Denny wrote:

Tony, you have received a crash course on small loop antennas minus
the calculus...
Let me make a few comments as a country boy engineer who cannot do
fancy math...

My thought for you to test the loop+Drake is for you to put out a
temporary Beverage as a wire on the ground... Go out to the curb in
the wee hours of night and roll out 500 foot of insulated wire on the
grass between the curb and sidewalk, match it to the Drake with a 9:1
transformer and a ground stake - a terminating resistor and a ground
stake at the far end is a good idea, but can be dispensed with in a
pinch...'
By flipping back and forth between the wire and the loop you will get
an idea of how well, or poorly, the loop is performing... By having
everything ready to go to roll it out and then roll it back up you
should be able to do this test without the neighbors being any wiser
in the morning...

A variation of the poor boy Beverage, is a 100' untuned dipole running
along the perimeter of your estate, waist high no higher which will
be omni directional... It might even prove to be a full time
installation given your city constraints...

Even those of us in the rural areas have noise problems.. Electric
fences, etc.. I have a nasty broad band up through 40 meters noise
source somewhere to my NorthEast, which essentially wipes out weak dx
from europe for me... It is miles from me and I have yet to locate
it...

denny / k8do


this is a good idea, except I can't go 500 ft in any direction without
getting into my neighbors property.
Best I can do is about 175ft and that would be into my neighbors property
who has some dogs which will at any hour of the day or nite bark until the
neighbor comes out to quiet them down.

I am in the middle of a cul-de-sac that about 200 ft long. All my neighbors
on the other side of the street have dogs. The 2 north and south of me
wouldn't give me enough room to put out enough wire to make this test
worthwhile and the neighbors behind me are anti amateur radio types.
I was here first and had antennas up before they even built their houses but
yet I am the bad dude in the neighborhood.

FORTUNATELY, I have never been accused of any interference even running 1500
watts.

Oh this is a "rural" subdivision so to speak, no curbs no sidewalks. But the
lots are 1/3 acre or slightly more.

Damn, you give me a good idea and I can't use it.