[Lowfer] Finally got receiving loop going

[Zack Widup]

I built a 20 turn loop on a PVC cross over a year ago. The loop is 5 feet
square. I built a remote tuner using varactor diodes a year or so ago but
had a lot of problems with it.

I finally got a remote tuner built using the W1TAG tuner and the W1VD 2N5109
preamp in the shack. I used some 5 volt DIP relays I got from All
Electronics (part # 1A57) to do the switching of the capacitors. A 50-foot
length of CAT-5 cable controls the relays.

I also put taps on the loop at 5, 10 and 15 turns with a switch on the
remote tuning box to select the tap.

It appears to work quite well. I'm hearing dozens and dozens of airport
beacons in the LF range at the moment.  Now all I have to do is figure out
which switch positions to use for various frequencies with the different
numbers of loop turns. But it looks like 5 turns tunes the 500 kHz band
segment quite well and 10 turns is too many for that range. 10 turns tunes
the 180 kHz range well. I may add another tap at 1 or 2 turns to see how
well it tunes the broadcast band.

Now to make an interface cable for my TS-850 to the sound card.

This should be a lot of fun this winter!

73, Zack W9SZ