HexbeamCharacteristics
How Well DoThey Work?
They sing its praises. WA2JJX has even written a poem about his hex. Click here.
Click here to see what results homebrew hex users are reporting when they put their hexbeams on the air.
Who HasBuilt One?
Click here to find out who has built a homebrew hex, see some pictures and get some ideas.
Great Links
Click here to visit the Hexbeam Users Group on the web. I subscribe to a digest form of the postings that gets emailed to me regularly. If you are interested in the Hexbeam, you should definitely join the group.
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What is a Hexbeam? - an IntroductionMy name is Dave Billheimer. I live on the coast of Maine. My call is W1GQL. I have been a ham for over 50 years, almost all of it on CW. In August 2004 I had a QSO with Joe Italiano, N9PH, and Joe told me that he was turning "Martha" my direction. That got my curiosity up and I asked him about Martha. Joe told me that she was a homebrew Hexbeam made with bamboo poles that he had bought at K-Mart. Since Martha Stewart sells through K-Mart, Joe had dubbed his new antenna Martha in her honor. I asked Joe to email me details about the Hexbeam since I had never heard of one before. Playing with antennas has been a major part of my ham radio activity all these years and I was looking for a new antenna project, having just finished designing and testing my reversible parallel slot antenna. Joe told me that the Hexbeam was originally designed by
Mike Traffie, N1HXA, and that it is essentially a two element
wire beam with the elements bent in the shape of a the letter W,
positioned with one of the W's inverted. I have been since been told that the Mike Traffie was not the first to make a hexigon shaped beam. They were first mentioned in the 80's in the UK, and were an an adaptation of a "Reflected M" antenna. I believe Mike came up with his design independently and Mike seems to have been the first person to come up with the multi-band version with the bowed spreaders. The Hex has a number of things going for it.
This website will help you build your own Hexbeam. The section entitled "Hexbeam Characteristics" may be the most interesting. A lot of the feedback I get is about my comments in that section. The links in the right hand column will lead you to information on how to actually build a Hexbeam. You will find information on a lot of different type of spreaders you can use, about how long to cut your wires, how to feed your Hex etc. If you have ideas on any of the construction items, I will GLADLY add them to the page and give you credit. Feel free to email me with any questions you have. Take pictures while you build you Hex and I will HAPPILY feature them on the page. Make this your place for telling the world about what you have done. Have fun! You can email me at W1GQL(at)midcoast.com. (Replace the (at) with @)
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Build Your Own!
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