loop vs dipole
 

I live in a antenna restricted community!

I have put up a somewhat stealth antenna. 13ga - stranded copper - blk
jacket!
It is a 540 ft loop = 180 ft virtually lays on the roof and the remainder
360 ft is in my attic.
I feed this with 50 ft of RG58u at the center point (6 turns of the
feedline - approx 8" dia is used as a RF choke) running down to a manual
tuner.
The antenna in this configuration is about 1.1:1 to 1.5:1 across all the
bands from 75m to 6m. I would like to operate on 160m, but the tuner
doesn't cover that band, and when I try to go directly the SWR is extreme
and we don't use it!

My questions a
1] should I leave the antenna system alone as is? It works - but as a
wire system has its limitations due to the clearance off the roof?
or
2] should I purchase another antenna tuner that covers 160m - 6m. and
open the LQQP and make the antenna a single 540 ft piece of wire and ground
the other side?
or
3] should I purchase another antenna tuner that covers 160 - 6m and try
to make the long side similar to what ever wavelengths are equivalent to a
Windom configuration?
or
4] should I just open the loop at the furthest end and make a huge dipole
out of it?

73's

loop vs dipole
 

John Doe wrote:
I live in a antenna restricted community!

I have put up a somewhat stealth antenna. 13ga - stranded copper - blk
jacket!
It is a 540 ft loop = 180 ft virtually lays on the roof and the remainder
360 ft is in my attic.
I feed this with 50 ft of RG58u at the center point (6 turns of the
feedline - approx 8" dia is used as a RF choke) running down to a manual
tuner.
The antenna in this configuration is about 1.1:1 to 1.5:1 across all the
bands from 75m to 6m. I would like to operate on 160m, but the tuner
doesn't cover that band, and when I try to go directly the SWR is extreme
and we don't use it!

My questions a
1] should I leave the antenna system alone as is? It works - but as a
wire system has its limitations due to the clearance off the roof?
or
2] should I purchase another antenna tuner that covers 160m - 6m. and
open the LQQP and make the antenna a single 540 ft piece of wire and ground
the other side?
or
3] should I purchase another antenna tuner that covers 160 - 6m and try
to make the long side similar to what ever wavelengths are equivalent to a
Windom configuration?
or
4] should I just open the loop at the furthest end and make a huge dipole
out of it?

73's

Hi John, Since the antenna works on everything but 160m, I would
just leave it like it is. How do you know it won't tune on 160? 540'
loop is a lot of wire and may present manageable impedances to your
tuner. If you could get an antenna analyzer and check the impedance on
160m you may find your tuner will work. If your tuner won't, a simple
"L" network tuner should get you on 160 without much trouble.

The RG-58 going from the antenna to the tuner should be a short as
possible. The line plus the coil choke should not be over 10-15'.
This is per W2DU in "Reflections". If you need a longer run, try 300
ohm or 450 ohm twin lead.

Gary N4AST