Site publication date
12/2007

Page revision date
5/2009
his site provides guidelines to build a G3TXQ broad band
hexagonal beam R.F. antenna for the five amateur radio
bands, 20, 17, 15, 12 and 10 meters. This antenna is
featured in the March 2009 edition of QST magazine.
T
.

The hexagonal beam offers a number of features as follows:
  • Gain and front/back comparable to a two element yagi.
  • Five bands with low SWR
  • Broad band characteristics
  • Low noise performance.
  • Low weight and low wind load
  • Construction from general hardware components
  • Ease of adjustment

If you have been to other sites on construction of the hexagonal
beam you might be a bit confused. You see, some sites tell you
how to build the “original” hexagonal beam which is patterned after
the design of the HEX-BEAM, a trade marked product of Traffie
Technologies. The wires for this original design for a single band
look from above, like an “M” over a “W” or ......
Hexagonal Beam by K4KIO
Building the G3TXQ Broad Band Hexagonal Beam
Available for purchase
This original design is a good antenna and owners of the
HEX-BEAM are quite vocal about its performance as were builders of
the homebrew version. I used to be one of the homebrew builders
and was so enthusiastic that I published a set of guidelines like
these to help others build one.

But, things have progressed a little and thanks to the exhaustive
work of Steve Hunt, G3TXQ, a slightly different configuration of the
hexagonal beam has been discovered. Viewed from above the wires
for a single bander look like ----------------------------------------------->

Which one is better? Well, owners of the HEX-BEAM are very loyal. But homebrewers are all building the
G3TXQ version of the hexagonal beam instead of the original. Many builders of the original version, like
me have even converted to the G3TXQ broad band hexagonal beam. And here is the reason why.

For a more full understanding of the technical parameters of the G3TXQ broad band hexagonal beam, visit the web site of its inventor, Steve Hunt,
G3TXQ.

This hexagonal  beam was constructed with the idea of a quality antenna at a very economical cost using mainly hardware found at on line sites
and Home Depot or Lowes. It is the fifth hexagonal beam I have built and each one has been an improvement over the previous one, mainly in the
quality of the build and hopefully, the survivability of the beam in adverse outdoor conditions.

If you feel you would rather not get into building your own G3TXQ broad band hexagonal beam, I can build one for you. See the details here.