[Lowfer] Help with loop please

[John Andrews]

Don,

No apology needed.

If you run the cable around the perimeter of your lot, you will wind up 
with a horizontally polarized loop, and LF is basically a vertically 
polarized proposition. At these frequencies, the conductivity of the 
ground effectively short-circuits horizontally polarized signals, and 
you won't have much to listen to, even on "skywave".

I'm guessing that you don't have much for vertical structures, such as 
trees. We're blessed/cursed with them up here in New England, and they 
do make convenient supports for vertical loops. Any hope there?

While size does matter in a lot of things, you can do quite well with 
receiving at LF using loops that are on the order of 6 feet in diameter. 
Most of my receiving at home is done with a square loop, 6' on a side, 
and supported by PVC pipes. See:
http://www.w1tag.com/pix/loop-1.jpg . A short article is at:
http://www.w1tag.com/rxloop.htm .
A little web searching will turn up many other examples by other guys 
active in LF receiving. I do have a fairly large vertical loop that is 
480 feet in perimeter, but it "hears" about as well as the smaller loop 
(which has a 20 dB preamp).

Another approach would be a small active whip antenna. See:
http://www.veron.nl/afd/voorne_putten/Lezing/pa0rdt/pa0rdt-Mini-WhipGeneralDescription%5B1%5D.pdf
These antennas work best when placed out in the clear, perhaps above a 
house or in an open area. They are somewhat prone to overload by nearby 
AM broadcast stations.

The coupler you mentioned was used to tune wires against ground for 
receiving. That application works well in more rural areas, but may be 
pretty noisy on a city lot.

John Andrews, W1TAG