4 Element 2m Quad for Foxhunting

The Idea

While working on improving foxhunting techniques and equipment, I began to notice a need for a greater front-to-back ratio, and a narrower beam width than the standard quad I was using had to offer.... So, after playing around with some antenna modeling programs, here's what I came up with.

Original Equipment

A few years ago, I bought a 4 element quad at Dayton from Arrow Antenna. Nice light design, strung wire with fiberglass spreaders, and a square fiberglass boom. Each element was spaced the same across the boom, and the element length was real close to optimum for 2 meters. Here is the model I came up with for modeling the original antenna.

Optimization

I knew from playing with some modeling software and basic design of beam antennas that it is possible to optimize the front-to-back ratio and play with the side lobes. So, I did just that. This is the final design I came up with as practical and feasible. Hey - it works for me..