By the second day with the ice remaining on the antenna, it was leaning and laying on the roof still attached to its chimney mount. A friend who installed the antenna for me came over after the ice melted and discovered the problem. The four metal strips holding the antenna to the chimney are held by friction in fold-over clips. The excess weight caused by the ice slowly pulled the strips through the clips. The excess weight of the ice pulled the strips through the clips. When this occurred the antenna very slowly sat down on the roof. My friend readjusted the metal clips and placed the antenna back in place. The SWR has not changed. The antenna, with its ice cords, was not damaged. Everything worked fine. My first contact was KC4AAA at the South Pole on 20m receiving a 5-6 report with other so-so band conditions. Hats off again to KIO for a fine antenna. To survive an Oklahoma ice storm is something of an accomplishment.
N2EBB Rating: 2014-01-12
excellent value Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I needed a lighter array because it would be on the house. The K4KIO hex-beam met all expectations. Very easy to assemble, easy to erect because of light weight, and easy on the eye. At 25 feet above ground the beam hears better than dipoles twice as high, the signal reports are excellent, and I have actually not used my amplifier because I can work anyone I hear without it. I consider this one of the best values I have ever purchased.
WA1TJB Rating: 2013-12-06
Great Antenna Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Hi Leo,

I wanted to give you a quick testimonial for the hex beam. I was watching dxwatch.com last night and saw a post for a station in the Falkland Islands. I tuned in the frequency on my 43 foot tall vertical antenna and could barely hear the station down in the weeds. I have a K4KIO hex beam but it only sits about 8 feet off the ground (I haven't had time to get it up on a mast yet). Anyway, I switched over from the vertical to the hex beam and turned the beam to the southeast. The Falkland station came up to a copyable level, so I gave him and call and got him on the second try. I only gave him a 55 report but got a 59 report back. Even with the hex beam sitting just above ground level, it really does a great job. Can't wait to see what it will do when I get it up 40 feet!!

Blessings,

Gary
WA1TJB
KC9YYI Rating: 2013-11-22
Unstable SWR.. ??? Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
This beam is easy to put together and worked fine the first day with an SWR below 1.2.1 on all bands. Thats why I gave it a 5. Then the swr started slowly going up to 2.1.1 on all bands.

I really dont think it's the beam though. It has been raining everyday since I put it up. The first day, I was getting reports like "Turn that damn power down".. (I was only running 70 watts.. hi hi).
I would recommend to Leo to not use the set screws to mount it to the mast. I drilled holes in mine to insure it doesn't slip on the mast.

I did notice the beam was quieter than the 3 element I took down and believe it or not, the KIO hex beam is actually more stealth the the 3 element tri bander. It blends into the sky quite well. I think the swr will be more stable when the weather dries out.