[TowerTalk] 4 SQ issue

[Alan Swinger]

Subject: 4 Square Issues
In response to the apparent intermittent issues mentioned, I recently went through a full Full System analysis/check of my 40M 4 square w/ the help of the DX Eng tech team. My concern was that I was observing degraded performance (based on on-air sig repts) in the NW direction & also saw some unusual SWR readings in the NW direction. The Verticals are homebrew alum 2 in (30 ft) to ½ in extensions, and the 4 phase coax lines and phasing box are from DXE – had the system up for 10 yrs w/p issues and worked great.
The system check started w/ determining if the issue was in the antennas and/ or the phasing lines. So, here are the steps:
* Disconnected all phasing lines from the antennas and the Box
* Dropped all antennas except one – checked the SWR w/ my MFJ 259 analyzer, and the repeated for ea of the other three verticals to see if any SWR readings were bad . . . this also allowed me the opportunity to flush all kinds of junk (bugs, bird stuff etc) from the tubing and clean up the tubing interfaces; and also to re-tune ea vertical independently.
* Did the same procedure with the phasing lines connected – read the SWR to ea of the verticals thru the phasing line to determine if any reading was unusual. Readings were all OK after both of these steps
* Reconnected all phasing lines to the DXE phasing box and checked SWR from the transmitter – Still no crazy bad readings!
* So, the DXE tech and I agreed that there was a problem in the Phasing box. I sent it and they changed out a bunch of bad relays (10 yrs old!), I put it back on the air and all is well . .. working DX again!
 
Hope this helps.
73 and Good DX – Alan K9MBQ
-----Original Message-----
From: Mpridesti 
Sent: Nov 2, 2021 2:48 PM
To: Jorge Diez - CX6VM 
Cc: 
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] 4 SQ issue
 
Jorge
 
I am using the Comtek box.
 
Regards,
 
Mark, K1RX
 
 
> On Nov 2, 2021, at 2:44 PM, Jorge Diez - CX6VM wrote:
>
>
> Hello Mark
>
> what 4SQ box do you use? DXE or homemade?
>
> Sometimes, after several days that I not use my DXE-TFS4, antennas show high SWR, I need to TX with high power to return them to low SWR
>
> 73,
> Jorge
> CX6VM/CW5W
>
>> El mar, 2 nov 2021 a las 12:41, Mpridesti via TowerTalk () escribió:
>> My 80 m 4 SQ seems to work well in 3 positions. To the SW the signal drop in the favored direction where the other 3 directions appear to work well.
>>
>> SWR measurements seem normal around 2:1 at the end of the 1/4 wave 75 ohm lines except one which is 1.87. Haven’t made loss measurements yet but I suspect the lowest SWR line is the problem (low reading due to higher than normal loss making it the suspect line).
>>
>> Has anyone else experienced this type of behavior? Also the suspect line is the NW element and the direction which has the problem is SW. Does this make sense? Effectively this lossy element is the other half of the “driven element “ if you thought of the 4 sq as a 3 el vertical beam.
>>
>> Keeping with this concept, one would think the NE direction would have similar loss but it doesn’t (or it’s not noticeable).
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Mark, K1RX
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
> --
> 73,
> Jorge
> CX6VM/CW5W
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