Part 1 - 6 band hexbeam antenna construction

Introduction.

After the November ARRL Sweepstakes I was discussing my contest results with my friend Mike (VA3MW). As you saw in my previous article, I only have 2 vertical antennas, one for 10 meter and the other in the backyard for 10 through 160 meters. Of course I am and always been aware of the limitations of the vertical antennas, and the noise floor associated with it. Even with that I think I did good on the different contests till now, I entered in the rookie category. However we've been discussing on what solution we might be able to come up with, which can satisfy the need for directivity, small footprint and great performance.

Mike says we have real estate to work with as I have a backyard of 32.5 x 32.5 ft., but I do not want to put up a tower at this time, we can only work with about 30-35ft above ground level.

One idea was to run a cable on the park beside my house on the top of the trees,  and put a a big horizontal receiving loop, but at this time I have not found yet any reliable design I can work with on that perspective.

I have a Kenwood TS-590 radio which can accommodate a separate receiving antenna beside the 2 main antennas connected for transmission. I was thinking of connecting a big receiving loop to that port. However one day Mike came up with a better idea - he said I need a hexbeam antenna.

This grabbed my attention and with his direction I started researching the subject. When I saw the first few pictures of this antenna, I right away knew that this is doable, and this most likely will be my next antenna construction.

So I started researching, reading, researching more and more till at the end I had all pieces coming together in my mind.

I am not sure how you work, but for me to start a project like this I have to have a vision on how every single piece will fall into place. If something is not clear or not clarified, I cannot start. I can only start to build if all parts, resources are clarified and either have been purchased - or are on the way. I hate half built things which sit in your garage for years waiting for a part - and after the part arrived waiting for you to start over again. The big problem with these projects is that most likely will never get finished, and at the end they end up in the garbage because there is no use for them any longer after a few years.

So, I started looking up the parts and purchasing them.

The following article will talk about the resources, parts, costs, etc.