Hi Terry,
A: I like your QRZ page and especially the HiGain Hi-Tower layover 4X4
system. I use 4 striped and modified Hi-towers for my 80 meter 4-SQ.
Originally I used the insulated stinger and the 14 Ga down wire to the hinged
base plate and 4 raised radials each. It was found that under heavy rain
conditions my dump power was down and the FB was enhanced, leading to a
striping and installation of 102 ¼ wave insulated radials under each, with a
8 ga. X buss with silver soldered radials as they intersected one another.
I then rebuilt the stinger following K3LR’s tube stinger and in my QTH
was not able to keep them intact with numerous failures . There now back to
insulated stinger/down wire configuration.
My original 4 Sq. Box was By the OLD DX antenna Co. ( can’t remember the
west coast ‘er call or name ) worked will but took a direct lightning hit and
blew a hardball size hole in the board and relays. Called Jim Miller K4SQR
he was traveling NE from SC and brought the ABC 80 box along… a quick
install and all worked well until it also was destroyed by mother nature
The unconventional wire sequence has to be observed and Easley over looked.
( out side box ) Left to right Ground, #2, #1 (control box better Ground
#1,#2 ) then the outside feedline are not much better LH to RH #3,#2, #1,
#4…
Wayne W3EA
Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10
________________________________
From: terry burge <ki7m@comcast.net>
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2018 6:32:38 PM
To: Wayne Kline; towertalk@contesting.com; terry burge
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Comtek ABC switch Box.
Hi folks,
Interesting to hear about the Comtek boxes. My 40 meter Comtek 4-square works a
bit differently that it's suppose to. I'm not very good at telling which way
the relays are suppose to work. Blame it on my eyes or just lack of
understanding. You would think I'd be able to tell weather a relay was being
activated or not. But the instructions and schematics such as they are leave a
lot for me to desire at least.
Back to my 40 meter 4-Square. I find the NW and NE work as they should. But the
SE and SW work opposite what they should. I even tried checking and switching
the foam coax feeders. Went back again just because it didn't help and I was
afraid the comtek switching system might not work for multiple direction
correctly. I now have just change the labels to reflect that it switch
NW-NE-SW-SE. You can tell by the way it picks up the Calif, SE USA, KH6, VK's
and ZL's that the SW and SE work opposite what a Comtek box is suppose to work.
Everything else that could be checked has been done I think.
The wiring test correct. I think I just maybe have Comtek box that was wired
wrong. I don't worry about it cause just changing the labels cured the problem.
But I do wonder if anyone else has seen this. I even went so far as to have DX
Engineering send me a new unit. Same thing. Go figure!
If you take a look at the pictures on my QRZ/KI7M page you can see the
verticals are pretty decent thanks to DXE's aluminum tubing. The heavy wall
aluminum tubing proved so heavy for me to raise the verticals up and down I
replaced the 2" with light weight irrigation tubing. Still hard but I manage
better to get them up and lower they down.
But I still don't know why it works this way. My new 80 meter Comtek 4-Square
works normally in a K8UR configuration using dipoles that are folded back
towards the tower on the lower halves. Still working on getting the dump power
lower but all things considered it's an improvement this season.
Terry
KI7M
Terry
KI7M
> On November 26, 2018 at 2:20 PM Wayne Kline <w3ea@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Over the years I have owned ABC 160 ABC 80 and ABC 40 meter 4 Sq switch
> box….. My 80 meter box took a lightning hit last summer.
> I picked up a used on one of the Ham reselling sites…..
> Getting ready for CQWW-CW I installed it and to my surprise….. it’s not
> working as it should.. Examining the unit and wringing out the truth table
> the relays are A-OK.
> There missing there covers and the torrids are wound on them but there is
> NO fiberglass tape and there held in place with a bead of RTV across the
> top…
>
> Again the DXeng site says there wound on fiberglass tape my old unit
> has the tape
>
> A good deal my be not so GOOD !
>
> Wayne W3EA
>
> Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows 10
>
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>
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