Hexbeam back up
by M0TTB - Andy on 12/19/12
At last, I'm back on HF after the mishap in November.
New base dug out, about a cubic metre in size, rsj buried in concrete. Scam mast securely bolted to the rsj. New aluminium tubing section to fit in top of mast, 2m long, 1/4inch wall thickness!!
Treated myself to a new rotator, a Yaesu G1000-DXC... considerably faster in rotation than the old G450, and optional one press rotation.
Hexbeam assembled after receiving the 3 replacement fibreglass spreader sections from Ant, also replaced the old 10m element with a new one that Ant had supplied a few months back that I hadn't used as yet.
Hardest part was getting the hex on top of the mast!! A tricky business with a hexbeam. In the end I mounted the hexbeam on to a 10ft aluminium pole and sidled that across to the scam mast and, from a step ladder, moved the hex from the temporary pole to the rotator, which was about 10ft off the ground.
A quick tune on the bands with the antenna at about 20ft proved all was well, with effectively flat swr on all 5 bands. Unfortunately rain is curtailing the finishing touches, which are getting the rotator coax loop tied, refixing my Davis anemometer and elevating mast to full height with the guys (which will be examined carefully!!).
