[SOC] Loop antenna

[JMcAulay]

At 12:05 PM 03/22/2002 -0600, Dan W. Dooley  WB5TKA wrote, in part:
>I'd like to get hear some comments from those who may have worked with big
>loop antennas.

Never have done so.  However, please read along anyway.

<Lots of stuff removed by the Astounding Snip-O-Ganza>

>So, my questions are:  What size of wire should I use (diameter)?  I don't
>have an amp, so maximum power will be 100 watts.  Should it or should it not
>be insulated?  I will attach it (stapling?) to the underside of the eves so
>it will be in contact with wood but no metal.

<more snippies>

>Anyone using or have ever used anything of this sort, and what might I
>expect performance wise with it? 

Something more than 20 years ago, I lived in an apartment near the beach at
Playa Del Rey, CA, elevation probably less than two meters AMSL.  My place
was the top half of an up-down duplex.  On the balcony outside my bedroom,
I set up a four-band antenna with parallel dipoles cut for 40, 20, 15, and
10 M, using two lengths of twin-lead on each side of the feedpoint.  I
stapled the twin-lead to the wooden balcony railing, which was maybe 15
feet above the driveway.  I fed it with about 20 feet of RG-58, and no
balun was used.  What an absolutely terrible design!  One of the most
second-class antennas ever!

I would expect sub-mediocre performance from your loop, about what my
rotten dipole did.  Especially with 100W, you won't work the world.  I was
using even less power (a Yaesu FT-301S), maybe 10 watts on a good day.  But
I did make quite a number of contacts on every band except 10M, with 40 and
20 giving comparably good results.  One night, using a Ten-Tec tuner, I
loaded the thing up on 160M.  Thought I might be a bit nuts, but it was
worth a try.  Talked to a guy about 200 miles away who was running a
horizontal double-extended Zepp 20 feet off the ground.  Hmm, I
thought...my antenna is almost as bad as his.  Just about anything will get
out some, y'know.

Remember, a bad antenna is sort of like bad breath:  it's much better than
having none at all.

73
John  SOC 263