Introduction
Recently I bought a SP6CYN Hexbeam via Ham Radio Land distributor in the Netherlands. I was very satisfied with the quality of the antenna. However, since I bought the Hexbeam for future DXpeditions, I have two aspects that are important for me: weight and time to assemble.
Two parts that were of excellent quality but the candidates for improvement are the center post and the base plate. The center post is made of stainless steel and weighs 2,925 grams. The base plate is made of 6mm thick aluminum with 6 aluminum tubes fixed by means of 12 plastic clamps, each having 2 stainless-steel M6 bolts. Besides the weight, fixing the 24 bolts takes quite some time.
The fiber tubes have an overlap of 14 cm, and a hose clamp is used to stop moving further inside the other tube.
The placeholders for the antenna wires consist of a hose clamp with stainless steel ring. When assembling the antenna, you need to thread the wire through the place holder rings. Especially extra guidance is needed to get the joints of the gap rope through the rings. This is a time-consuming part of the assembly.
I do not have all kind of professional tooling for the job, so work with ordinary tools that you find in most shacks (electric drill, saw, screw drivers, pliers, files, soldering iron, spanners, heat gun).
Like I did for my home-made DX Commander, I was searching for a suitable travel case for the Hexbeam. I found the perfect one to carry all materials, except the base plate which will be transported with all other equipment and personal items in a regular suitcase.
A full description of my modified Hexbaem can be downloaded and additionally the detailed rawings.