CM,

For 'common' Box Loop Antennas in the 16" to 48" size range:

The Common Mistake.
Many people use Hook-Up Wire (Insulated and Stranded) when
building Loop Antennas with very close spacing of 1/8" or
less between the windings. The result is usually a Loop
Antenna that will NOT Tune the 'full' AM/MW Band 540 kHz
to 1700 kHz with a single 365uf Variable Tuning Capacitor.

The Better Idea.
They should have simply used "Magnet Wire" (enameled single
solid) with a 1/4", 3/8" or 1/2" Spacing between the Windings.
This usually "Results" in a Loop Antenna that will Tune the
'full' AM/MW Band 540 kHz to 1700 kHz with a single 365uf
Variable Tuning Capacitor.

IMHO: Using LITZ Wire with the "InDoor" Loop Antennas in this
size range and with the 'wider' Spacing can produce a Higher
"Q" and is worth the extra money.

FWIW: For Loop Antennas that use a one to two turn "Coupling
Coil" which is about 75% to 80% of the size of the Main Tuning
Loop Antenna and place inside of the Main Tuning Loop works
better {Tunes Sharper} and has a Higher "Q".

For more about Loop Antennas Check-Out the YAHHO! eGroup:
"Loop Antenna Information Forum"
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/loopantennas/

iane ~ RHF
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= = = "craigm" wrote in message
= = = ...
"starman" wrote in message
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The traditional single gang 10-365 cap' was used to tune the oscillator
in a MW radio, not a front-end preselector. The oscillator usually
operated at 455-Khz (I.F.) *above* the desired frequency. This would be
about 995-Khz for the low end (540-Khz) of the band. That's why a
variable cap' with a maximum of 365-pf is not really low enough
(practical) when you want to use it as a tuning cap' for a MW loop
antenna or preselector. This is because it has to tune down to the
actual lower limit of the MW band (540) instead of the receiver's
oscillator frequency (995) at the low end.



I don't think so.

If you have a single gang cap in an AM radio, then it is tuning an antenna
coil. If you have an oscillator in a traditional radio, then you have a
superhet and will see a two or three gang capacitor.

The most frequent thing I've seen for the AM broadcast band is a dual gang
capacitor with the oscillator section having about 75% of the capacity of
the antenna/RF section.

When you see a dual 365 pF cap used in a superhet, you will also see a pad
cap in series with the oscillator section so that the oscillator tracks at
the needed 455 kHz offset.

With a 265 uH coil and a parallel capacitance of 10 pF it resonates at 3093
kHz.
With a 265 uH coil and a parallel capacitance of 365 pF it resonates at 512
kHz.

This is more than enough for the AM broadcast band. However in real life one
gets some stray capacitance due to wiring.

Adding 20 pF for stray capacitance, we get.

With a 265 uH coil and a parallel capacitance of 30 pF it resonates at 1785
kHz.
With a 265 uH coil and a parallel capacitance of 385 pF it resonates at 498
kHz.

Still, this is more than adequate.

Given the right inductance and keeping stray capacitance low, 365 pF is
enough.

If you need more capacitance, it probably means your stray capacitance is
very high and you reduced the number of turns in the loop (inductance) to
offset that problem and then added more variable capacitance to cover the
low end of the band.

craigm

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