[Antennas] Hexbeam with Aluminium Spreaders

Tue Oct 4 02:54:46 EDT 2005

Some very successful hexbeams have been build in my city using the standard
design and method of construction. One operator built his hexbeam with
aluminium spreaders, instead of the usual non-conducting spreaders and
several people advised him against using aluminium, but he insists that his
antenna analyser shows the correct results.
One would think that aluminium spreaders should not be used, for the same
reason that aluminium spreaders are not used in a quad. HyGain built an
aluminium quad many years ago, but they used insulators to interrupt/break
the spreaders.
What influence would aluminium spreaders have on a hexbeam?
Will they upset the radiation pattern, front-to-back ratio and the
performance?
Your opion will be interesting.
Deon ZS1ZL