Topband: trying to tune up 80 meter 4-Square

[Joe Subich, W4TV]

On 2018-10-12 7:10 PM, MrToby wrote:
> You dont have to lower them but you need to short them to ground to
> make them electrically invisible
No, with 1/4 wave elements you must *open* the feed point - disconnect
any feedlines and remove any components across the feedpoint - to make
them invisible.

73,

    ... Joe, W4TV


On 2018-10-12 7:10 PM, MrToby wrote:
> You dont have to lower them but you need to short them to ground to make
> them electrically invisible
> 
> On Fri, Oct 12, 2018, 6:07 PM Dick Green WC1M <wc1m73 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Interesting. This is not how I tuned my 40m 4-square, albeit with tubular
>> elements not slopers.
>>
>> Anyway, my understanding is that you disconnect all four elements from the
>> control box and measure at the feedpoint, not through the phasing lines. I
>> did it that way and had no trouble tuning the elements. I did, however,
>> tune them to a frequency that was something like 5% below the target
>> resonant frequency. I can't remember the exact frequencies now, but I think
>> I wanted the array resonant at 7.025 MHz, so I tuned them to about 6.700
>> MHz. Might have been a little higher than that.
>>
>> I've not heard that you must lower the other elements to do the tuning.
>> Certainly a pain with nesting tubular elements.
>>
>> 73, Dick WC1M
>>