The final end to end testing of the G3TXQ Portable HexBeam by Ant MW0JZE was completed today! Im very pleased to report that it came in at better than 1.2:1 on all bands. A very impressive product in the way Ant has packaged it and the proof it was working came with a 20m Long Path contact to Adam MU0WLV located on Guernsey Island using FT8 and the beam this afternoon!

This coupled with the SpiderBeam 10m aluminium mast obtained from the helpful folk at TTS Systems should make a great pairing for targeting regions like Europe from Vanuatu on the higher bands. The hope is to be able to catch both Long Path and Short Path EU openings with the beam as well as putting a substantial signal into North America on the higher bands and providing opportunities for South America with targeted calling of that region as well.

The assembly and erection of the beam and tower from scratch (now that I have had some practice) took about 2 hours. I have worked out a system to push it up with only 2 people (I could potentially do it with one but it would get a bit dicey above about 5 metres.). Fortunately my good wife has agreed to help me get it in the air once we arrive in Vanuatu.

Portable HexBeam (with my main station cranked down out of the way)

A huge thanks to Ant who went out of his way to support this expedition with a special construction run of the beam for me. Talk about service above and beyond! (Note this is not a sponsorship plug – just one impressed DXer who thinks this is worth a mention…)