16 element phased arrays for 6 meters

[VK4WTN]

hi all,
I was just wondering when I lived in Wollongong years ago the gun 2 meter aerials down there were 16 element phased arrays.These were very similar to the 16 element Hills phased arrays for ch 5A. I wonder if anyone knows what gain these aerials were and whether anyone has ever modelled them for use on 6 meters? It seems that these aerials on 2 meters have faded into obscurity
I have googled them but seems to be very little info on these once popular antennas
regards Wayne VK4WTN

[VK3ADR]

Hi Wayne.
I have used the phased array on 2 meters and they do work well.
Mine was a copy of the Cushcraft DX120. I had 2 stacked side by side and they worked great.
Each bay had a director in front. According to a QST article many years ago, this lowered the feed impedance and gave an extra 2dB gain.
Never tried on on 6 meters but the thought was there.
Do a Google on Cushcraft DX-120 antenna,
or look at:- http://www.k7jrl.com/pub/manuals/cushcr ... /dx120.pdf

Have fun. Cheers, Daryl VK3ADR

[VK4WTN]

thanks Daryl, Ill have a look at the link
cheers Wayne VK4WTN

[VK3HY]

Hi Wayne & Daryl

George Small VK3ZEA (now SK) used a twelve element phased array for 50MHz as far back as the late 1950's and 1960's at his QTH at Rainbow, Victoria. Whilst it was a great performer, I recall that it required frequent maintenance due to mechanical issues relating to the size of the antenna. It was mounted on the side of a tower and pointed in the NE direction.

Gavin, VK3HY

[VK3HY]

Oh joy!! I notice I have just been promoted from Forum Novice to Frequent Poster.....This is good news, one doesn't like to be regarded Novice anything as one approaches antiquity.

Gavin, VK3HY

[VK4WTN]

hi Gavin cogradulations on the promotion. Yes I think an antenna that size would be very vunerable in high winds
cheers Wayne VK4WTN

[ZL1RS]

I put a 16 element colinear into 4nec2 ... or at least 8 'half wave length' reflectors and 4 'full wavelength' driven elements to more or less simulate the same, and spaced them a half wave apart vertically (e.g. 3 x 3m gaps between the 4 levels for a 9mH stack). Overall this is about the same size as 4 x 2 element 10m beams stacked 3m apart, not too onerous.

colinear.gif (1.77 KiB) Viewed 2282 times

Gain about 12dBd
Horizontal beamwidth = ~50 degrees
Vertical beamwidth = ~30 degrees

Similar gain to a 2 stack of 5 element Yagis of a suitable boom length to get 9dBd of gain each (about 5.5m long booms), and stack them about 5m apart.

73,

[VK5PJ]

Daryl,
thanks for that link, I have been storing a HILL's CA-16 phased array for some time with a view to converting it to 146 for FM so that is a handy reference. There must be thousands of these sitting as junk now since the move to digital TV.

Hi Wayne.
Do a Google on Cushcraft DX-120 antenna,
or look at:- http://www.k7jrl.com/pub/manuals/cushcr ... /dx120.pdf
Have fun. Cheers, Daryl VK3ADR

Regards,
Peter, vk5pj

[VK3MEG]

I worked a guy in sardinia I think who had a 12 element one it had to be on a mast alone cause of interaction issues. did very well in 6m contests with it cant find the link sorry read this on his qrz page

[VK4WTN]

tnx guys for the info and to Bob for the modelling.I downloaded the info re 2M phased arrays Daryl.
cheers Wayne VK4WTN

[VK3AIF]

A bit more here that might be of interest??

viewtopic.php?f=47&t=9835&p=17481&hilit ... ray#p17481