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Re: [IRCA] My Loop Antenna is complete...
- Subject: Re: [IRCA] My Loop Antenna is complete...
- From: "Ira Elbert New, III" <ien3@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 14:06:53 -0400
Here's the Link to the Loop I built...
http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Underground/8585/
It's small, but it was easy to build. I wanted to start small so I could
prove to myself I could build one. Now that I know how easy it is, I might
try a bigger one in the future.
I have it hooked to my Drake R8B with a run of coax.
It peaks on every station I hear, but it doesn't pick up every station I
hear on the 135' Wire. Signal gains is less, but so is the noise. There's a
huge difference in what I expected. I thought the stations would just jump
right out, but they don't.
I also tried it with my SANGEAN ATS 909, but there wasn'r much improvement.
The SELECT-A-TENNA works much better.
I'll keep digging.
Bert
Ira Elbert New, III
Watkinsville, Georgia
"Proudly Serving You Since 1964!"
<br><br><br>>From: "Steve Ratzlaff"
<steveratz@xxxxxxxx><br>>Reply-To: Mailing list for the
International Radio Club of America<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx><br>>To:
"Mailing list for the International Radio Club of
America"<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx><br>>Subject: Re: [IRCA] My
Loop Antenna is complete...<br>>Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 10:17:28
-0700<br>><br>>Congratulations on building your first loop.<br>>Is
there a URL for this particular loop design you used?<br>>How is the loop
coupled to the radio, and what radio did you try it with?<br>>You need to
determine the tuning range of the loop. You may need to add or<br>>remove
turns to work with the particular variable capacitor you have, to
get<br>>the loop to work throughout the BCB.<br>>With the capacitor
plates fully meshed (the low-frequency end of the tuning<br>>range)
slowly tune the radio until you notice the noise peak; you may
need<br>>to rotate the capacitor to make sure you're hearing the peak.
The peak means<br>>the loop is tuned to resonance with the loop winding
and the variable<br>>capacitor. Ideally the low frequency end will be at
or below 530 kHz. Rotate<br>>the cap so it's fully open, and find the
upper tuning resonance<br>>point--again, it should be at or above 1700
kHz. It's not likely that a<br>>single cap and loop will cover the full
530-1700 kHz tuning range, though.<br>>And the tuning peak is generally
not as pronounced at the upper end as at<br>>the lower end. If you're
unable to find either the upper or lower end of the<br>>tuning range,
then start with the capacitor at half setting, find the peak,<br>>then
slowly work up and down from there. If you have no peak at all,
then<br>>something is wrong with the loop or the connection to the
radio.<br>>Keep in mind that the radio's automatic gain control (agc)
will also tend to<br>>even out a difference between a strong signal and a
weak signal, in an<br>>attempt to make them the same level. But tuning
the loop to resonance should<br>>always give a noticeable peak in the
signal.<br>><br>>IRCA offers two items you should have--the paper
"DXer's Technical Guide",<br>>4th edition, 2004--available from
Phil Bytheway's IRCA Bookstore; and the<br>>complete list of IRCA
Reprints on a CD, available from Lee Freshwater. The<br>>Reprints CD has
many loop articles on it; and the Tech Guide has a whopping<br>>33 pages
devoted to loops. If loops weren't useful, so many articles over<br>>the
years, and a number of very successful commercial loops wouldn't
have<br>>come about. Many people have successfully built their own
loops--there's no<br>>reason your loop can't end up as a successful
project too.<br>><br>>Good luck, and please spend more time evaluating
your new loop before giving<br>>up on
it.<br>>Steve<br>><br>>-----Original Message-----<br>>From:
irca-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<br>>[mailto:irca-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On
Behalf Of Ira Elbert New, III<br>>Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2005 8:17
AM<br>>To: ABDX@xxxxxxxxxx; am@xxxxxxxxxxx;
irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;<br>>dxlogs@xxxxxxxxxxxx;
am@xxxxxxxxx<br>>Subject: [IRCA] My Loop Antenna is
complete...<br>><br>><br>>and I am not very impressed. Here's the
one I built from the DXer's<br>>Toolbox...<br>><br>>First of all
cut two pieces of 2 inch X 1 inch timber, each piece measuring<br>>25
inches long. Half along each of these legs cut a piece out of the
legs<br>>exactly the size of the other leg, so that the two legs can be
screwed<br>>together in the form of an X. Then cut 4 pieces of timber 6
inches long,<br>>these are screwed on the end of each leg to form feet,
the primary wire<br>>coil is also wound around these four
feet.<br>><br>>Firmly fix in place one end of the 120 foot length of
wire to the centre of<br>>the frame, where the two legs cross, feed the
wire to the end of one of the<br>>legs, and wind it around the four feet
for 18 turns, then feed the<br>>remaining wire back to the centre of the
frame using the same leg as where<br>>the wire began, this is most
important, both ends of the wire must go from<br>>the winding coil to
the frame centre along the same leg. Affix a tuning<br>>capacitor
salvaged from an old radio to the centre of the frame, where the<br>>two
legs cross, using glue or whatever, I use two small nails
hammered<br>>into the legs, so positioned to hold the tuning capacitor
in place. Then<br>>cut the wire ends to make a neat connection to the
tags on the tuning<br>>capacitor and solder the wires in
place.<br>><br>>I used the VC sent to me by Mike Stonebridge and used
20 Guage wire.<br>><br>>I tried it last night after I finished it and
while it does display a bit of<br>>direction, the signal leaves a lot to
be desired. Even local stations were<br>>off by several dB's. I am going
to go try it in the daytime in a few<br>>minutes, but I thought I would
post this. Any suggestions?<br>><br>>Ira Elbert New,
III<br>>Watkinsville, Georgia<br>>"Proudly Serving You Since
1964!"<br>><br>><br>>_______________________________________________<br>>IRCA
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