Had studied about KIO and Traffie hexbeams. I had received 6 xenon fishing rods(fiberglass 3.9mtr long) from my brother's DX trip. Although rod walls seemed thinner, for my temporary setup it was ok.
Next problem was with hub design. Fortunately one of the local fabricator agreed to get it done same evening as i was planning. It took an hour to get the work using 1.5" (1.5' high) GI pipe as center mast and 1/2" GI pipes as support spokes.
Went to local hardware shop for PVC mast(piece above the GI hub), nylon ropes and S hooks. S hooks were unavailable, but genius workaround was suggested by my local friend. He gave a steel chain from which each link can be taken out in the form of S.
Measured length of fishing rod from its base to lure rod's string support rings. It was around 4" more than suggested 128" for spreader support. Cut seven 133" nylon cords and attached S clips at the end. Similarly cut driven and reflector wires, attached separators as nylon cords (2') again. Kept everything ready for next day's early morning assembly.
Early morning started spreading out telescopic rods and tied all cords to central PVC mast. This task was easy. Then laid wires around the structure. All well.
It was very hot and humid by 9AM here. Kept remaining task for the evening as signal would not appear during the day time.
Took a old 12', 3/4"water pipe as mast. Unfortunately when raising, it broke at couple of week points(because of its aging). One of the spreader arm also got fractured at support hub. Situation became tense as effort might have to be halted. Then with help of friends and family, got another GI pipe 15' (3/4") and raised antenna successfully. Raising this antenna is most difficult task.
Switched on my Yaeusu 857D, very good signal reception was heard with almost no ground noise. Then did a quick SWR check. It was around 1.5 for bothCW and SSB section of 20m. More height could have brought this SWR down. Made some quick contacts with DX stations J25, IZ, LA2 etc with 50 watts and got 56 to 59 report. What more to expect from an antenna only 15' high. Due absence of rotator, i could not check directivity. It was stationary looking north, north-west. So most of the contacts were from Europe, Mid East and couple from Africa. I also heard signals from US east coast (Florida). Overall structure was very stable and performance is well told with the log constituting 21 DXCC entries.
Here is a list of stations worked all with max power of 50W
date UTC TX kHz Mode Call RST S RST R
-------------------- -------- ---- ------ ----- -----
27-May-2011 14:23:05 14056.0 CW UA6AQB 569 599
27-May-2011 14:42:23 14.2 SSB IZ0RPZ 59 59
27-May-2011 14:59:02 14.2 SSB J25DXA 59 59
27-May-2011 15:12:40 14.2 SSB LA2PC 59 56
27-May-2011 15:19:59 14.3 SSB 9M4SJN 59 59
27-May-2011 15:32:14 14.2 SSB LZ3SD 56 57
27-May-2011 15:41:28 14.2 SSB OZ3FD 58 58
27-May-2011 15:45:55 14.3 SSB DM3MR 58 58
27-May-2011 17:06:30 14.2 SSB CT1EHI 59 56
28-May-2011 12:18:01 14.2 SSB XU7TZG 56 56
28-May-2011 12:21:34 14.2 SSB VU2AGJ 59 59
28-May-2011 12:23:30 14.2 SSB VU2DK 59 59
28-May-2011 12:28:13 14.2 SSB VU2PT 59 59
28-May-2011 14:44:35 14.2 SSB IZ2ACD 58 57
28-May-2011 14:55:01 14.3 SSB DH7LF 58 57
28-May-2011 15:02:33 14.2 SSB PB5X 59 55
28-May-2011 15:07:33 14.3 SSB IZ1PNT 58 55
29-May-2011 14:13:15 14.2 SSB ET3AA 58 59
29-May-2011 14:52:18 14.2 SSB A61ZX 59 59
29-May-2011 15:03:36 14.2 SSB HS0ZCW 59 57
29-May-2011 15:18:26 14.2 SSB IV3UTV 59 55
01-Jun-2011 11:30:13 14.2 SSB VU2AU 59 59
01-Jun-2011 11:38:42 14.2 SSB A41NN 59 55
01-Jun-2011 12:29:09 14.2 SSB VU3RID 56 59
01-Jun-2011 13:23:46 14.2 SSB VU2AGJ 59 59
01-Jun-2011 13:25:47 14.2 SSB VU2DSI 59 59
01-Jun-2011 16:48:55 14.2 SSB 5Z4ES 59 55
02-Jun-2011 12:16:22 14.2 SSB VU2YK 59 59
02-Jun-2011 12:19:50 14.2 SSB VU2OO 59 59
02-Jun-2011 12:33:56 14.2 SSB VU2AGJ 59 59
02-Jun-2011 12:50:14 14.2 SSB A41LD 59 59
02-Jun-2011 13:00:24 14.2 SSB VU3MRT 45 59
02-Jun-2011 17:45:44 14.1 CW IT9KYF 599 559
03-Jun-2011 16:44:39 14.2 SSB F8DVD 59 52
03-Jun-2011 17:22:50 14.2 SSB IK2IQD 59 59
04-Jun-2011 02:48:35 14.2 SSB 4K6FO 58 59
04-Jun-2011 13:28:08 14.2 SSB VU2DK 59 59
04-Jun-2011 13:57:36 14.2 SSB VU2ASH 58 56
04-Jun-2011 15:39:04 14.2 SSB VU2CDW 59 59
05-Jun-2011 05:32:03 14.2 SSB ER4DX 59 57
73
VU3KPL
Update: 18/Jun/2012:
Subsequently in first quarter of 2012 I gathered few friends in Bangalore to work on 5Band version of this antenna with better quality support structures.
I love this hobby!
Kiran
