Lightening L2 Quad

Mudfoot, I missed your old post where you talked about getting an L2 Quad, else I would have mentioned that you would likely be disappointed.

Over time, I've talked to 3 or more CB acquaintances that bought a Superhawk, and as best I can recall...none ever got their SE Quad antennas to working right.

Phil501, was a long time member on this forum and he had one that gave him trouble, but he is long gone now. He was a big talker when we had Contests back then, but I can't recall him using his Superhawk.

Do a search. Enter Superhawk and click Search. You might find some old posts here on the forum where we fussed and discussed this antenna.

I have the old manual, but it is of little help and is very poorly written. As best I recall, the images don't show, which end is which, and that has to be right in this complicated setup. I once studied these old Quads and asked lots of questions, but I just don't remember all the details anymore.

There are very few if any part dimensions to check or verify. You might want to measure, record, and secure all the length and diameter dimensions for all the metal, wire, and FG parts before you get started. If anything is color coded, make sure to make notes of that too. All the guys I talked to, complained that the original owner was of little help if you have a problem after the sale.

I had a couple of occasions to talk to a guy there that said he was the design engineer. He was helpful. His name is Larry. If you call try asking for him if he's still around.

You have one 1/4 wave short wire with eyelets on both ends, make sure it goes precisely in the right place, relative to the front and back. If you can figure that out, that will be important.

IMO, I would slot the 8 metal supports that go thru the boom by 1" - 2" inches. Use this to support and secure the fiberglass rods using good SS hose clamps, instead of those cheap sheet metal screws on a slant...used to secure the FG rods. If you do this, then make your cuts so they remove the screw holes.

This will also help if you ever have to undo these screws to adjust the wire tension. This also can help prevent the FG rods and the screw holes from being all buggered up, coming loose, and maybe shattering the FGRs...as the antenna is bending and twisting in the wind.

Good luck,hope you get it up & working right.
Quads are nice, quieter than yagis.
Wish the old PDL2 was still around, I would put one up in a heartbeat

Mudfoot said:

Copied from Dr_DX's post... edit...
In a nut shell the antenna is voltage fed and NOT current
fed like a traditional quad. That what allows this
antenna to be dual polarity..."

Click to expand...

Changing from current fed to voltage fed , in and of itself, does not make an antenna "dual" polarity. (I'm kind surprised he didn't say "Circular")

Feeding from an odd 1/4 wl will change the phase, but, it will still be "single" polarity.

more smoke & mirrors

Anyway, the QUAD is a great design and has advantages over a Yagi , particularly at lower heights.

The pictures sure help to understand the L2 construction a lot better than the manual. Your manual is also much better than the one I have for the older Superhawk.

Dr_DX (Lee) raised some very good points that are important to consider and understand about the L2. This matching setup is different compared to a regular current fed Quad. Lee and I go way back in our radio work here in Texas, and he knows this stuff.

Don't let the vertical and horizontal feed point locations confuse you. They are 90* degrees different in their locations. This detail is not a mistake in the notations for the manual.

The short 1/4 wavelength wire I mentioned earlier establishes the 2 high voltage feed points. It also secures and maintains this important dimension (length) for the matching devices.

I think there are other operators on this forum that have talked about their versions and tips for this design. Their posts might also be informative. I recall some were trying, desperately, to get the dimensions for a wire that broke or was stretched on their beam.

Mudfoot, I said earlier you might be disappointed, but if you get this antenna right and it works like touted...then it might be a pretty good antenna.

Good luck and keep us posted.

I wouldn't give up on the L2...The L4 I had tuned pretty good, under 1.5 SWR anyway...As for those sheet metal screws that hold the spreaders together, what I did was just drill a small hole right threw the spreader and installed nuts and bolts to hold everything together...(using hose clamps didn't enter my brain at the time or I may have gone that route, but the screws and nuts worked out just fine anyway)

My one and only bitch about the antenna was the solid core wire used...always breaking at the eyelets after wind storms...My MaCo shooting star has wire running around the reflector elements and after being up for over 5 years now, not once has that wire broke.

Mudfoot said:

I haven't given up on it. Just saving it for later. I don't want to fool with two coax runs at my current location. I can't lie though, that matching network looks irritating. I know I can assemble it, I just don't have much patience lately.

I was going to ask you how you did the screws. I certainly don't like how they recommend. The slot and hose clamp sounds like the plan.

Click to expand...

Well...you don't have to do the dual polarity thing if you don't want to...just instal the vertical wire and tuning rod and leave the horizontal parts off... might even be easier to tune doing it that way...