Gents,

As mentioned before, the BuddiHEX and the Mastwerks tripod are discussed in the December QST magazine. A few of my thoughts.

1. The whole system cost is high. Adding the 7m mast, Hex beam and sport case comes to $1500+. That's 50% more than my 857d radio at $1,000.

2. The Mastwerks system comes in three sizes: 4M, 7M, and 10M. The reports states that the gain is ~8db at 30feet. The report was done with the 7M, not the 10M mast.

3. Seems like a well thought out system. Chris and Budd did a great job.?

4. The overall weight and size are getting heavier and big. The 7M Mastwerks is 15 lbs, antenna is 10 lbs, Sportube is 12lbs. Thus a total of 37 lbs in a 4ft case. To that one must add a radio, coax, tools, headset, bandpass filters, etc etc, etc. If you're a contest participant then you'll probably be taking a K4, panadapter, power supply, and amplifier.?

5. We have done well on our DXpeditions using 100W radios, or KX2/KX3 and lightweight antennas, yet we always struggle with baggage weight and size. Except for Martinique (noise & location) and Barbados (location) we have been successful and always had fun.?

6. For our group of four friends, I would not change anything. Nothing like a trip to PEI to use a turnkey QTH. St. Lucia was great fun too. Then increasing weight, size and complexity with Mastwerks & BuddiHEX doesn't seem worthwhile.?

7. The perfect application for the Mastwerks and BuddiHEX is in a backyard or via car trips. Ev can use his Sprinter RV and have a super road trip for POTA, county collecting, field day, trips to Canada etc.

What are your thoughts? Joe N7BF?