[TowerTalk] Hi Gain Hi Tower ??

[Wayne Kline]

Hi fellow Tower Talkers.. . I built a 75/80 meter Four Sq, antenna system many years ago. It was feed with an original DX eng. ( not the new Dx eng co.) quadature. The  Hi Gain Hi towers were stripped of everything and a center  stinger was  built and   the system was resonantat 3.625 MHZ and the power dump at 3.500 was 70 watts and at 3.825 was 100 watts.  I used the two insulators at the two stinger vertical element with a 14ga wire attached at it's bottom and  travel down the inside of the 24ft base tower attaching at the feed point. There are 108 evenly spaced 1/4 radials under each antenna, with silver soldered connections at there interesting 8ga copper X and 9-  8 ft  5/8" ground rods.  One at each tower base, one at the control box in the center  of the array and 4 at the end of the centered X wire.I had a few 80 meter ops who felt that because I insulated the top 38' stinger  at the top of the tower resulting in a Shorter over hight antenna was a compromise.    So I got in touch with tim K3LR knowing he also had a 75/80 meter 4 SQ mad out of Hi-Gain Hi Towers, He sent me a rough dimension of his stinger out the top of his Hi-Tower. I  un insulated the stinger  and built my elements  and achieved resonance with an additional 9ft height.Well it seemed My WX in eastern PA did not like the 48' stinger  and I would loose one at almost every  Nor'easter Storm.      SO I am thinking of going back to the original configuration with insulated  top 2" tuber and the 14 ga wire down the center of the tower to the base.  Thought's out there  Just kicking  around  ideas ? Wayne W3EA