[TowerTalk] Wire 4-squares in the woods?

[Mike Smith VE9AA]

Hi Folks, Mike VE9AA here.  I apologize for the long description and a
subsequent question or two.

 

I've read the archives here and on CQ-CONTEST back as far as they go and
there is not much data on wire 4-squares in the WOODS or trees.

Does anyone have any real world experience with them?

 

I am nearly halfway through installing  some of them in a strip of woods on
the side of my property .40/80 4-Squares & a 2el array on 160m. (all Comtek
boxes)

All will have 2 (maybe 3) raised radials. Phasing lines are dbl shield RG-6,
already cut to perfection using an AA-230Pro.  Nothing is electrically
connected just yet. 

 

To make matters worse, the ground is sloping slightly downwards
West-to-East..  About a 6-10' drop in 75' width of woods which is about 150'
long N-S.(a rectangle facing roughly NE/SW)

My 40m array is partially nested in the NW corner of the 80m array. (no
choice) and the 2-el 160m array runs along the western side of both the 40 &
80m arrays.(again, no choice)

( I know everyone says not to do this, but I only have so many trees and
there are no towers here @ VE9AA)

 

None of the wires will be perfectly vertical. In fact the 2-el 160m array
will use 2 inverted L's and the 80m array will have 2 of its elements with
the top 15' or so bent over, like an inverted L

Darn trees don't want to cooperate, hi !  One (40m) element is only a couple
feet away from a very thick Maple tree with 3 trunks growing together.(a
couple feet in diameter).it can 'see' the other wires however.  The existing
80m ground plane with the top bent over (in the woods) works by itself VERY
well.  I put that down to my nearly ridgetop QTH.

 

IE: With all the compromises I am faced with, should I really worry if two
of the 80m verticals are 65' apart and 2 are 67' apart?  (or the diagonal
distances on 40m are a couple feet off?)

(seeing as how it's already on a slope, I am only using 2 raised radials,
and the "verticals" are not all perfectly vertical anyways.)(never mind the
partial nesting I am doing)

 

>>>Mostly what I am curious about is how "EXACT" do I have to be with the
placement of the wires where they meet the raised radials?<<<

(I intend to raise the highest/flattest ground side of the Western verticals
only a couple of feet agl and the lowest (down in the gulch), Eastern
Verticals up as high as I can reach-8-9', to hopefully counter some of the
effect of the sloping ground)

 

I doubt I would be the first guy to make a 4-square that's not perfectly
square, but how 'square' does it have to be (at the base of the verticals)
is my question I guess.

 

NB:

I do have a 20m 4-square array closeby (outside this strip of woods) with
elements up about 3' and raised radials (2 per) and the verticals are very
thin aluminum tubing and thin rod and they swish and sway in the wind, so
they are not really vertical much of the time either.  It *IS* square
however.  (My limited success with this compromised 20m array got me
thinking about the wires in the woods and DX-Engineering got a bunch of my
money last week!) That being said I am seeing about 3-4dB of gain on 20m,
and amazing F/B (like 25dB or so roughly) (referencing a HF9V with 2 raised
radials on RX and also using the RBN many times in A/B transmit tests)

 

Thanks for any insight, even if anecdotal.  Anything about wire 4-squares
will be helpful.

 

 

Mike VE9AA

 

 

Mike, Coreen & Corey

Keswick Ridge, NB