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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
K0JKJ Rating: 2015-04-22
great but needs painting Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My first Impression of the K4KIO hex beam was very favorable. Went together easily. With a second person it went up fairly easily on the roof mounted tripod, and rotor. After the “~ three” years I have had it up it needed to come down for a roof replacement. Colorado hail and 80+ mph winds are tough on roofs. The antenna handled it fine. But The night before I was going to take it down the rotor mount broke and the antenna came down. One spreader was damaged.

The only problem is the fiberglass spreader DO NOT like the high Colorado UV levels and are starting to de-laminate like the fiber glass light poles in my neighborhood. Before it goes back up it will receive a couple of coats of enamel paint. I will use leather gloves when painting and handling so as not to have anymore fiberglass stuck in my hands than handling the removal provided.

As a beam antenna it is great for what it is but I wished the spreaders were painted before assemblyto prevent the UV damage. Thus the 4 out of 5 rating.

PS I tell the neighbors that ask: It is not an antenna but a clothes line for the doves that use it for a perch to announce their search for a mate..
KC1SA Rating: 2015-04-22
A great value and excellent performer Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I’m a quite new to amateur radio. I have a Kenwood TS-2000 that I’ve been running various end fed antenna for 6m to 160m applications and have been somewhat happy, but remember I’m a new person to the hobby and nothing to compare against. I had the privilege of working at W1AW for an hour a few months back and that tainted my viewpoint of reception. I’ve worked our club station with G5RV’s and such and didn’t see much of a difference from my end-fed designs but the beam at W1AW really sparked my interests.
I live in the center of my town; each plot is only 1/6th of an acre so I don’t have much room to play with for antenna. After much investigation between designs I settled on the hex beam design as it offered the smallest footprint, lowest total cost, and good performance as reported by users. I settled on KIO’s product due to the excellent pre-sales support, attractive pricing and options for additional bands and durability.
My beam is mounted with an EasyUp 31’ foot pole with a Yaesu G-450A mounted at ground level. The pole is currently extended to 22 feet with three guy rings employed to stabilize the pole. I painted the spreader arms with two coats of white Rust-Oleum paint for UV protection. Installed are the option Ice cord and the 6 meter add on kit. Also installed are the ferrite cores for use as a balun.
Performance was really unbelievable compared to the end fed. I have measured the SWR on all bands (6m to 20m) and none are worse than 2:1 which is to be expected. I use my internal tuner of the Kenwood to tune the frequency so the rig only sees 1:1. The hex beam can also be used on 2m as the SWR is below 1.5:1 across the 2m band with the 6m option. I have experienced detuning when during a rain storm; example 50.175Mhz would not tune up with the Kenwood during a recent rain storm however the following day once the antenna was dry all was good. This behavior is expected and during that rain storm only the low end of 6m couldn’t tune, every other band and the rest of 6m would tune. I’ve worked Svalbard, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Europe and South America and in many instances was first or second hear on a pile-up.
I will most likely be changing the guying method as I find ropes allow the mast to sway too much in heavy winds, but overall the stability seems good for the system. The mounting of the rotor, pole, and thrust bearing is very similar to some of the methods shown on the KIO gallery. I highly recommend this antenna for anyone looking to improve performance over a wire antenna or even a vertical for bands from 6m to 20m.
KC1AXJ
Look for installation photos on QRZ (soon).
W3LDR Rating: 2015-03-24
Excellent HF Antenna Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I have had the K4KIO 6-20 on the air for almost a year. I rarely do reviews however I felt this is warranted. I originally had this hex on a Rohn push up with the rotor on top. The mast failed and bent in a heavy West Texas wind after a few months. I removed the beam and transferred it to a Rohn 25 Tower and the Beam sat at 34-35ft.

I have made several DX and Stateside contacts way to many to count and have always had GREAT reports. The antenna is relatively flat on its swrs on all bands and no swrs over 1.5:1 that I ever found. This antenna has very directional beam properties.

Compared to my Mosley tri-band there is very little difference I can tell except I think the Hex is quieter. Maybe its my installation.
Anyway I am a fan.....
VK3TEX Rating: 2015-02-09
Excellent antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Bought mine second hand it has the 15,20 and 6 meters and works wonderful. Installation was easy, but before that I coated with two coats of enamel paint as the elements had been a little sun damaged but once painted it's great.
I was lucky I had a rooftop to assemble it on so I didn't have to raise it and maybe drop and break it.
The difference between the wire antennas I had and the Hexbeam is like night and day...a BIG,BIG IMPROVEMENT ON RECEIVING AND TRANSMITTING!
It's a true beam antenna with good gain and excellent front to back and side characteristics.
I'm going to order the 10 meter element next and work some DX there too.
It's a great size for a smaller yard and is turned with a light duty rotator!
Great antenna and it looks fantastic in the yard!
Day after day the more I use it the more amazed I am with the strength of the DX signals...
Good job K4KIO you have a great product there!!
W7MH Rating: 2015-01-04
excellant antenna Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Construction: the K4KIO 6 band antenna went together easily . I gave the spreaders 2 coats of latex paint. Antenna is up 50 feet. I placed a Bird 43 wattmeter in line and checked each band high and low end. The high end of 10M SWR is 1.8 and the low end is 1.5. All readings of other bands are very flat with readings near 1:1. On air performance is very very good and I am well pleased with this antenna.
XW1B Rating: 2014-12-07
Second review.... Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I've had my 5 band HEX in the air for 4 months now and wanted to share my findings. In a word this antenna is FUN!
It has consistently exceeded my expectations on every band and has put over 3500 Qso's in the log with just casual operating time.
Lightweight, easy to handle, and works exceedingly well.
I've had a few questions for Leo and he's very quick to reply and share his experience and knowledge. Customer Service is second to none!
A great buy, a terrific antenna!

3W3B Da Nang Vietnam
AE7WC Rating: 2014-12-01
It gets the job done! Time Owned: more than 12 months.
This is a follow-up review. I live in western Oregon. I've had my K4KIO up a 40' tower left behind by the previous owner. He used it for TV. In the year I have been using it I have phone QSOs with 140 different countries in my QRZ logbook with 101 of those confirmed through LoTW and am now DXCC qualified. I also have QSOed all 50 states plus DC. I am running 100 watts with no other frills or extras. I'd say it gets the job done.
K6WSC Rating: 2014-12-01
DXCC count for the weekend Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I finished the installation of my KIO hexagonal beam one hour before the start of the 2014 CQ WW DX CW contest.

The KIO beam performed flawlessly. It truly is just plug and play with very low SWR. My KIO beam is mounted at 26 feet.

Here are the results for the weekend with the KIO beam:
88 countries on 20m
111 countries on 15m
119 countries on 10m

The KIO broadband hexagonal beam is simply amazing.

73, Bill K6WSC
WA9WFA Rating: 2014-10-21
Super Easy to Assemble, Well Made, Quality Construction Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The K4KIO Hex Beam reviews here on eham.com helped me decide on getting this antenna. Thanks to the folks who took the time to share their experience and opinion. I want to provide feedback as well that may help others in their decision. I've only had this antenna up for 3 days so obviously I'm not going to be commenting on performance at this time. I'd rather focus on construction and installation of the antenna while it's still fresh in my mind. If I waited a year before reviewing, I'd have forgotten alot of details.

The K4KIO wasn't the most expensive nor the least expensive hex antenna. I feel the price is appropriate for the quality of the materials used, fiberglass tubing instead of PVC, and the fact that all of the tubing hoseclamp P-clips are pre-loaded in the correct location, all the U-bolts for the fiberglass arms are pre-loaded on the base plate, and the antenna driven elements and reflector elements are prewired and ready to use. It's as pre-built as an antenna can be.

The K4KIO beam went together exactly like the construction manual said, no construction issues, no ambiguity. Smooth. All of the hoseclamp P-clips are pre-measured and attached at the proper spots so you literally just slide the tubing together until it stops sliding, attach the dacron tip supports, and thread the wires through the P-clips. I must move in slow motion because it took me a couple hours to build it although I did enjoy taking my time and savoring the build. Leo has the construction manual on-line so you can read it and understand the construction before you build.

Leo also includes useful information on-line for mounting the mast to the antenna mast coupling. While I bought the smaller sized coupling base plate, I ended up buying the 1.9" thick wall aluminum mast that Leo references. Man that mast was nice and I didn't need any rotor shims. I used Leo's documention to build the adapter between the coupler and the 1.9" OD mast using the plumbing nipple. It was easy to assemble and only cost a few bucks in parts.

I was grateful for Leo including a few extra parts. He included two extra of those stainless steel cap nuts and washers. He must have anticipated "me". I couldn't believe it when I accidentally lost two of them in the tall grass due to a dumb mistake on my part. I had the parts sitting on the baseplate, forgot about them, then moved the antenna a few more feet away from the deck, parts slid off and disappeared in the grass. I grabbed those spare parts and finished up the antenna. Ditto on the spare tie wraps. I needed them also.

Two things I wanted to point out for others. Be aware that the coax feedline hole in the base plate is too small to pass the optional balun kit through. It'll easily pass the PL-259 but the ferrite bead stack is too wide. It wasn't a problem. I chose to drag the entire length of coax up on the roof and pass the shack end of the coax through the hole and pull it through. I could have just as easily routed the coax over the edge of the base plate. The other thing I noticed was that when installing the optional snow/ice supports, there wasn't enough room on the eyebolt for all 6 tubing tip supports plus 6 ice supports so I had to double up on a few. No problem, just an observation.

When you go to attach the wires to the center support, right up front plan on having to loosen the 1 and 6 support hose clamp P-clips and sliding them a few inches inward so the ring terminals on the ends of the wires will easily fit over the screws. Once the terminals are secured, gently slide each hose clamp assy back until the wires are loose. I emphasize "loose", not sagging, not taught. Too tight and the antenna wires will be under tension. You want them to be 'untensioned' with a little sag.

When I went to assemble the beam, I was horrified to discover that three of the six small fiberglass tubing assemblies were missing. Here the box has been under the desk for a year and I never knew of the missing parts. I emailed Leo an SOS right away on Saturday morning to buy the three pieces and I was surprised to get a response from him less than 2 hours later, a brief apology, and a promise to send out the missing parts on the following Monday. He did and I had them by the end of the day Wednesday. Wow what more can you say about superior customer service?? I was expecting to have to pay for the missing pieces since I had bought the antenna over a year ago but Leo said no problem.

When attaching the wires to the center support, the manual says use a pliers to hold the hex nut in place while tightening the cap nuts. Believe it. I didn't have any problems but I did notice that the nut will indeed turn if you don't use a pliers to hold the nut firm while securing the capnut.

So in summary I am very pleased (!!) with the quality of materials and the ease of construction of the K4KIO hex beam. It was nice opening a pre-built beam when I think back to 1968 when I opened a Hygain TH3JR and looked at all the bags full of loose screws, nuts, washers, clamps, etc.... I'll report back next Spring after the brutal Minnesota snow and ice season.
AA2JE Rating: 2014-10-14
Great Antenna for the Buck Time Owned: 6 to 12 months.
I purchased the Hex beam almost a year ago, and man let me tell you this antenna is awesome. I get the best reports... What ever I hear I can work it with no problems. Europe booms into my FT-950 10++ signals all the time. Asia the same, few months back worked a station in Japan with a signal report of 20 over 9 with 400 watts, with just a 100w 15 over 9. I never did get reports like that with the Mosley 53. Good job Mr. Leo!