Welcome at foldingantennas.com
Makers of the unique collapsible HF multiband beam antenna.
The story... Every ambitious ham has experienced this:
When operating portable, on holiday or from a weekend qth, on a
fieldday or DXpedition, simple wire antennas are always a compromise.
You get lost in the pileup or QRM, and you can't blank out interference.
Especially when running low power or participating a contest, a beam
antenna is always helpful.
Over the years many light weight wire beams have been developed for this
purpose, with spreaders made from fiberglass. Performance wise these
antennas are on par with conventional beams. In the U.S., UK, Australia,
NZ etc. the "Hexbeam" has gained great success, and later Steve Hunt
G3TXQ did further research and came up with the optimized "broadband"
design. Many broadband hexbeams have been home made and sold by
professional builders since. The small turn radius, the simple "wire
only" multiband concept, the low weight, wind load and visibility
profile has convinced a vast amount of hams, I also use a homemade 5
band broadband hex at my QTH. Further information:
G3TXQ broadband hex website:
http://www.karinya.net/g3txq/hexbeam/broadband/
Yahoo Hexbeam group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hex-beam/
The drawback:
All these wire beams have to be assembled on site, which means to join
the spreader sections and mount them on the hub, put on the support
cords, mount all the wires and connect them electrically. This is
acceptable to do once for a permanent installation, but when operating
sporadically, you lose a lot of time for assembling and disassembling
the antenna again and again, let alone forgotten tools or searching for
lost bits in the sand or grass. As a consequence, those simple wire
antennas keep being used, and successful DXing remains a dream.
The solution: The folding beam!
The all new folding beam antenna is based on G3TXQ's proven design. The
big difference is the shape, which is no more the characteristic "upside
down umbrella" look. It is flat due to the spreaders being
straight now and no more bent upwards. This eliminates major bending
forces and the spreaders can be thinner and lighter. The spreaders are
made of 3 sections held together with locking swivel joints, and they
are connected to the hub by another swivel joint, making the antenna
collapsible to only 1,15 m (45") total length with wires and support
cords staying attached. A single person can erect or collapse the
folding beam antenna in 10 minutes maximum time without the use of any
tools.
The antenna is available as a fully portable hexbeam or for permanent
installation. There are further options and accessories, check out the
design and shop pages!
UNPACK - SET UP - UNFOLD - QRV!
Our products are designed, tested
and produced entirely in Germany.
The design
The folding beam is a 2-element directive antenna for five amateur
bands (20/17/15/12/10m band, 6m band optional). It consists of wire
elements attached to a support structure in a concentric way. The center
post carries the support cords and is a coaxial feeder for the drivers.
The driver/reflector arrangements are fixed to the fibreglass
spreaders.
The feedpoint cord support is molded onto the center post. Connector SO-239 (N type socket optional at no extra cost)
The hub takes up six swivel spreaders and electrically isolates the center post from the mast or rotator underneath
The spreader sections are connected with locking swivel joints
open swivel joint
The spreader tips have rounded heads with zig zag slots for the support cords
The center post acts as a coaxial feeder, each driver is fed individually
Clamping the wires onto the spreaders is a snap with special clips!
Join wire ends and spacing cords with these universal detachable clamps
The top cap has spacers to provide air flow and easy moisture escape from the center post
These optional storm brackets will damp lateral spreader movement and prevent from folding up in strong wind gusts
Antenna collapsed to only 1.15 m (45") total length
Optional transportation & protection bag with shoulder straps
Optional large clamp-on ferrite for K9YC style common mode choke, 3
turns of cable up to 11.5 mm (0.45") O.D., shown here with RG-213.
Perfect for portable use, easy to fit and to remove. No need to cut the
connector (in opposite to using a string of ferrite beads).
Please find more pictures and information in the construction manual.
Specifications
| Impedance | 50 Ohms |
| Connector | UHF socket (SO-239), N type socket on request |
| Gain | max. 5-6 dBi in free space (3-4 dB over dipole) |
| F/B ratio | peak >20 dB (varies by band) |
| SWR | <2 over the entire band (20/17/15/12/6m), 10m band: 28-29.3 MHz |
| Rated power | 1500 watt |
| Elements | high strength and flexible tinned stranded copper wire 1.0 mm² (AWG 18), black PVC insulation |
| Spreaders | flexible and sturdy fiberglass rods, UV resistant, 10 mm (~0.4") diameter |
| Support cords | 1.5 mm Dyneema® rope, UV resistant |
| Center post | high quality aluminium tubing 30 x 2 mm (~1.2" x 0.08") |
| Mounting hardware | all stainless steel A2 |
| Other plastic parts | injection molded from PBT (polybutylenterephthalate) black, high impact, UV resistant |
| Turn radius | approx. 3.20 m (10.6 ft.) |
| Weight | approx. 6 kg (13 lbs) |
| Wind load area | approx. 0.25 m² (2.7 sqft.) |
| Size when collapsed | approx. 1.15 m (45") x 15 cm (6") x 15 cm (6") |
| Antenna fixture | fiberglass rod 5" x 1" O.D., e.g. fits into telescope masts with top section of 26 mm (1") I.D. |
SWR plots
taken with calibrated Telepost Inc. LP-100 SWR & Watt meter, TRX Icom IC-7000, feed cable 20 meters RG-58U.SWR at antenna feedpoint is somewhat higher due to cable losses.
http://www.foldingantennas.com
I purchased a swivel joints from OilequipZone.com about two weeks ago and received wonderful service and a great product. The company is very happy with it.
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