[Lowfer] EAR and MP: loop and e-probe comparison

[Mitch Powell]

Garry:
Interesting email - First  so see that you got 32kb through - I tried getting several 30K graphics  earlier this week - and kept reducing - but nothing ever did show - wouldn't even take a 16 kB. Gave up .

Had same problem with the loop and rotor - slippage - and eventually used the intercom - with wife upstairs calling
out the directions - resolved the direction problems- and dropped a bolt through the pipe as you describe.
Also replaced cheap RG58/ with some double shielded video cable ( it's amazing what they toss when renovating a lab ! ) and noise level dropped 3-4 S units on the R75 - down to the noise floor.  Amazing results, and quiet.

And finally thanks for the very interesting captures - nice to have both options for different situations and paths.

73
Mitch

On 2013-05-15, at 3:53 PM, Garry Hess wrote:

> Finally fixed my small loop antenna that had gone deaf over the winter. Problem was two-fold. It was easy to identify relatively high resistance in the cheap RG58 feedling and replace it with larger 9913 cable. Unfortunately, reception was still erratic and nulls appeared then disappeared. Finally identified the problem - the mast pipe was slipping inside the rotator so the loop wasn't pointing where the readout indicated. That was easily fixed with a bolt through the rotator clamping plate and the mast pipe. Such a bolt is standard with a Tailtwister rotator but was left out because the wind load was so small. Didn't figure on the conduit mast pipe being so slippery. It wasn't a year ago but that was then. Anyway, lessons learned were don't use cheap coax and have a spotter to make sure the rotator is really rotating the antenna.
> 
> Attached are comparisons between the 3' loop and a Clifton Labs e-probe. The loop is run through the auxiliary port of a mdified MFJ noise canceller so the gain can be adjusted to match the main e-probe port. Both EAR and MP are nice daytime signals.