It's that time of year again. With the better weather now here and a
little time to play I need to get outside and do some much needed
antenna work. Way back during the stormy season my 2 el lightning bolt
quad lost its 20m driven element, just snapped apart at a corner joint
which if you ever tried that with aluminium welding wire you'll know is
not an easy think to do so I guess it was a weak spot brought on by
several build ups and take downs. We dropped the quad to a workable
height on the tower and I currently have a C3 on the top but it is
evidently no substitute for the quad so I'm keen to get it back up.
I have decided to make a few modifications and would be interested in
any suggestions before I get too far along with the job.
First up I will be converting to separate feed for each of the 5 bands.
There will be a remote switch box located on the boom at the driven
element end.
Feeders from the switch box will drop vertically from the boom end to
each element.
At the feed point a balun, T200-2 core with RG142, will interface each
element to its feeder tail.
Baluns will be housed in waterproofed (really) ABS boxes.
A couple of questions:
The Lightning Bolt quad has an 8' boom. From what I can determine this
is quite wide spacing for 10 and 12 metres and performance might be
improved if I were to re-locate one of the elements, just for these 2
bands, such that the spacing is closer to 5 feet. I can do that by
adding a pair of cross arms at the different spacing. Does that seem a
likely improvement?
Cebik mentions quite emphatically that to ensure decent performance from
a 5 band quad, or any that involve multiple bands, it is necessary to
ensure that the driven elements of the un-fed bands are shorted. In
essence, when operating on 10m the 20m loop looks like a 2 wavelength
loop and will have significant currents in it unless it is closed. It
seems the only way to ensure this in all cases is by way of a
switch/relay at the feed point. If this is a good idea I can arrange to
do it quite simply. I have relays that should do the job, I am assuming
that since they are open when the loop is fed and short when the loop is
not fed these do not need to have great power handling. I have also
thought about a similar relay switching method at the reflector to move
the best F/B point. It probably sounds more complex in writing than I
think it would turn out to be in practice. I will homebrew the switch
box and provide separate contacts for the feed point shorting. Thoughts?
I had thought of dropping a catenary rope from the boom end to support
the feed points but now think the the combination of several feeders and
any associated switch wiring should be sufficient support in itself. If
I really should need some additional support what would you recommend?
Dacron, phylistran and other wonder products are unobtanium here.
Where do you buy T200-2 cores? I know I need to order these, just
looking for a simple easy supply outlet.
That's enough for now. Any ideas much appreciated.
Martin, HS0ZED
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