Re: [IRCA] Antenna experiment
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Re: [IRCA] Antenna experiment



Can you take pictures or provide detailed drawings as to how you attached this to that, etc.? I can solder and I'm willing to buy all the stuff needed, but it's always the technical stuff that bogs me down. It took me forever to find out how to hook up the first loop I built.


Oh...I'm about to build a couple of bigger loops and see what they'll do. I ordered another variable cap. from midnight science to go with another one someone sent me. I'll build a 3' and a 4' and we'll see what happens.




Bert New
Watkinsville, Georgia
Proudly Serving You Since 1964!



<BLOCKQUOTE style='PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #A0C6E5 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px'><font style='FONT-SIZE:11px;FONT-FAMILY:tahoma,sans-serif'><hr color=#A0C6E5 size=1>
From: <i>&quot;Craig Healy&quot; &lt;bubba@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&gt;</i><br>Reply-To: <i>Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America&lt;irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&gt;</i><br>To: <i>&quot;Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America&quot;&lt;irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&gt;</i><br>Subject: <i>Re: [IRCA] Antenna experiment</i><br>Date: <i>Sat, 17 Sep 2005 22:30:20 -0400</i><br>&gt; &gt;&gt; I made a new loop antenna today, and initial results are very<br>&gt;encouraging.<br>&gt; &gt;<br>&gt; &gt; And then you'll build one for those of us on the list who are technically<br>&gt; &gt; challenged and ship it to us at a nominal cost...<br>&gt;<br>&gt;Heh! If you can solder plumbing pipe, you can build this.<br>&gt;<br>&gt;I had a chance to do a bit more testing. I wound five turns of #16 wire<br>&gt;tight through a ferrite toroid. The toroid is the FT-240 size (2 1/2&quot;) of<br>&gt;unknown composition. A SO-238 was soldered to it. It was then slipped over<br>&gt;the copper pipe. I had 50' of RG-8 cable which I used to hook it to the<br>&gt;homemade tuner I mentioned in my last message. Then, a few feet of smaller<br>&gt;coax to the truck radio. It's a Blaupunkt MP74 which is a good radio.<br>&gt;<br>&gt;At the moment, the copper loop is leaning against a fence next to my tower.<br>&gt;Hardly optimum as one side is sitting on wet ground and it's a number of<br>&gt;degrees off vertical. I tuned through from 530 to 1710, and had good<br>&gt;signals on every frequency not blocked by a local. Far better than the whip<br>&gt;antenna on the truck.. Some directionality was noted. Boston stations were<br>&gt;weaker as they were broadside to the way the loop was aimed. Signal<br>&gt;strength was almost too strong, especially on the low end of the band.<br>&gt;There is no amplifier, all components are passive.<br>&gt;<br>&gt;Having a loop which could potentially be turned with a rotor, and tuned at<br>&gt;the receiver end is something I've been looking for. I imagine this would<br>&gt;work exceptionally well with the PalStar MW550P tuner, if I had one.<br>&gt;<br>&gt;Tomorrow in the daylight I'll solder up the last connection, now that the<br>&gt;toroid is on there. I'll get some rope and hang the thing from some high<br>&gt;point in the yard. Then I'll bring out the R8B and see just what it can do<br>&gt;on nulling. At 10' to a side, it's fairly unwieldy. If I build a permanent<br>&gt;one, I'll use bigger tubing. Less floppy when moving it. Maybe 1.25&quot;<br>&gt;copper..<br>&gt;<br>&gt;All in all, this was a heck of a lot less work to build than the usual box<br>&gt;or spiral loop. If it continues to work like the initial crude tests show,<br>&gt;it's going to be a useful piece.<br>&gt;<br>&gt;After I have a chance to do some further tests, I'll make a duplicate. Then<br>&gt;I will mount them at 90° angles and connect them to my MFJ phasor. It may<br>&gt;not even need to be rotated. With one aimed north-south and the other<br>&gt;east-west, a decent null ought to be possible around the compass just by<br>&gt;phasing.<br>&gt;<br>&gt;Sorry if this is rambling a bit. I'm sorta thinking out loud as I write.<br>&gt;<br>&gt;Craig Healy<br>&gt;Providence, RI<br>&gt;<br>&gt;<br>&gt;_______________________________________________<br>&gt;IRCA mailing list<br>&gt;IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<br>&gt;http://dallas.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/irca<br>&gt;<br>&gt;Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers<br>&gt;<br>&gt;For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org<br>&gt;<br>&gt;To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx<br>&gt;<br></font></BLOCKQUOTE>



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