Cubical Quad Wind Loading ??

[n8ppq]

Dear Possibly Informed Person:

I have looked at several online pages that describe calculations involving Yagi antennas. However, when I apply these methods to the cubical quad (my antenna of interest) I get numbers greatly higher than those listed by commercial manufacturers. For example, a Cubex 3-el, 5-band gives me 10 sq ft, just counting the boom and spreader arms with no wire, spiders, or Dacron support line, and I'm using the 2/3 multiplier for round members. They report only 7.4 sq ft. I've read that manufacturers exaggerate, but this seems more than that. What am I missing?

Thanks,

Dan N8PPQ
dan@n8ppq.net

 

[Savoir Faire]

Rather predictable response by them.

I like the information on the antenna website I gave you that suggests 5 inch separation of 12 or 14 guage copper wire (dual element) for each element. It will give you greater bandwidth of 2 to 1 SWR, more gain, and better front to back.

Quads seem to require a longer boom to completely destroy a Yagi, but if constructed this way they will definitely be better than a yagi all around.

However, you cannot use the best software by EasyNec or MiniNec for tuning because your design has never been tried or the experimenter was not a Thomas Edison that persevered until success like yourself.

I applaud you.

73 de N4SLR, Frank