[Antennas] Antenna For Local Use....

[George Frederick]

de w1ksw..... Dick,  Since you mentioned "in the desert" you will find a
"full-wave" horizontal loop antenna around 288 foot long (bare wire),
elevated 15-30 foot, should work very well.  I have used aluminum welding
wire with great success for the past few years. It weathers extremely well.
 Add a few conductors if you are running substantial power to handle the
current in the loop.  I use single .030 inch wire to handle 100 watts no
problem.  Loop antennas do not need earth "to work against" and therefore
are very stable in dry(or wet) ground conditions. Use an LDG 1:4 balun or a
homemade 1:2.5 air-core transformer and you will find most rigs with
internal tuners will easily tune-up on most amateur bands if you get the
overall loop length just right. Unfortunately that means when cut for the
lower end of 80 meters to get all the higher frequencies to work
harmonically. But add a sufficient coil and you can use it on both 80
(with) and all the rest (without).  Or, make it longest for 80 and shorten
it 10-20 foot to work all the rest of the bands.   It will even work well
on 6 & 2 meters too.
73  George af6jt