The HamBone

6m Moxon beam (based on https://www.jpole-antenna.com/2014/06/ ... n-antenna/ ) but built inside tubing, elements shortened 5% from plan for "enclosed" velocity factor change. Initially cut a couple of inches too long and trimmed with VNC to center frequency on 51.0MHz. Many Moxons work ok for Field Days etc on just simple low masts, but IMHO, VHF antennas like more height if possible. Various Moxon dimensions can be modeled with MoxGen, a Win app, but also runs well with Linux Wine. The original article, used as inspiration is:
This describes an easy construction of a temporary antenna, with tape holding wire elements to plastic tubing. Good, but I wanted something like it but weatherproof, so I put the wire inside the tubing, allowing 5% velocity factor correction .. That's pretty much it.
FWIW, this antenna really likes a common mode choke up close to the elements, or the feeder shield gets tempted to participate as one element and screw up the resonant tune. A series of half a dozen ferrite cores on the coax fixed at the antenna is an easy solution. No balun necessary for about a 50 ohm match.
The beam is so broad that you may not need to turn it at all. The deep null to the rear is good for keeping RF out of the neighbors.
If you decide to rotate it, the antenna is so light that it may be turned by attaching a string.

This is a very simple and "gets-the-job-done" antenna, but the design can easily be changed by adding more elements and thaus a tighter beam, such as in:

Ha! Yes The magic Band is magic. Ocaasionally odd things happen with propagation.

It's now clear that this Moxon does give about 10 dB forward gain with a very broad beam, and a deep null behind.
The oddities regarding range previously reported seem to be just that. Frequent use since and shows it to perform very much as the diagram. It works well.

It does seem to be particularly horizontally polarized , so CW and Sideband seem to work much better than FM. -Also predicted!

WA1UQO draws attention to this account of the Moxon antenna. Thanks!

https://www.n2mh.net/moxon.htm

This one is made with angle aluminum and wood.

FWIW, interesting how the optimal lengths change depending whether the elements are bare (here) or enclosed in dielectric as above.

These Moxons seem to need a balun or a choke to prevent the feeder coax screen becoming one element with half of the driven dipole. The result would be poor impedance matches and increased sensitivity to ambient interference.

Which to choose, balun or choke? Gamma match, even? I asked two hams and got three opinions. Nothing for it but to try each. First was this 1:1 balun: It works, but I was interested to know if I used a 6-ferrite-core-on-coax choke right up close to the dipole, maybe I would get better sensitivity. Perhaps without the inevitable ferrite losses in a balun, I'd do much better?

Well? Both are good, though the choke gives nearly 1 S-unit more sensitivity. Enough to matter? You decide! Would the result be different on a multiband antenna? Hmmm.... While we're thinking getting rid of the balun, another solution -yet to try- would be a gamma match. This is a single-band antenna, so maybe a good choice?
This is what the new Moxon looks like on a new fiberglass mast. The ferrite rings choke is at the top. The mast is secured by a loose upper ring on a stand-off from the house, and a lower one that can be locked or loosened for turning. The black part is a PVC pipe with a carriage bolt-mounted roller to allow easy turning.