"Robert11" wrote

a. Would coax work (meaningfully) better than the 300 ohm TV wire for the
feed line ? Would I need a Balun also ?

Using 300 ohm line gently twisted (don't kink it) in a spiral (any
direction - L or R) once about every 12-18 inches or so is generally a
better "match" than coax for the broadband large horizontal loop.


b. What are the major performance differences, therefore, between the
apparently 3 different ways of doing it:

- your suggestion of a balanced twin line to receiver

Don't be concerned about impedence mismatch using a large horizontal loop
for reception purposes. It is superior to any other single wire antenna or
dipole. The large horizontal loop will perform equally to your random wire
on your random wires resonant frequency or multiple but will out perform it
over all other bands. Assuming they are compared at the same height.

My horizontal loop is about 80 meters in circumference in the shape of a fat
"L" using a 450ohm ladderline feed. It is about 15 meters in height - not
ideal, but so what. I can transmit on any HF amateur frequency without
using any balun or matching device. Reception exhibits the same
characteristics, as it should.

- what I now have, a single wire forming a sort of loop, with
the
end open

This is a random wire regardless of the configuration. It is NOT a loop.
Creating a loop would make it far more "broadbanded" than a random wire or
dipole.

Just try it and experiment.