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:
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. |
A cheap TV rotator can be used to turn the beam due to the symmetric structure, and the low center of gravity, low weight and wind load.
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.