[Lowfer] Beacon "IO" QSY to 185299.2

[Charlie , W5COV]

I certainly would never argue the point that the loop will provide a better signal than a vertical .

It also has the advantage of not having to put out a huge grounding system like most vertical users do .

 I am not one of them . My vertical is fed against three , eight foot long ground rods , that go well into the water table .

BUT neither antenna will perform if it is a further compromise of size , and or the signal is not properly coupled to the antenna . I had a friend build a loop antenna that only had 15 meters of total wire and his signal was measured in city blocks .

MUCH time should be spent on the output filters and the loading coil , in my opinion . With 1 watt INPUT , there is no room to lose any signal going to whatever the antenna is .

Your antenna current as first reported is far too low . Lyle , I think it was , said if you don't get the antenna system correct , you can measure your coverage in feet !! He is certainly correct . 

A quick test on grounding is to lay a couple of radials out on top of the ground and see if your antenna current increases . If it does , then you will most likely need to keep adding radials until you see no further increase in current .

I learned a LOT in my first year or two of operating a beacon . It took me what seemed like forever to radiate enough signal to get a capture . I believe that Lyle was the first person to make a capture of my signal outside my back yard . That was after another of many changes to the loading coil . I don't believe I had any capture except a local about 5 miles from me in Kansas , my first year on the air .

Keep at it and keep posting your readings and results and these wonderful guys on this list will not let you fail .

Charlie , W5COV