@smitty what’s that hexbeam switched rotatable antenna you mentioned in HRWB 178 47:40…I found this one in March 2022 QST pg.40 but you mentioned hexagons, angles, etc.
https://edition.pagesuite.com/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?edid=c349621a-d914-439a-aa39-5659203f07ed&pnum=40
@n0ssc that’s the problem, I can’t find the article. It’s not a hex in the sense that it’s a hexagon like the hex beam, it’s 6 1/4 wave wires coming from a central location, all 60 from each other. Only 4 elements at any given time are active: two 120 apart are driven, the two immediately adjacent 120 apart are connected together with a capacitor to electrically lengthen it as a reflector. The two remaining 180 elements are idle. The antenna looks like a bow tie.
@smitty like this? I like it. Though it trades off a simple rotator for a complex/lossy RF switching matrix. But it’s piqued my curiosity so I’m still hunting for the article…
@n0ssc yes, exactly!
@n0ssc this is as simple and safe I’ve been able to make the relay switching matrix. It could be fewer relays with DPDT, but I worry about arcing inside the relay. “Safe” in that, assuming all relays function, no control signals can be sent that would leave the antenna in an unsafe-to-transmit state.