The Hexbeam Antenna Arrived!

In the middle of the workday, UPS truck rolls up to the front of the office and delivers two packages. The whole thing weighs about 30 pounds. From that moment on, I’ve become like a kid with a new bike. Can’t wait until I get out of school and be able to ride it. Of course, we take it home and open the packages. Very well organized and it doesn’t look difficult to do but there are a few steps to do. I read the instruction manual from start to finish to understand what are all the steps (amazing for me!). It’s actually pretty straightforward, but you do want to take your time and do it right. The part that’s probably going to take the most time is painting the fiberglass poles so the ultraviolet doesn’t degrade them. The paint will take a while to dry even though it is spray paint. They recommend Rustoleum brand that has both the primer and paint in it. Two cans of your favorite color will coat the fiberglass poles. Once they’re dry, then you can start assembly.

One of the 6 fiberglass spreader poles has the clamps already in place so paint 5 of them and use the last one to show you where to place the clamps after the paint is dry. Then you remove the clamps of the 6th pole and paint it. The 6th pole is your “measuring tape” for the placement of the clamps on the other poles. More on that as I do it…

I see that the mounting and rotor is up to you to determine as every Ham’s location is different. You could just put it up on a guyed 20-30′ pushup pole and turn it by hand when you want to change directions, as in a temporary situation like Field Day. The beam angle may be about 90 degrees so it is not as critical as other beam antennas. It reportedly has a 10 dB difference in the front to back ratio however. (I will check on these figures later to see how my installation performs).

Other installations are shown on the KIO Technology web page that include the rotor at the bottom or alternately a 3 section Rohn 25 tower with the rotor in the usual location. You have to think about your location and what you are trying to do with it. Ideally it should be up at 25-35′ or higher for the optimal performance. Leo Shoemaker (the designer and owner of the company) has had reports of amazing Dx contacts while the antenna was on the picnic table after being assembled, 3 feet off the ground. This tells me that to have the best performance, you need it up in the air but it will work amazingly well however you put it up. Do not forget that the SWR will be better when it is up in the air.

Tools that you might need are: needle nose pliers, channel lock pliers, nut drivers (1/4″, 3/8″, 7/16″), tape measure, two saw horses. Blue lock tight, Rustoleum spray cans x2 (Primer and paint). Think about the feed line size and length. Electrical tape and water seal for the PL259-239 connection.

Hexbeam Part 1, more to come later, 73 Peter

---