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Radio

Vintage

VK2YLD

Steve...                        

Kurri Kurri,

New South Wales

Australia

email - vk2yld at dodo.com.au

REAL radios glow without smoke.

Centre post

Low Impedence line

Choke Balun of RG-58

Feed Point

Construction Finished

Centre Hub

Element Connections

Take this one mobile?

Survived the first rainstorm.

The hub and choke balun

Centre post wiring

Choke balun construction

Wiring up spreaders

Completed.. Testing begins

Centre post detail - Low Z line

VSWR on 20M band (high spot)

  Here are a few snappys while I was building my 5 band hex-beam.  Click the pics for enlarged view.  The beam is an all-pvc pipe build and came together really well.  It sits on a TV style rotator (50kg max) and has weathered a few great tropical storms since these were taken, and still survives!.  After the testing was completed, it was relocated to the roof of the house on a 4m pole.  The roof line is 6.5m up making the beam approx 10mAGL all up.  Gets out well and receives nice quiet signals (Plasma TVs....eayuck!! NOISE!)

 

UPDATE - After surviving since 2006 in a tropical environment, the hex was dismantled in 2012 for our shift to a cooler climate.  The rebuild will be a wideband version...

05-2013 :-  Now we are in New South Wales, the cooler climate should be a bit less savage on the materials.  I have reused most of the old antenna except for the coax feed and the spreaders.  The feed was RG-213 and the sun had turned it hard and brittle.  It basically fell to bits when I removed it from the centre post.  The PVC spreaders were fixed in their bent position and were too long to pack as they were on piece construction.  I have got the new dimensions for the wide band version and cut the new wires, got 6 new electrical-class conduits for the spreaders and decided to rebuild the choke balun and feed in RG-58, then the line from the shack to the rotator will be RG-213.  The low impedence line down the post has been renewed, but the designs for the wideband version seem to use coaxial cable down the post.  I still use 6mm2 multi-strand wire as it's easier to work with as I have stainless bolts and nuts to connect to the wires.  I have also added 6m to the wire set, making it a 6-band inverted umbrella!!  It doesn't keep the rotator dry though!  I have posted the Excel spreadsheet here giving the dimensions I am using..