When my wife and I purchased the land to build our home on, there was one very important requirement. I had to have lots of solar access as we were going to build a solar powered home. That being said, after the array went on line, getting an antenna up in the air proved interesting. For you see, solar access means no trees to hang wire from. The only tree we have in our 4+ acres is an ugly sickly walnut tree up by the front year. Yes, I do have a wire hung from it, but wanted a bit more.

Why not put up a tower you ask? Well I've been thinking of that, but since I don't climb towers and there's no one locally that will, that leaves a whole lot of issues that need to be resolved before a tower goes up.

In the meantime, I managed to install a Hygain Hytower. It's a beast and works great. Somewhere around 2005 or so I got the burning desire to put up a 40-meter foursquare array. I've always enjoyed 40 meters so that band seemed a good place to put up the 4-square. I purchased one of Tom's Zero Five 40 meter verticals and installed it in the lower 40. Of course other projects came and went and the vertical was used just as a 40 meter vertical.

In late winter 2009, I decided to take the project forward again. So in this first part of the project, I'll put in the remaining three verticals, install the radial plates and lay down radials.

Its been said that even God had a plan, so to help keep my ducks in a row, here's my game plan.

Some ground rules:

I live in a rather rural setting, so I do not need permits or engineering drawings. You may so be sure you check. Some of the equipment I will be using does not mean I endorse those products.

Let's get started!

Since I already had one vertical up, I used this one as my reference point. To gain access to the pipe holding the vertical up, I had to lay the antenna down.

To get the square “square” I use this cheap laser level. Picked it up at Mendelsons at Dayton this year for $10. The tripod was centered over the pipe and the angle set for 90 degs. When turned to 0 degs, I can get the other post at the corner. I had measured out 32.7 inches (1/4 wave on 40 meters) and marked that length with stakes and string. Yes, there's other means and methods of squaring up a square, but this seemed like an easier method than running string all over the place.

I know why this thing was $10. It's cheap! No matter how tight I tighten things, any movement whatsoever would cause the laser beam to bounce all over the place. By taking my time, I was able to shoot the laser to each of the three corners.

Each corner was measured and center located using the laser. A straight stick was used to catch the laser light. I set the strings so that the laser just caught the edge of my upright stick.

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Here's a better view of my laser catcher. I found the laser bright enough to see under full sun. However when the sun was low in the west, I could not see the laser anymore. I had to wait a bit toward dusk to catch the beam once more.

To catch the other corner, I had to move the laser and then reset it by shinning the beam back toward the reference point (the original antenna mount). Now I had all three corners marked and ready for the posthole digger.

First of the three-five foot 1.50 ID (the outside diameter is 1.90”) galvanized pipe going in. About 120 pounds of concrete mix was dry poured into each hole. A little bit of water was added and in a day or so, I'll have on mighty strong mount for the antenna.

Each pipe was leveled and tapped into position. This one needed just one more whack with a BFH to get it right on.

Here's the end result. The three pipes are in place. In the next few days the concrete will set up. In the meantime, I'll get the radial plates under the pipes and start laying out radials. That will be part two.

After I had all three pipes in place, I did a check by measuring the diagonals ( from one corner opposite the other corner) to see how square my square really is. With my cheap laser and some string, I did not get it perfectly square. It seems I am about one inch out of square. Sure would like to know how those Egyptian built those pyramids and got them square within a quarter of an inch. They must have used a better laser than I have.

Mike WB8VGE

Just as I was putting this together, I found out that I've screwed up a bit. I used the formula for a half wave dipole of 468/f to determine the 32”7” I needed for the verticals. It seems that using that formula for a four square is wrong. It should have been 246/f for the spacing. Ah poop! Holes are drilled, pipes cemented in, life goes on. Talking to several 4-square experts, the difference will more than likely not be measurable by me or anyone else.

Page 1 5/28/09