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Reviews For: DX Engineering DXE-TFS4-40-P Four Square Array

Category: Antenna Switching, Phasing, Controllers

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Review Summary For : DX Engineering DXE-TFS4-40-P Four Square Array
Reviews: 2MSRP: $549.00
Description:
The system will allow the operator to receive or transmit with gain in any one of four directions with good front-to-back ratio, or in a single Omni-directional pattern with a push of a single button. This combination permits you to listen and transmit "all-around" looking for DX, unhindered by pattern nulls, and then select the best direction for signal reception and noise rejection, The basic concept for a Four-Square array begins with four monoband vertical antennas spaced at the corners of a square that is 1/4-wavelength on a side. The vertical antennas must be resonant in the desired band of operation and directly fed by the coaxial cable phasing lines from the centrally located controller. The vertical antennas must be ungrounded and fed at the base. Above all, a properly designed and installed radial system is necessary for top antenna performance.
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-tfs4-40b-p
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
0025
IT9VDQ Rating: 2010-11-03
Good! Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Hi Guys,
used on CQ WW DX SSB your "Transmit Four-Square Switch & Control Console 40M" at IR9Y contest site
(bought by one of us, IT9BLB Giuseppe La Parola); just one word: Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great! Great :)
73 de Gius, IT9VDQ (IR9Y, K6F-WRTC1996, IH9P)
K4ZMV Rating: 2009-11-29
Outstanding Antenna! Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
I began investigating directional antenna systems for 40 Meters about two years ago. I priced them and looked at site requirements. A three element Yagi on a 96 foot tower would have cost around $15,000 and required a minimum of a quarter of an acre. That led me to phased arrays. After reading ON4UN's "Low Band DXing", I determined that a four square was my best choice, price and footprint wise. I first costed out a home-brew option. Then I went to the DX Engineering website and priced their system with vertical antennas, phasing cables, radial and tilt plates, and dummy load. The two price workups were within $200 and I already knew DX Engineerings high quality products from other projects.

So, I cleared the land, laid out the square for 7.015 MHz, ordered the parts from DX Engineering, and began the installation. I am 66 years old and it took awhile by myself. Just yesterday I laid the last 19 radials. My system has 36 radials per antenna. The phasing cables are routed to the antennas in conduit laid 24 inches deep. The system is on slightly sloping ground and is surrounded by large pine and oak trees.

The performance of the phased array is amazing. The front to rear effectively silences the direction opposite to the one selected. My experience is when I point the array south east, stations north west are 6-12 dB down. Comparing my multiband vertical to the four square, I see signal improvement in the selected direction to be upwards of 6-15 dB and the multiband vertical is good, very good. I arrived at the dB figures on the basis that one S-unit is 3 dB's. SWR in the selected frequency range is 1.2:1 or better. In fact, the array is very broad-banded. The 2:1 SWR bandwidth extends across the entire 40 Meter band.

Operating experience with the DX Engineering four square system has been exceptional. All the rare DX that has been on 40 Meters since I got the antenna operational is in the logbook. I especially like the ability to listen 360 degrees with the 'OMNI' option when working a pileup so I can find the station working the DX. Can't do that with a Yagi. I also don't have to wait while a Yagi turns to the direction I want to listen in, either. In my opinion, the DXE-TFS4-40-P Four Square Array is a well engineered antenna that meets or exceeds any 40 Meter Yagi / tower combination that is available today.