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Re: [TowerTalk] Stacked 4 squares

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Stacked 4 squares
From: jimlux <jimlux@earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 4 Nov 2016 21:25:40 -0700
List-post: <towertalk@contesting.com">mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
On 11/4/16 2:27 PM, Mike Smith VE9AA wrote:


I guess if the reasons for me asking must be known.I'll tell you all....yes,
towers with 1 or 2 nice tribanders would no doubt be much better than a high
band 4-square.



I want to see what I can do with ONLY wires-in-the-woods.  Call it a
personal challenge.



Recently, I installed 4 squares for 20-40-80 (and 2el on 160m). (mostly all
wires-in-the-woods)  They work well.  Maybe even very well.

Not super station well (hi hi) but I am impressed what a bunch of wires and
Comtek controllers from Dx Engineering, can do.



So, I was wanting to replace my very low tribander (on a short mast) and
also my HF9V, with something else.unconventional.I still have a little room
left in my small strip of woods, but judging from my results on 20m, I think
I need to go with more than a single 4-Sq, hence my question.  I don't live
on a beach, but a pretty good ridge in NB.



I also really like the instant direction switch.  No rotors, no towers. Very
quiet.  It's a pleasure to use.  I don't know why I waited 38 yrs to try one
!



and in reality, aside from the takeoff angle and "reflection gain" from H-pol, you could do better in terms of directivity and F/B with an array than a Yagi.

A Yagi is limited by the physical size.. you can get a fair amount of gain and good F/B if you have a lot of elements, but it gets very picky - narrow band, etc.

On the other hand, it's easy to get a 20-50 meter physical aperture with an array of verticals (or dipoles). In general, one can place N-1 nulls with N elements, and you get a gain of N (or 10*log10(N)).. so 8 elements gets you a gain of 9dB over the single antenna (which is probably 1.5-2 dBi) - and that's better than most HF 3 element Yagis (6-8 dBi)


The array is more complex: multiple feedpoints, phasing networks, cables. There is a raw simplicity in single tower, single antenna, single feedpoint, single rotator.


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