Array Solutions Four Square User manual

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
1
Array Solutions
Four Square Array Manual and User’s Guide
Array Solutions Four Square Array Pattern Steering System
Congratulations!
You have selected one of the finest phased array steering systems made. We have under-rated
the power capability of this system to assure the user high reliability under heavy use such as in a
48 hour radio contest. Please contact us if you have any questions about the product.
The Array Solutions Four Square Array system has two components: a relay box that will be
mounted midway between the four verticals and a control box that is connected with a 5-wire
control cable inside the operating room. With this system you will be able to beam in 4 directions
and also take advantage of the OMNI mode for domestic use to listen in all directions at once.
The system is available in standard quadrature feed and an optimized feed version and you can
purchase the optimization kit at any time to add to your controller.
Wiring the system:
A 5 wire connector is supplied with the controller switch. Table 1 shows the 5 wires to the
corresponding 5 wire terminals in the relay box and the control switch connector. You may use
our DC power supplies which are regulated linear supplies, or use one of your choice. A 2.1mm
DC coaxial connector pigtail is included for connecting to your DC supply. We recommend a 1000
mA or more power supply current rating.
You will need a cable with 5 conductors. Small gauge wires are fine and will fit inside the boxes
better than large rotor cable. For runs of less than 500 feet (152.40 m), #18 (1.02 mm Ø or 0.82

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
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mm2) or larger gauge stranded wires will be adequate. The relays draw only 120 mA at 12 V DC.
Try to use a supply that has a 13.8 V+ DC output or more for very long runs.
Wire the control switch connector to the relay box per the following Table 1.
Control Switch Connector
Relay Box Terminal strip
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
G
Gnd - Ground
Table 1
Suggestion: use a connector on a short piece of cable so you may disconnect the control
unit from the control cable when not in use, or when a thunderstorm arrives. We also
recommend the use of a surge protector at the station end for the control cable and RF
cables, such as our AS-8-SP control line protector and our AS-303U coaxial cable surge
protector. A little money spent now can save valuable radios and other gear later. We also
have MOV protection inside the relay box.
Plug both the control line and power supply connectors into the back of the control box box.
Hot Switch Protection –to activate the hot switching safety feature, just plug an RCA PTT line
from your transceiver into the RCA jack in the back of the controller. When PTT is asserted
(GND) no relays will switch if a control pushbutton is accidentally pushed.
NETWORK –is for the ShackLan network and will allow control over the network for instance for
a remote station or for networking with other Hamation controllers.
See http://hamation.com/ for more information.
Relay Box

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
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Route the control cable through the rubber grommet hole in the relay box tray. Use the supplied
Ty-wrap™ as a strain relief. The relay box terminal strip is marked to indicate the connection to
terminals. See the above Table 1 for the proper connections. The relays are bypassed with
MOVs, capacitors, and diodes for RF and lightning suppression. See Fig. 2 which is a picture of
the relay phasing controller.
Figure 2 description
Input - RF connector is for the 50 ohm feedline
Antenna Ports 1-4 these are the output connectors to the 4 antennas. Each one should have a
¼ wavelength 70 - 75 ohm feedline connected to it. We use ¼ wavelengths to take advantage of
the current forcing properties of this length of line. This will also give the Hybrid coupler
impedance close to 50 ohms for most antenna arrays. The antenna ports are marked as
directions that the antennas would normally be attached to the controller. NE, SE, NW, SW.
Dummy Load –A 50 ohm dummy load rated at 100 W minimum continuous duty should be
plugged into the RF connector labeled “Dummy Load” on the Relay controller box.
Water proofing the connections is always a good idea even though the lip of the cover will
protect the connectors from direct rainfall.
Setting up the system
The AS-4Square is pretty much plug and play and special instruments should not be necessary
to set it up and get it operational in the normal quadrature feed situation.

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
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Place the controller relay box in the geometric center of the array. Use the U-bolt mounting
bracket provided to mount the box onto a ground rod, pipe, or tower leg. Feed each vertical with
¼ wavelength of 70 ohm feedline. The galvanized U - bolt can accept a water pipe driven into the
ground as the mounting post. It has a 1.5 inch (38 mm) inside diameter. Mount it on the edge of
the cover as shown on the picture below and tighten the U-bolt against the pipe with the
connectors facing down. For added lightning protection you can drive in a ground rod and ground
the relay box to the ground rod as well.
Set up your verticals into a square spaced ¼ WL apart from each other; we will define the square
as follows. The antenna ports are marked from 1 to 4 with four directions to be set up as follows
and cabled to the controller in the center.
NW NE
●2 ●3
●1 ●4
SW SE
The above diagram indicates verticals (●), Antenna number (1-4), and Directions
Antenna Feed lines- Build your 4 antenna feed lines from RG-11 or other 75 ohm coax and
make them ¼ wave-length long. You will need to use “foam” coax with a velocity factor greater

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
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than 0.80 to reach all 4 antennas. If you have raised radials you will need to use ¾ wave-length
lines.
Attach the antenna feed lines to the correct ports silkscreened on the relay box per the above
diagram. Also attach your dummy load (100 W or more) to the Dummy Load port of the relay
box.
PTT –there is a PTT input in the back of the controller to inhibit hot switching the relays.
Switching the directions of the array’s pattern is done with the push buttons on the controller
control switch. The no power and default position is to the North East. On this direction the
system is not supplying any voltage to the array.
OMNI Mode- The middle pushbutton is the OMNI directional position. In this position you will
need to tune the LC network for an SWR of 1:1 at your desired frequency. Tune it by adjusting
the inductor tap and by adding some of the supplied capacitors in this network. The network has
enough inductance to adjust it for the band you have selected and for the common types of
antennas used for a four square array.
A Word about VSWR and Matching
The Hybrid coupler is very forgiving and the SWR you see driving your array providing you have
tuned all your antennas correctly and identically should be nearly 1:1 or less then 1.3:1 over the
band for normal ¼ wavelength verticals.
If you have an oscilloscope or phase meter you can observe the phasing of the controller at the
antenna ports with the probes connected to the SO239 Antenna connectors. You can solder a
short wire into each of the four connectors on the PCB side to make test points. Using the
optional optimizing kit you can adjust the waveforms to further enhance the system. But, as it is,
the system should show very good directivity without the optimization kit.
Optimization Kit
We have added the positions in the PCB to accommodate the shunt capacitors and inductor to
optimize the directivity of the quadrature-fed Four Square controller. By using the “Two shunt
compensation design system” by W1MK, you can predict the values necessary to optimize your
array. For instance an 80 m four square would use about 300 pF of capacitance and 6 µH of
shunt inductance.
Since we have carefully designed the Hybrid inductance, it should be pretty close to optimum, it is
probably more useful to place in some C in the circuit at position C13.
Watch your SWR over the whole band as well as the Power into the dump load. Make a chart to
help you see the differences over the frequency range your interested in. You should add one
capacitor at a time from our kit or from capacitors you have, by soldering them in, and then
measure the SWR and plot it on your chart. Also monitor the power in the dump load with a
wattmeter and it also should improve as you plot it vs frequency. Use the following chart for both
L and C values.

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
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A more exact way to adjust the C and L values is to use an oscilloscope to fine tune the phase
and magnitude of the 4 antennas.
The values may vary a bit, so using an oscilloscope to observe magnitude and phase is a
common way to adjust. We have designed the hybrid quadrature toroid device to incorporate the
proper amount of inductance for standard 4 Square arrays. So you may find that you do not need
the supplied inductor at all. But it is worth putting into the circuit and checking if there is a
reduction in SWR, and or power into the dummy load. You may have to vary the inductance of
the inductor by removing turns to optimize this effect.
Band
C to add
L to add
160
33-600 pF
1-12 µH 12 µH supplied
80
33-300 pF
1-6 µH
40
110-220 pF
1-3 µH
Relay Logic by Direction
Relay
NE
SE
SW
NW
Omni
K1
0
1
0
1
0
K2
0
1
0
1
0
K3
0
0
1
1
0
K4
0
0
0
0
1
Theory of operation:

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
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The system consists of four verticals in a square with sides 1/4 Wavelength long.
The Array Solutions controller will power all 4 of these verticals in such a way as to accomplish a
quadrature feed to each antenna, with the proper current magnitudes. The “rear” element in our
diagram above is the one on the closest to us on the axis. It is powered with 1A of current at +90
degrees, the next two elements are crossways in the box are powered with 1A of current at 0
degrees in phase, and finally the element furthest away is powered with 1A of current at -90
degrees of lagging current. The direction of gain is through the diagonal of the box towards the
-90 degree lagging element. The array will have a forward gain of 5.5 dB over a single vertical.
Note the following diagrams are normalized to 5.5 dB of gain over a single same type
vertical. Do not confuse 5.5 dBi with real gain, which can be more with tall verticals and
good ground conditions. This is to display the gain over same type vertical ignore the dBi
notation and consider it as dB reference over single vertical.

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
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Optimized Phasing Option Pattern

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
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The above plots show the gain of this array over a single vertical of the same construction.
The plots have been normalized to demonstrate the 5.5 dB of gain achievable over a single
element. The take off angle in this system with this average ground quality is 23 degrees. But with
an excellent ground radial systems and better ground conditions it is possible to lower the angle a
few degrees.
Here is what this pattern looks like using the same system, same ground and the new optimized
delays. Remember that this is normalized to show gain over a single same type vertical.
We have increased the gain by 0.66 dB and the front to back radio by 6 dB or more!
This can be easily achieved with your controller by adding the optimization kit and adjusting the L
and C shunt reactance using an oscilloscope. Again, the ON4UN’s “Low Band DXing” 5th edition
is the reference on this technique.
Specifications
Construction
Corrosion resistant Aluminum metal box, painted and silkscreened
Power
3+ kW CW / 6+ kW PEP
VSWR
Less than 1.3:1 over the band of operation
Gain
5.5 dB over single vertical 6.16 dB optimized see theory
Directions
4 directions with an additional Omni-directional feature
Electronic phasing
Optimized Hybrid Coupler. An LC network for OMNI mode
Phasing Options
Quadrature and Optimization Kit
Capacitors in networks
Temperature stable high current RF capacitors –NPO
Weight and size
15 lb.~11” x 7.5” x 3.625” relay box, 2” x 4” x 5” controller box
Thank you for purchasing this high quality phasing system.

www.arraysolutions.com [e-mail] Four Square Manual, ver. 2.1
2611 N. Beltline Rd.,Ste 109
Sunnyvale, TX, 75182, USA Phone: [phone] August 21 2017
10
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