As far as I can determine, "magnetic loop" (often shortened to
"magloop") is a term strictly used by amateurs. It came into popular use
something like 15 or 20 years ago. The name enhances the widely held
mistaken belief among amateurs that it responds only to magnetic fields.
I've seen the term "magnetic probe" or "magnetic antenna" in the EMC
community to describe such antennas because of their near field
characteristics.

The CFA antenna has transmogrified to the EH antenna, which is still
being promoted by its creators and disciples. There will always be a
market for this sort of antenna, along with astrology and homeopathic
remedies, among people who lack the critical skills to evaluate evidence.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

J. B. Wood wrote:
In article , Richard Clark
wrote:


On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 07:33:53 -0500, (J. B. Wood)
wrote:

That an electrically small loop behaves as a magnetic current
element does not qualify the use of "magnetic" in its name, IMHO.

Hi John,

Magnetic antennas have a basis in a
lot of scientific literature.



Hello, and while I'm certainly aware of the term "magnetic dipole" (a
theoretically tiny magnet that can be equated to a miniature current
loop), I still maintain "magnetic antenna" is misleading (I would take it
to mean a mag-mount antenna) and don't remember seeing it in any textbook
or any peer-reviewed paper published in a respected journal such as the
IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation. As to how it might be used
by the ARRL (a source of a wealth of practical antenna info) or the
amateur radio community at large I can't say. And yes, electrically small
loops are the subject of considerable literature. Sincerely,

P.S. Are any folks out there still extolling the virtues of the
Crossed-Field Antenna (CFA) other than those at antennex.com?

John Wood (Code 5550) e-mail:
Naval Research Laboratory
4555 Overlook Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20375-5337