Use a thicker one. That’s what she said…
I already have the thickest version available 
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And what about the SWR on shortwave?
Sorry to say the antenna resembles a drown spider in the sink!
Above 3:1 on all bands except 12m where it’s only 2:1. The tuner on the 590 would probably just about cope with it but it’s not a chance I’m going to take. Therefore I’m only QRV on 30m with my dipole at the moment.
I agree 
I’ve thought about using a PVC Pipe and covering it with fiberglass to get some stiffness in there. It’d probably cost a decent amount of money though but would be a fun project.
Today a couple of friends arrived and we lowered the mast, removed the hexbeam (which will be repaired) and put my ADS-B aerial back on a longer stub so it’s now at the ‘raised 7ft and in the clear’ position.
Incredibly I didn’t lose the top UK position in the stats with jokessler and Martin Orpen hot on my heels (I don’t include Humpfrey due to those ‘other’ aircraft) but I think if it had been down much longer then jokessler would have overtaken me.
This probably gives the best indication of how things went this morning.
At 10:20 we lowered the mast so the aerial was sitting horizontal but only about ten feet off the ground. The signal went up a bit when the aerial was hanging vertically upside down around an hour later. Then you can clearly see at 11:40 when it was just laying on the grass and a few minutes later I strapped it back on the end of the mast and raised it in the air.
It’s going to be like this for at least a couple of months until I can untangle the mess that’s the hexbeam laying in the garden, work out what parts I need to replace and also get a HexLock from the USA. This latter piece will allow me to lower the mast to ground level and work on it easily without having to use scaffolding.
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I recently purchased some “structural PVC” pipe that was highly UV resistant for a mast. It has the benefit of being RF transparent , light and strong. Do a search on your favorite provider/Amazon for the following:
FORMUFIT P001FGP-BK-5 Schedule 40 PVC Pipe, Furniture Grade, 5’, 1" Size, Black
Comes in green as well. Has worked well for the last few months.
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Happy to see your station up and running on full power again.
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Good news.
Well done to all concerned, it looks like that was quite a task.
Thanks and you’re right, it wasn’t easy - Although we missed the rain, there was still quite a breeze this morning and I really couldn’t do much heavy lifting because of my arm. We got it down to the scaffolding, removed the coax from the hexbeam and then managed to release the spreaders one by one, being very careful to avoid anything springing back into position. The grass was really wet though and it’s like a quagmire out there so you really don’t want to see the state of my trainers or my trousers.
More or less, yes. It’s a couple of feet lower than it was when the hexbeam was in play but I can live with it like that. Of course, my amateur radio station is decimated and all I have left to use is my 30m dipole until I can get the hex repaired.
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Good to see the Hexlock will make it easier to work on the beam in the future. Back in the 80s I used a 60 foot telescopic lighting mast for a CB aerial and it was none too pleased to be horizontal either once the aerial suffered the effects of time!
I had a discone too that used to drop ground planes like skewers whenever it needed tending to!
I’ve never used a discone, I always thought of them as being about as effective as a dummy load with radials!
I should really have got a Hexlock when I put up the original hexbeam back in 2012 but it was a bit smaller than the one I’ve got now and I never had any problems with the weather.
I have confirmed that the centre stub lifted out. It’s done a good job of it, the bottom of the stub has a bush which is held in place by three screws and then it’s fitted to the base plate and locked in by a substantial hex bolt.
Two of the three screws have shorn off and it’s slowly lifted out of the bush as you can see here.
One screw is left in place in the centre stub and you can see on the first picture how it’s just pulled through the bush, that’s on the right hand side at the 3 o’clock position.
The storms did a good job. Ciara started the process and then Dennis completed it the week after. There is a mod available for the hexbeam that stops the spreaders from either lifting in the wind or dropping due to ice buildup and I think that may have helped. I’ll probably fit that kit when it goes back up.
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The centre hub is looking a bit distraught. Would benefit from having a deeper socket as it looks like the poor screws were taking the brunt of the leverage.
Hopefully the mods will give it some additional strength where needed!
Joking aside, that doesn’t look like Schedule 80 PVC…
It does need modifying because I’m sure we’ll get weather like this again although the hexlock means I’ll be able to safely lower it in future.
The aerial I have is rated to 75mph and that’s without the 40m extension kit. Winds were recorded up to 78mph just three miles up the road so I really was on the edge and I’ve been told by the maker that the design has changed since I got this one.
My plans were already to add a nice big bolt through this centre section but I’m waiting to hear what he suggests first as he’s always been very helpful.
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You really need an anemometer on your mast 
I’m back!
/edit - Here’s while I was working on it today.
The hexbeam now has the extreme weather kit and a folding mount that should make it easier to lower and raise in future. Whether I’ll lower it when bad weather is forecast is another matter entirely.
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Whenever I want to post a small message, such as yes or thumbs-up :+1:, this stupid forum will display:
I defeated it by typing as many times as necessary to complete the count of 20 characters. The is not visible, and each simply adds a blank line. 
I also use if I want to insert extra space between paragraphs.
Someone in this forum has shown me this trick, but I forgot his name.
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I normally use the spoiler tags.
<spoiler><\spoiler>👍
The start and finish ones add up to 19 characters leaving 1 for the thumbs up