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Old September 6th 03, 05:00 AM
rich a.
 
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Should I run a Sky-wire loop?

Walter,

Give the Skywire loop a try....I put one up almost a year ago and it
definitely is better than my other wire antenna ( a 40m dipole). Mine
is approx 440' long and is shaped more like a rectangle than a perfect
round (or square) loop. Each corner is at a different elevation, the
higest 35' , the lowest 20'. I feed it with RG8X, no balun, and my
K2's autotuner permits effective operation on all HF bands at less
than 2-1 SWR, except on 160 where it only tunes down to 3.5 to 1. I
haven't done it yet but I've worked out a way to enlarge it another
100', so the 160m swr should come down. I also plan to try switching
to 450 ohm ladder line feed.....everyone says it will work even
better. Did I mention it is the "quietest' recieving antenna I've
used?.... But don't limit its use to only recieving....the horizontal
loop is a great transmitting antenna too. My first contact with mine
was on 20m to Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Argentina ( 5
watts ssb, got a 5x5 sig report!). Seems to be somewhat omni
directional too as I've worked dx in all directions. I don't claim it
will outperform a good beam on a tower but the price is right (cheap)
and its realatively easy to make. Go for it!

Regards,

Rich K2CPE