Topband: Help With First 80M 4-Square

[Wayne Willenberg]

Now that my new tower and antennas are up and my Beverages are working
well, it’s time to move on to a 4-square for 80M.  (Fortunately, here in
the coastal area of South Carolina, the winters are mild enough that
outdoor antenna work is usually not hindered by the weather.)



As I did with my tower and the antennas on it, and my Beverage antennas, I
first sought out advice here on this Reflector before ordering many
expensive parts and making a major mistake.


The 4-square I have in mind is a traditional type.  By that I mean, 4
verticals, each ¼ wavelength long, ground mounted and arranged in a square,
spaced ¼ wavelength apart.  Each vertical will have at least 60, ¼
wavelength long radials under each of the four verticals.   Where the
radials from other verticals intersect, I would have 2-inch copper strap
for soldering the overlapping radials.

The controller I have in mind is the new one that recently became available
from Array Solutions.  As I understand it, Jay, the owner of Array
Solutions, has worked with ON4UN to optimize the use of a 90- degree hybrid
coupler, as discussed in Chapter 11 of *Low Band DXing*.  I have a dual
trace scope and an AIM 4170 to help with any “tweaking” that might improve
the performance of the array.


Regarding its location, the one vertical out of the four that would be the
closest to my tower (the only large vertical piece of metal in the yard) is
280 feet away. I have modeled the 4-square and the tower, and at this
distance I don’t see any substantial impact (less than 0.1 dB) on the
performance of the array.


All comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


73, and have a merry Christmas.  Wayne, KK6BT