Topband: 60' or 70' spacing on Hi-Z 4/8 element RX array

[Lee STRAHAN]

   Gary and others,
   As I said losing 6 dB + on the 4-8 Pro by going to the smaller diameter array down to 84.84 feet in diameter will be no problem whatsoever. There are still many users using the arrays with the original Hi-Z amps which had a loss of 6 dB. You are using amps with 6 dB more gain than those.  In addition there are several systems operating that use my dual band dual direction system. This system loses another 3 dB of signal by splitting the signals to two combiners.  So, there are proven stations using the same combining system with much less available system gain. I know for a fact they are hearing very well into the noise. Especially on the system with the dual directions. He is a contester and always on top of the heap. This user is still using the older style of amp with 6 dB of loss and the dual direction system with another 3 dB loss.
   113.12 feet diameter or 80 feet on a 4 square side  and 84.84 feet  diameter or 60 feet on a 4-square side are the only two stocked by DX Engineering.
  Any other size systems would need a different set of delay cables.
   Fear not Gary, Just cut your element cables for the widest spacing you think you could ever use and then all you would have to do is move the elements and change delay cables if you were still curious.
 You will not be able to tell the difference between your ears. 
   The 84.84  foot system greatly improves 40 meters with only approximately a 0.2 dB loss in RDF on 160 meters. My original design goal was based on maximum RDF on 160 meters period. Then the narrow spacing came later. I originally did not expect I could get system accuracy good enough for the narrower arrays. It paid off to pick the fly poop out of the pepper ( an engineering term) during the original design as it ended up easily having the accuracy to implement that.

 Lee  K7TJR



-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of StellarCAT
Sent: Wednesday, November 02, 2016 10:26 AM
To: n6bk at yahoo.com; topband at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: 60' or 70' spacing on Hi-Z 4/8 element RX array

Thanks Bob,

70’ is what Lee use to offer ... I had a 4 sq with those dimensions (it was stolen out of a self storage unit however). I believe Lee would do cabling for either 70’ or 60’. My main focus is still 160 with 80 as the second ... but I don’t want to neglect 40 as spring/summer/fall static can be horrendous. So the total power isn’t an issue?.... please explain to me what exactly it means! So ALL signals – noise and signal are reduced by this same amount – 6.6 db? And assuming the preamp doesn’t add any noise then it would be – the same? 

or put another way – say I have 2 of these – an 80’ on a side and a 60’ on a side ... at the same location (but not interacting, or I can magically swap them out)... what if any change is there in the headphones?! That to me is the bottom line and what I’ve just not had an answer on yet. 

g.