CQ Hexbeam owners. (especially on L.I.)

Hi,
Considering buying a Hexbeam. Not decided on which one yet.
Would like to hear from owners any feedback.
If you live on the Island, suffolk or nassau and don't mind a ham driving by and taking a look.
Post here or via E-mail kg2dc@arrl.net
TNX, Carmine KG2DC

 

Have had my Hex up for about 6 months or so and cannot say enough about the beam or the supplier.

Sitting atop 35 Feet of Rohn 25 and have heard stations I never heard before.

Getting GREAT reports operating bare foot with Kenwood TS-480Sat. Have confirmed contacts in Australia , and Russia.
Be careful with all the diferent venders as what came standard with mine , others charge extra.
73 and Good DX.

link to my beam below.


http://www.k4hex.com/home.asp

 

Thank You Charles,
Yes the k4hex is one of two I am seriously considering. The other being the k4kio.
How did you come to pick the k4hex?
What kind of rotator do you use?

 

Dan,N8WMZ
I have my Hex beam up at 35 feet and I can't get over how well
it works you can't go roung with that beam it can be turned with
a small rotor like tv rotor and its been up a year with no problems
My hex beam is from Roger Rockwell hexgonalbeam.com

 

FWIW, I too have the K4hex- formerly the NA4RR hexbeam when I bought mine. Mine has been up a bit over a year, and I couldn't be more pleased with it, or with the supplier. The only thing I would nitpick on mine, the support cords hooked into the end of the spreaderbars. As a result I had a couple come loose while trying to get it on top of the tower. If I had to do it again, I would go get a few tiny hoseclamps and secure the support cord to the spreaders with them. Otherwise, it is very well made.
Mine is up approximately 50 feet (pics on my qrz page) and has made a huge difference in my abilities to get through the pile ups. I chose it because of the price and the reviews, plus after talking with the maker (Roger), he just seemed to be the type of person I wanted to do business with.
I use an ancient swap meet special rotor I picked up for $35, a AR-22 I think. Mine's gone through a winter and the spring stormy season with no issues at all- I walked out in the middle of a storm one evening, around 50 mph plus winds, just to see how it was fairing. It just sat up there rocking slightly, no drama at all. Probably the best ham radio purchase I have ever made. Hope this helps your decision making.. Bob

 

Well I only live 40 minutes from Roger so I as able to pick it up in person. Great guy and GREAT customer service.

At first I used the cheap radio shack rotor for less than 75.00 . The draw back to the lighter rotors, is the lack of a break.
The break helps prevent it from turning in the wind. Since then I changed to a Yasue 450 rotor. Now I don't have to look outside to see where it is pointing.

 

Thank you Gentlemen for your feedback.
And yes Robert k2hex and NA4RR and Roger Rockwell are all one and the same.
I only saw one negative comment on his antennas that was a catrastropic failure after an ice storm I believe.
Does anyone have it mounted on a roof tripod? My feeling is that it would be too much stress on the roof.
Any comments?
Thanks again

 

Antennas and the Hex Beam will be discussed by Emmett Hohensee III on the live hamradio show at W5KUB.COM Tues night at 8 PMCT (0200 UTC Wed). Please help us spread the word to join Amateur Radio Roundtable every Tuesday night.
Next week Riley Hollingsworth (retired FCC Special Counsel) has his segment "Ask-Riley" and we will have more kits and hamfest reports from Joe Eisenberg. Telephone lines will be open for interaction with our viewers.

 

I have a NA4RR Hex beam up here, for a bit over a year. I put it together by myself, could have used another person for about 3 minutes,
but nobody was around that day.

Ice is a minor concern, it did not break in the ice/snow storms, Plural; last winter.

 

I had a 5 band quad mounted on the roof on a 10 foot tower. The ice damaged the quad but the roof had no problems at all. I put a TH5 on the tower after taking the quad down. The TH5 weighed a lot more than the quad did. I"m not sure what the difference with ice was but there was never a problem with the roof. If you're worried about the roof though, you could double up the beams under the antenna support.

Now I just started getting the parts to make a hex but it will be a while because of my budget. At least I know it will get made eventually. I don't think it's going on the roof though because my support was taken down when the new roof went on.

 

Thank you Stefanie. That alleviates some of my concerns. I appreciate it.

 

I've had nothing but wonderful results with Roger's NA4RR (K4Hex) Hexbeam. A mishap in bringing it to the mast (entirely my fault) caused one of the middle-section spreaders to break (don't ask, but it took a LOT to break it). Called Roger, he had one on the way immediately. One thing he did suggest, is that when you build yours, use zip ties (I'd recommend stainless...I used UV/Extreme Cold Resistant zip ties before I had heard of stainless steel versions (available at Home Despot). If I ever take it down again, I'll change it.

Whatever you do, securely guy your mast, and I'd recommend that you don't extend the mast sections more than 2/3. Mine have 2-2.5foot overlap rather than the 8 inches recommended.

Here's a couple of views of the finished product. Close up and wide.

 

Anyone have any feedback on the KIO Hex?

http://www.k4kio.com/hex-beam-description/