7
Vertical Antenna Selection
To provide optimum performance four vertical antennas of identical design are required. Each of
the four vertical antennas used in the Transmit Four Square must be identical. If not, peak
performance may not be obtainable. The vertical antennas must be spaced in a square according to
wavelength and have good radial systems installed. Anything less could cause serious performance
degradation.
The following DX Engineering monoband vertical antennas are an ideal match for top performance
in a four square array system.
DXE-40VE-1
DXE-40VA-1
EZ-UP
DXE-80VA-3
THUNDERBOLT
DXE-ATK65 and
DXE-VE BASE
Band
40
40
80 or 75
80 or 75
Taper
Fast
Slow
Slow
Fast
Element Size Range
2" to 1/2"
2" to 1-3/8"
2-1/8" to 1-1/2"
2" to 7/8"
Height
33-35'
<24'
43'
64'
Guying
Suggested
Suggested
Required
Required
Capacitance Hat
no
yes
12' dia (Included)
no
DXE-80VA-3 : Do not use shunt coil
Table 1 - DXE Monoband Vertical Antennas
Fast Taper - Slow Taper
: Fast Taper uses smaller diameter aluminum elements for
less wind resistance. Slow Taper uses larger diameter aluminum elements for sturdy
construction and wider bandwidth.
For those that want to design and build their own vertical antennas, DX Engineering also has the
parts needed to accomplish this task.
The
DXE-ATK65
Telescopic 65 Foot Aluminum Antenna Kit comes with 11 slow taper, 6 foot
sections, and one 3 foot section of DX Engineering rugged 6063-T832 aluminum tubing and all-
stainless steel element clamps. The bottom section is heavy wall 2 inch OD graduating up to 2-1/8
inch and back to 2 inch for the first 12 feet. The sections then taper to 7/8 inch OD at the top. When
coupled with the
DXE-VA-BASE
-Heavy Duty Vertical Antenna Tilt Base Assembly,
the
DXE-ATK65
is ideally suited as a vertical radiator for your custom-designed antenna system -
singly, or as a Four Square or other multiple antenna arrays. It can be set to any length up to 65
feet by simply removing or telescoping the sections and clamping at the desired length. Additional,
smaller diameter 6-foot telescoping aluminum tubing sections are available from DX Engineering.
For heavy duty applications, the
DXE-VA-BASE
Insulated Vertical Antenna Base with its
supplied laser cut stainless steel Tilt Base, and complete stainless steel hardware package is
intended to support a 2 inch OD antenna base section in a vertical position and to allow tilting
for easy maintenance or tuning. The
DXE-VA-BASE
is designed for vertical antennas that
exceed 30-35 feet. The
DXE-VA-BASE
consists of a unique reinforced fiberglass insulating
channel which has twice the strength of commonly used nylon and other insulating materials. It
is fastened with stainless steel hardware to a rugged 3/16 inch thick stainless steel laser cut Tilt
Base. With a DX Engineering Tilt Base, operators can raise or lower their vertical antenna in
seconds while leaving the base plate securely attached to the mounting pipe or post. One person can
