A3s or Hexbeam……

Argh! this is driving me mad. Our neighbours tree overhangs our garden and hits the house roof, and also is taking all the light. They have offered to remove the overhanging branch which means I can actually fit in a larger antenna. Originally I was going to put up a Hexbeam, but if I’m honest, I really want an A3s, always wanted one since I first set eyes on the one owned by Geoff G4SOF. But such is life, nothings quite that simple. I’ve been running around the garden with a tape measure, up and down the ladder just to make sure I have the room for a 28′ wingspan. My other neighbour (who’s the one who will end up staring at whatever I end up with) is totally cool about the whole thing and has come up with alternative sites for my mast, one which would mean the antenna would be half in his garden!

So what’s the problem? well there’s no getting away from the fact that the A3s is huge for my location and I have some reservations in case it looks dreadful! and the Hexbeam is something of an acquired taste as well so not sure how that will look. Also, I’ve no idea when the tree branch will be lopped, so I will probably have to remove some of it in advance then get accused of only wanting the tree pruned to fit in my new antenna! I could move the mast but there is only one other location which means 6′ will overhang the friendly neighbours garden which might not be noticeable when it’s 30 odd feet up in the air but still a bit cheeky.  It’s crazy really, we have a huge garden really but being long and narrow doesn’t help me.

An A3s and Hexbeam owned by VK3APG