Unlocking Superhuman Hearing: How EchoTriad + PolarFlip Turns Noise into Silence
Ever wish your RX array could not only steer but cleanse your signal path?
Welcome to the new era of receive system design — where the EchoTriad or QuadraTus work in perfect sync with the PolarFlip to extract signals others never hear.
Why Combine Them?
EchoTriad (3-element equilateral RX array) and QuadraTus (our modern 4-Square RX system) already excel in:
- Directionality (high RDF)
- Nulling unwanted signals
- Compact, broadband deployment
But when you feed any two orthogonal outputs (like North & East or 0° & 90°) into the PolarFlip, something significant happens:
You convert your high-RDF RX array into a circular polarization machine, giving you Left-Hand Circular (LHCP) and Right-Hand Circular (RHCP) outputs.
What Does This Mean in Practice?
You now have four unique RX outputs:
- North
- East
- LHCP
- RHCP
Most man-made QRM is linearly polarized (often vertical). Circular signals can reject parts of this noise simply due to polarization mismatch.
Many DX skywave reflections are circularly polarized — and will pop up stronger in either LHCP or RHCP depending on propagation.
You don’t "favor North or East" anymore — you orbit around the noise.
What Can You Expect?
| Feature | Just EchoTriad/QuadraTus | + PolarFlip |
|---|---|---|
| RDF | Excellent | Still excellent |
| SNR | Great | Often 6–12 dB better |
| Direction selectivity | Sharp | Circularly separated |
| Local QRM | Suppressed | Even more suppressed |
| Signal recovery | Strong | Often cleaner |
How It Works Technically
The PolarFlip takes two orthogonal RX outputs.
It applies a ±90° phase shift.
Then sums them to create:
- LHCP = A − jB
- RHCP = A + jB
Where A and B are typically the North and East (or 0° and 90°) RX lines from your EchoTriad or QuadraTus system.
In Other Words…
If you're using a high-isolation hybrid-fed RX array, and you add a PolarFlip, you're essentially flipping from 2D RX to 3D — with a built-in noise compass.
You don’t just "turn down the volume on noise"...
You walk around it.
And that’s what makes this combo a true Yagi killer on receive.
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Written by Joeri Van Dooren, ON6URE – RF, electronics and software engineer, complex platform and antenna designer. Founder of RF.Guru. An expert in active and passive antennas, high-power RF transformers, and custom RF solutions, he has also engineered telecom and broadcast hardware, including set-top boxes, transcoders, and E1/T1 switchboards. His expertise spans high-power RF, embedded systems, digital signal processing, and complex software platforms, driving innovation in both amateur and professional communications industries.