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Reviews For: Hexbeam: G3TXQ by MW0JZE

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

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Review Summary For : Hexbeam: G3TXQ by MW0JZE
Reviews: 94MSRP: £475.00 + Shipping
Description:
Description: A six band broadband Hexagonal Beam Antenna designed by Steve G3TXQ and manufactured in the UK by Anthony MW0JZE. Comparable performance to a full size two element yagi on bands 20M – 6M with no tuner needed! Antenna is made in a pre-assembled form meaning a quite assembly time with no tuning involved, just assemble and mount to your mast. Full spec can be found on Anthony’s web site wwwg3txq-hexbeam.com Price £475 GBP plus shipping
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.g3txq-hexbeam.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
25945
G3RDC Rating: 2010-04-07
Great product Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
The mechanical parts of of excellent quality and all fitted together perfectly. Each spreader is made from three lengths of fibreglass tube and where they join there is a strong aluminium collar for added strength - much better than just a Jubilee clip.

The elements are pre-measured and made-up and the plastic cleats to hold them are pre-set already on the spreaders. The hub is strong cast aluminium and very strong. There is a short stub mast to slot into the rotator or you can add your own (48mm diameter).

All ropes are made from thin but extremely strong Kevlar and have 'S' clips pre-fitted. Ropes are pre-measured and fit perfectly.

The instructions are adequate though they could perhaps do with a bit of tidying. I looked at hexbeam construction on other sites just to familiarise myself before starting. Photo's are of a prototype but still clear enough.

Performance is very good. It out-performs my old Cushcraft MA5-B by around two 'S' points - more on the WARC bands. Front-to-back ratio is surprisingly good and it certainly cuts EU down to size when pointed at the States. My telescopic mast goes down to about 22ft but the hexbeam still works effectively even there.

If you want a small HF beam but can't get up a 3 element Steppir then the Hexbeam from MW0JZE must be given serious consideration. I thoroughly recommend it.
EI2GLB Rating: 2010-03-21
Brilliant Antenna and Excellent Customer service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
I have been looking for an Antenna to replace the Cushcraft X7 I had bought but never installed as it was too large for my needs. The main points I needed was it had to cover 20-10 including Warc’s bands without a tuner. Had to be light and easy to install, had to be pleasing to the eye (mine not YL) and low cost as at best I only operate HF when VHF is closed.



I have read lots about the Hex beam and was very interested in one. But sourcing homebrew parts here in EI is next to impossible and while I am sure I could have, it would have taken many months and with the price of shipping from the States/UK I needed to source a ready to build kit.



I did some looking at the kit that DX engineering do but it was more a box of parts than an actual antenna that just needed to be assembled.



I found out about Ant MW0JZE and his Hex Beam kit through a posting on a Forum I use. I contacted Ant and got a very quick reply to my questions and I found the price of the antenna and shipping reasonable. From date of order I had the antenna in about 10days.



Assemble was very straight forward I didn’t have the manual to hand and taking my time checking everything at least 3 times it took me a little over an hour. Only when you start to assemble it do you start to see this is a large antenna. My last few antennas have been yagis for 2m and 70cms so I was shocked somewhat by the size of the antenna when assembled.



I checked the SWR with my MFJ269 with the antenna sitting on the ground and all looked good. I had some difficulty installing the Hex on tilt over tower due to the size of the Hex and the Ground being too soft for my ladder. In the end I got it installed on my own but I would recommend getting help for installation. I managed to break one of the spreaders while installing it by putting all the weight of the tower and the two other antennas and myself all on a single spreader so this was totally my fault and not an antenna problem. Thankfully Ant was able to ship me a replacement spreader and I had it in a few days.



Once I got it installed the SWR was perfect on all bands, usually 1.2:1 or lower on the SSB sections on all bands and maybe 1.5:1 on CW on 20m and 15m. The only antenna I had for HF at the time was a 40m delta loop made with a single 12m fibreglass pole and fed with 300ohm ribbon. I have worked lots of DX with this antenna and I wasn’t expecting to see too much of a improvement with the Hex, On most stations I see a noticeable improvement on the S meter on my Pro2, I have no fancy test equipment so worst case for my Pro2 I would say 3 dB per S point so I was seeing 3-12dB on most stations. F/B on a loud EU stations I see up to 25dB and even more off the side of the Hex. My main problem is after years of using wires I forget to turn the rotator.



I did run into some problems a few days after installation and Ant was very helpful when I contacted him and gave me a list of things to check over. In the end it was not a fault of the Hex but a bad length of Westflex W103 that didn’t like going around the rotator.



With the Hex at 60ft and running 400w from my Acom1000 I have worked over 35 new DXCC’s in the last month. Currently at 168 worked. I spend most of my time on 15m and I have worked nearly 70 DXCC’s there so far since installing the hex. I am not very active so would only spend a few hours a week on the radio. I can get through most pileups with a few calls. The Hex has really opened the World up to me on HF the only problem I have is that I have to tune the Acom so band changes are not as quick as I would like.



For the price there is nothing in the market to match the Hex, I would recommend it to anyone looking to get a low cost directional antenna for the HF bands and also 6m.



Anyone interested drop Ant MW0JZE a mail and he will give you more Info. I found Ant a pleasure to deal with and can highly recommend his antenna.



Trevor

EI2GLB

M0LBJ Rating: 2010-03-01
Very pleased Hexbeam user Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi just purchased the 6band G3TXQ by MW0JZE.I and my friend M0DND Mr Dave,spent no more than an hour to put the antenna together and then erect the antenna on a pole 22ft above the ground.I had a little problem with the balun i had but that was soon rectified.The swr was just fine and i am certainly hearing stations i hadn't heard before.Had good reports from VK and PY.I am very pleased with the antenna and would recommend it too anyone who has restricted space.
Regards Barry M0LBJ
G1VDP Rating: 2010-02-11
Fantastic antenna for home or portable. Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
G3TXQ Hexbeam built by Ant MW0JZE
Chris Colclough G1VDP

When I decided that I was going to build a Hexbeam I had made a comment in passing to Ant (MW0JZE) at one of the events the Strumble Head DX and Contest Group were putting on, that I was going to build one. And at the same time, without knowing, Ant had also made the decision to build one for him self. What Ant and I were looking for was a multiband antenna that covered 20, 17, 15, 12, 10 and 6M, with one feed line, and that would perform better than the Cushcraft MA5B I had and the MQ36 hybrid quad he had (both compromise antennas that had worked well for both of us).

So when I returned to my home in the Midlands following the CQWPX contest 2009 I started to get the bits and pieces together to start this project. Luckily Rob (MW0RLJ) had had some of the bits of metal necessary in the construction in one of his sheds and kindly donated them to the project.

Reading all the various web pages on the construction of the antenna I decided to go with the G3TXQ broad band hexbeam using fishing poles for the spreaders. Looking around for the best prices for these simple Items was a task on its own, and eventually I managed to get them from a well known – within fishing circles that is – tackle shop in Norfolk, England. It was at this time that Ant and I were having a chat and discussing our SHDXCG trip to Ramsey Island for the IOTA that he mentioned he had built one and was on with a second one to take with us – see http://www.mc0shl.com for details and photographs – on the mini dxpedition.

This meant that not only could I see the easiest way to construct the antenna and solve some issues I had, but it would give me the opportunity to try the antenna out for myself.

Come the day we sailed over to Ramsey, I saw for the first time the engineering that Ant had performed on building these antennas. Not only were the materials used stronger than the parts I had, the overall construction was one that was going to last for quite a number of years – and these 2 were his prototypes!

After the event I sat chatting with Ant and asked him if it would be possible for us to get together to build one for my home. Ant said yes and we eventually managed to do this one November weekend where I went down and acted like Igor to Dr Frankenstein – Ant’s assistant in the building of the monster.

Prior to my arrival at Ant’s home he had requested I get some bits from a supplier for the construction and have it delivered to his home ready. Ant also made the centre post and did all the wiring for the connectors within the post before I got to him. Again I was amazed at the quality of the engineering in this part, in fact all the engineering of the antenna is second to none and I personally don’t think that it could ave been constructed any better if in a factory environment.

Building and Erecting

Having built the antenna towards the end of November and not being able to get a antenna party together until the last weekend of January 2010 the antenna was in my house waiting to go up in the air.

This was done with the assistance of Tim (M0URX), owner and user of one of the Ramsey Hexbeams, and Vinny (2E0COV), who also is having one of these antennas. We got together on the Sunday morning and started by attaching the rotator to the mast. The actual construction of the antenna was the easiest and simplest of tasks in antenna building I have ever undertaken.

Starting with the centre post the spreaders are inserted into the hub, each having 2 support chords to get the shape – one to the centre and one to the next spreader to give the whole lot a little rigidity – taking opposite spreaders to the centre and then the chord to each spreader all the way round. This is should take no longer than 15 minutes.

The next phase is the attaching of the wire for each element. Starting with six meters it is a simple task to thread each band through the premeasured support loops and connecting with a locking nut to the centre post. Again this took about 30 minutes due to the constraints and room in my small rear yard. But if you have the room in the garden then the whole construction should be around 30 minutes for 2 or 3 persons.

On air performance.

All I can say is “WOW”. If I can hear them I can work them. Using only 100w from my FT2000 I am working stations that I couldn’t hear with my old Cushcraft MA5B. I use all modes and working most DX with one call – especially on CW. This past weekend (6th and 7th February 2010) I had a play in the XE RTTY contest and I had a small pile up of Japanese stations on 20M, this could never have been achieved with the MA5B, and both antennas were mounted at the same height in the same spot at the bottom of my yard. All I need now is to get my amplifier working and I will be a big signal on the bands. I am so confident and happy with the antenna that I am going to enter this coming weekends CQWPX RTTY contest on 20M uaing the antenna to again put it through its paces.

Don’t get me wrong that all I have done is used it on 20M. I have tried every band – including 12, 10 and 6M – with good results. Although the 3 higher bands haven’t yet started to show any real DX I have made some contacts on them. On 17M over a period of about 3 hours I managed to work 6W/GM4FDM and 6W/PA3EWP on 3 modes CW RTTY and finally SSB through the usual EU pileup. 15M has also allowed me to crack the pileups on all modes, with 5X1NH, OH1VR/VP9, XE1CQ, and 6W/GM4FDM all being logged (these are just a selection on one page of my log) on this band.

If you are thinking of building one, or just want to buy one to erect then I can definitely recommend the G3TXQ Hexbeam being built by Ant. If you need more information then visit his website at http://www.g3txq-hexbeam.com where there are dimensions and constructional details, along with photos of mine being built within my yard. And I am not just saying this because Ant is a friend, I do believe this antenna is the best for any compromise type of antenna on the market. And I also think this would be a good antenna for portable use.

Chris Colclough
G1VDP