Thinking of splashing out on a Hex Beam , You mention some big winds , Odd question as I intended to swing my Hex in the air not far from my Bedroom window on a 10 m tower and as I live in the city am I going to get any sleep at night in a howling gale with the wind singing in the rigging. Or more importantly am I likely to feel the hate come down on me from my nieghbours who are about 10 m away from the house. Regards and 73's Kris Zl1KJT
Hi Doug - there are a couple of 6m super stations up here and some EME activity too - Im on 6m with the Hex and will be looking over the bands as the MUF rises - the Hex works pretty well on 6m with recent openings to JA etc - being at the foot of mountains I, kinda blocked at 6 deg from NW thru East, so very low angle stuff gets knocked off a bit. Good luck
Thanks for the video. I"m wondering what mast you're using with this. Also, I'm not clear on how thrust bearings function. That is, if they're clamping the mast, then how does the rotator turn the mast?
thanks - the mast is a Rohn H50 (I think, its been a while!). On the thrust beaing - it has two parts outer part is attached to the metal plate and the inner is free to rotate on a bearing - so the rotator below rotates thru the top bearing freely - the added advantage is, per the video, most of the stress and weight are taken by the bearing and there is nearly no vertical weight on the rotator at all - just the rotational torque and breaking is required - Th e G-450A continues to operate fine and the other bug is it doesnt or didnt have low temp grease in the bearings and would be be slow to start at below 0F
Thanks for this video, exactly what ive been looking on the thrust. I have a similar set up with Traffie hexbeam and 4x6 but lightweight rotar at top. QUESTION: over tine do you think your pole will bend due to weight on it? Looks like antenna weight on thrist bearing is borne by 4x4. I really like this so wondering tnx de WO8USA🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Hi - thanks for all your comments - This written in June 2023 - Well the system has survived another Alaskan winter and the lightweight steel mast is still straight! I looked at having the rotator at the top but for me it just wouldnt have worked with the size of the support mast being too flimsy and the head weight too lift - I also wanted to be able to repair the rotor at ground level - I took a look at the thrust bearing and the support structure and for any deterioation in the guys - and all appears fine, the 4 x 4 still looks like new- Ill readjust the guys at the end of the growing season and most are wrapped around Birch trees, except one set of three levels which is attached to my well casing. One only issue Ill need to deal with, and Ive seen this before and should have corrected - is that during extreme wind events one of the arms gets blown sideways dragging the 20m mostly wire out of alignment by 10 degrees or so, no biggy as the I cant see a change in pattern or swr - this can be corrected by stopping the wires and their rings from being allowed to travel past the one of the Four support arms - maybe a uv protected ty wrap or two - Id dearly like to get this up another 20ft but then it will be exposed to the windage and the wrath or winter/autumnal storms - better to err less wind exposure.
How’s the bearing holding up for you? The h50 I think are dom tubing which is made to flex a bit. Some people use thick walled water pipe or gas pipe which creates a massive wind load
Hi the Aluminium plate is 160mm squar(ish) and some 5mm thick - bought from Amazon I think- the drill outs are to suit and I used galvanized bolts and spring/flat washers.
