Installing the Beam

The hexbeam is relatively light and quite well suited for an inexpensive push up mast or a roof mounted tripod arrangement. Roof towers or push up masts can be obtained from a variety of sources online. Just google these terms and you will easily find vendors.

Guidelines for the steel push up mast can be found here.

A decent 30 foot push up mast can be bought new for under $100. You will need to use guy ropes and probably will need help in getting the hexbeam mounted on the mast.

Coupling the hexbeam to a mast
You can see how the beam can be coupled to a push up mast or a tower
mast here.

Height
Some say the ideal height for a hexbeam is 40 feet. This is probably based on diminishing returns for money spent on a tower. Generally for DX, higher is better and if you can get your antenna 50 feet high, go for it. But if you can only get it up 20 feet, it is still going to perform quite well.

What kind of tower is needed?
Check out our Gallery for ideas on how you can get your hexbeam in the air in the unique circumstances of your own yard. We have deliberately focused on a diversity of mounting arrangements that are affordable and won’t cost you your retirement in tower costs.

Guying
Use of steel guying cable is fine but you must be concerned about resonance with the radiator wires of the hexbeam. You can get information in the ARRL Handbook about breaking the guy cable up into sections to avoid resonance at the different bands of your hexbeam. But the simplest solution is to just use non-metallic guy ropes which avoids interaction issues entirely. Such non-metallic guy ropes are available from www.radioworks.com or other ham supply houses.

Restrictions
If you are in a relatively new subdivision, you are likely to encounter legal barriers to erecting your hexbeam either in the form of zoning restrictions or deed  covenants applicable to everyone in that neighborhood. Check this out in advance and do the necessary research on your alternatives before buying a hexbeam or any supporting structure.

Rotators
Many hexbeam owners use a light duty rotator normally designed for TV antennas. If you are locating the rotator at the top of the mast, this light duty rotator will probably be satisfactory. But if you are rotating the push up mast as well as the antenna, such a rotator might be under a bit of strain and you might wish to consider a low end beam antenna rotator such as those offered by Yaesu, Hy Gain or others.

Safety
There is no need to duplicate the well written and thorough warnings and cautions published in several ARRL handbooks on the subject of antennas and towers. Likewise, any towers or antennas in proximity with electrical lines pose a particular hazard that must be kept in mind. There are many sad stories about such lines or towers falling or other wise coming into contact with high voltage lines with fatal results to the careless amateur. So take heed.

Translate »