FOUR ELEMENT 2 METER QUAD ANTENNA

By Erk Werner - KD5CTJ - Spring of 2000
l_a_r_g message #659



First, I want to say how much fun I had with everyone at the our January 2000 Fox Hunt. It was a lot of fun and I don't think I've ever heard Norm giggle as we went 4x4'ing in search of the fox. haha.

This antenna is bigger than the space inside of a sportscar because one of the spreaders broke on the way home. So now I need to make bigger, faster, stronger

Note de Norm - AI2C: Erik's Quad really worked great. It's beam width is just right for hunting foxes. We used my attenuator and we were able to walk right up to the fox notwithstanding it was under the bridge.


Now For The Quad Of Mine


FOUR ELEMENT QUAD - FULLERTON RADIO CLUB
It is supposedly equal to a Cushcraft 11 element beam.


LR  21" per side                         LT  20.51" per side
84.1" total                              82.04" total
Diagonal length 29.73"                   Diagonal length 29.01"
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|         .     .         |              |         .     .         |
|            .            |              |            .            |
|         .     .         |              |         .     .         |
|      .           .      |              |      .           .      |
|   .                 .   |              |   .                 .   |
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LD - 1, 19.9" per side                   LD - 2, 19.7" per side
79.6" total                              78.8" total
Diagonal length 28.14"                   Diagonal length 27.86"

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|         .     .         |              |         .     .         |
|            o            |              |            o            |
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The antenna boom is made out of schedule 40 pvc pipe, 1" size, which is 1.5"
in diameter, actual size.  The boom is approximately 42" long.  The cross
pieces are 1/4 inch bicycle flag poles made out of fiberglass, or you could
use fiberglass fence posts available from Orchard Supply Hardware stores in
California.


                          TOP VIEW LOOKING DOWN

  LR                    LT                   LD-1                 LD-2

         Vertical Polarization Feed Point
                         |
                         V
   _                     _                    _                    _
  | |                   | |                  | |                  | |
  | |                   | |                  | |                  | |
  | |                   | |   1" PVC T       | |                  | |
  | |                   | |      |           | |                  | |
 _|_|___________________|_|__________________|_|__________________|_|_
|____o_________________o_______|_|_|________o____________________o____|
  | |                   | |     |_|          | |                  | |
  | |                   | |                  | |                  | |
  | |                   | |                  | |                  | |
  | |                   | |                  | |                  | |
  |_|                   |_|                  |_|                  |_|

   | <-----16.1"-------> | <----12.04"------> | <-----
        0.2 wavelength        0.15 wavelength      0.15 wavelength

There it is folks and I hope that you are able to build it from these crude
instructions.  REMEMBER FOR VERTICAL POLARIZATION, YOU FEED A QUAD FROM THE
HORIZONTAL SPREADER END.  I think that one of the uses of packet should be the
desimination of information.  This is my attempt at a construction article.
How about some more homebrew projects with illustrations on packet radio.
I would be interested in reports from anyone who builds this antenna.

Doug, KI6DS @ K6RAU-1

 ANTENNA GAIN CHART

This is a chart to help you determine antenna gain based on
 the number of elements.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Antenna Type          Decibel gain             Decibel gain
                      over isotropic           over half-wave
                      radiator                 dipole antenna
                        DBi                       DBd
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Isotropic radiator      0                        -2.1
Ground plane           +0.3                      -1.8
Half wave dipole       +2.1                       0
5/8 wave               +3.3                      +1.2
quad loop element      +4.1                      +2.0
2 element yagi beam    +7.1                      +5.0
3 element yagi beam   +10.0                      +8.0
4 element yagi beam   +12.1                     +10.0
2 element quad beam    +9.1                      +7.0
3 element quad beam   +12.1                     +10.0
4 element quad beam   +14.1                     +12.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
When an antenna is designed, the laws of physics have to be observed. Over
the years, some antenna manufacturers have inflated their gain figures to the
point that QST no longer allows gain figures to be published in antenna ads.
Hopefully, this chart will clear up some misconceptions about antenna gain.

NNNN

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