Consider the fact that as it is on a balcony, I assume there is a building
with
a balcony on the side, then you would do with a simple dipole as any
signal sent into the building is only wasted. I am not sure but it would
probably have a good off balcony signal pattern too -- better than most
other antenna arrangements I can think of/

It's cheap and quick and wouldn't take much effort to try.

Irv VE6BP


"Tom Rutherford" wrote in message
...

"Edward Feustel" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 7 May 2011 18:15:33 -0400, "Tom Rutherford"
wrote:

Hi, All.

Brand new to the newsgroup, here, and even though I did the old "Find"
routine, I couldn't find what I need.

Does anyone know where I can get instructions (preferably cookbook, but
if
they come with formulas, I can deal with that, too) for building a 2m SSB
horizontal loop? I live in an apartment, which is pretty much a Faraday
cage, but I get out pretty well from my balcony, at least to the
east(ish)
of the building. I have a discone out there right now, clamped to the
floor
stand of an old oscillating fan that it used to be attached to. :-) I
have
a similar portion of a floor lamp that I want to mount the loop onto. I
need something that will cover at least the 180º that my discone can
radiate
in, as well as it does. Since 2m SSB is typically horizontal, the
discone
doesn't do too well. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

There is an antenna that Cushcraft used to make called a big wheel.
It had three full wave loops attached in parallel at the center.
I have 4 stacked big wheels which suppress vertical emission and
emphasize horizontal transmission. I have used this on 2M sideband
and FM. If you can get the instructions for a single big wheel from an
old ARRL antenna book, then I can give you some hints on phasing.
I expect that you will only be able to stack 2 on your balcony.
73,
Ed, N5EI

Thanks, Ed. I'll give it a look-see.

--
-- 73 DE Tom Rutherford, N8EUJ, Burton, MI
"She said it was either her or the ham radio. Over."