[Elecraft] Underground Antennas (WAS: Ham Ingenuity)

[Vic K2VCO]

Dan Barker wrote:

> Anybody have any idea how an 80m loop would work at 3m height?

It would probably work adequately as an NVIS (near vertical incidence 
something-or-other) antenna.  In other words, you would have *very* 
strong signals out to a couple of hundred miles on 40 meters, a little 
less on 80.  It will not work well for longer paths, although I'm sure 
there will be surprises.

However, I would prefer a doublet if the loop has to go around houses, 
etc.  The reason is that a loop will magnetically couple to house 
wiring, etc., making it much more prone to RFI and to noise pickup.  A 
simple doublet at this height, fed with ladder line and tuned by a good 
balanced tuner will probably work as well or better than the loop with 
fewer problems.  You won't work a lot of DX with it, but you will have 
good local coverage.
-- 
73,
Vic, K2VCO
Fresno CA
http://www.qsl.net/k2vco