Topband: 160M 4-Square Location

[Paul Christensen]

I am considering a location along the Atlantic Ocean for placement of 160M
and 40M 4-square arrays.  Operation would be by remote control over the
Internet.  I have spent the last two years perfecting an Internet remote
system that I now consider worthy of such use.   

I would  never consider using a 4-square on 40M but for the fact that the
location is located in the middle of a salt marsh.   For those of you with
Google Earth, here are the coordinates:

30°19'29.96"N
81°25'47.34"W

A few questions arise from this location:

The area of salt water extends a good distance around the site, except to
the east, where the marsh ends at approximately a ¼ mile.  A narrow section
of flat land about 2 miles wide separates the proposed location from the
ocean.   This can be readily seen from Google Earth, using the coordinates
above.

The site is also co-located with a small AM station near the top end of the
AM band.  It operates 5KW day, 90W night.  I am not as concerned about
mutual coupling to the 160M 4-square as I am about the 4-square acting as an
unintentional radiator to the broadcaster.   I can always de-tune the
4-square, but I would need to convince the owner that that detrimental
re-radiation won’t occur.   I can deal with any Rx issues from the
night-time 90W signal through a deep 20 kHz notch filter, centered on the
broadcast station’s operating frequency, in addition to the transceiver’s
internal tuner that can be engaged on Rx as well as Tx.  

The broadcast station is a religious non-profit, and I would make a
commensurate annual donation for the use of the land.  I’m an attorney, so I
am comfortable with all the land-use details.

I am also concerned about the fact that only ¼ mile of salt water exists
between the site and the strip of land to the East.   Is this enough to
adequately launch in that direction without having to worry about far-field
attenuation effects even though the ocean picks back up again in two miles?
If the two mile strip of land has a detrimental effect on the East bearing
for either 40M or 160M, then I’m not interested in the site.   

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Paul, W9AC