I'm interested in the performance of home-made loop antennas for the
AM broadcast band compared to some of the commercial units such as the
Select-a-Tenna, or the twin ferrite antenna from www.ccrane.com

How do the commercial units compare to homemade loops of somewhat
larger size?

I have constructed a loop antenna about 15 inches square using a
wooden cross frame and about 16 turns of #22 copper wire all in
parallel with a 360 pF variable cap. The results are good and the Q of
the antenna appears to around 120 or more near the low end. I can set
a portable AM radio next to the antenna and easily fine tune a weak
station to much louder volume, but I'm not sure what gain I'm getting
from the system and can't make a comparison.

I'm wondering if size of the loop (and resistance of wire) are the
only considerations to the performance of passive loop antennas, or
are there other considerations? And how would this antenna perform
compared to commercial units of smaller size?

-Bill

Bill Bowden wrote:

I'm wondering if size of the loop (and resistance of wire) are the
only considerations to the performance of passive loop antennas, or
are there other considerations? And how would this antenna perform
compared to commercial units of smaller size?


silver coated copper wire.

I make loops that are round, from hula-hoops. That is better too..
look he 2 meter high loop, about 6 m tubing.
http://users.fulladsl.be/~spb13810/r...h/dsc_0023.avi


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Suid-Afrikaans, Chinese, Dansk, Urdu, Cantonese, Greek, Spanish,
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http://users.fulladsl.be/spb13810/swlist/ Updated every month or so ....

On May 10, 2:44*pm, Telamon
wrote:
In article
,

*RHF wrote:

SNIP

Telamon - A bit Technical -but- A Good Detailed Answer ) ~ RHF
-ps- I like AM/MW Loop Antennas made with Litz Wire.

Yeah, you post so much garbage here I wish you could do the same.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

My Loop $0.02

I have a homebrew broadcast band loop that is 33" on each side. It is
9 turns spaced about 1/2" apart. I ring it with a 900uuf variable. I
had built it with #16 solid wire but changed it to 165 strand of I
think it was #42 or #46 litz.

I could not tell the difference between the litz and the solid magnet
wire - they worked about the same. I can pick out signals that are
totally buried in the noise with either wire. I have a seperate
winding that is about 10" in diameter that I use to drive the hi
impedance input of my receiver. The only benifit of the litz wire
that I can tell you is it looks pretty. My loop was built with retro
look and the litz looks nice. I park it in the living room, so the
wife was glad when I got rid of the gnarly kinked up magnet wire. I
think I paid about 40 bucks to make my loop look nicer. I will concur
with Mr Telamon- Save your money. And to answer your question - you
should do just as well with homebrew as with store bought with same
dimensions. And size does matter. If some guy tells you it dont, you
can be sure he is playing with a small loop.

My friend just built the 20db preamp for one of his 160m & 75m loops
and told me it does a nice job. It is in Jan/Feb 2001 QEX. By Zack
Lau, W1VT.

Thanks for the thread. Let us know of your adventurers with your
loop.

regards,
Bob
N9NEO

On May 10, 4:54*pm, N9NEO wrote:
On May 10, 2:44*pm, Telamon





wrote:
In article
,

*RHF wrote:

SNIP

Telamon - A bit Technical -but- A Good Detailed Answer ) ~ RHF
-ps- I like AM/MW Loop Antennas made with Litz Wire.

Yeah, you post so much garbage here I wish you could do the same.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

My Loop $0.02

I have a homebrew broadcast band loop that is 33" on each side. *It is
9 turns spaced about 1/2" apart. *I ring it with a 900uuf variable. *I
had built it with *#16 solid wire but changed it to 165 strand of I
think it was #42 or #46 litz.

I could not tell the difference between the litz and the solid magnet
wire - they worked about the same. *I can pick out signals that are
totally buried in the noise with either wire. I have a seperate
winding that is about 10" in diameter that I use to drive the hi
impedance input of my receiver. *The only benifit of the litz wire
that I can tell you is it looks pretty. *My loop was built with retro
look and the litz looks nice. *I park it in the living room, so the
wife was glad when I got rid of the gnarly kinked up magnet wire. *I
think I paid about 40 bucks to make my loop look nicer. *I will concur
with Mr Telamon- Save your money. *And to answer your question - you
should do just as well with homebrew as with store bought with same
dimensions. *And size does matter. *If some guy tells you it dont, you
can be sure he is playing with a small loop.

My friend just built the 20db preamp for one of his 160m & 75m loops
and told me it does a nice job. *It is in Jan/Feb 2001 QEX. *By Zack
Lau, W1VT.

Thanks for the thread. *Let us know of your adventurers with your
loop.

regards,
Bob
N9NEO- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Bob N9NEO,

Yes the Litz Wire made of 165 Strands of #42 to
#46 Wire is good stuff and pricy too.

FO&A,

Somewhere at some time I came across a webpage
that featured an AM/MW Loop Antenna which used
a short piece of 300 Ohm TV type Twin Lead as the
Coupling Coil between the Loop and the Radio.

One of the Wires in the Twin Lead was connected
across the ends or the Larger Loop and the Tuning
Capacitor.

The 'other' of the Wires in the Twin Lead was then
connected to another piece of Twin Lead; that was
used as the Balance HI-Z feed-in-line.

IIRC - The reason this was done was that the Receiver
was already using the SO-238 Jack for the External
Shortwave Antenna and this Twin Lead Coupling
Loop Arrangement allowed the use of the Receiver's
HI-Z Terminals with out having to use an External
Antenna Switch with the two Antennas. Just use
the Receiver's built-in Antenna Switch to change
Antennas and go from Shortwave Listening (SWL)
to AM/MW Radio Program DXing (BCL).

Anyone remember a AM/MW Loop Antenna webpage
using Twin Lead as a Coupling ? - I have looked and
looked but can't find it again. Maybe it has been
removed ? - i want to know ~ RHF

On May 10, 9:49*pm, RHF wrote:
On May 10, 4:54*pm, N9NEO wrote:





On May 10, 2:44*pm, Telamon

wrote:
In article
,

*RHF wrote:

SNIP

Telamon - A bit Technical -but- A Good Detailed Answer ) ~ RHF
-ps- I like AM/MW Loop Antennas made with Litz Wire.

Yeah, you post so much garbage here I wish you could do the same.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

My Loop $0.02

I have a homebrew broadcast band loop that is 33" on each side. *It is
9 turns spaced about 1/2" apart. *I ring it with a 900uuf variable. *I
had built it with *#16 solid wire but changed it to 165 strand of I
think it was #42 or #46 litz.

I could not tell the difference between the litz and the solid magnet
wire - they worked about the same. *I can pick out signals that are
totally buried in the noise with either wire. I have a seperate
winding that is about 10" in diameter that I use to drive the hi
impedance input of my receiver. *The only benifit of the litz wire
that I can tell you is it looks pretty. *My loop was built with retro
look and the litz looks nice. *I park it in the living room, so the
wife was glad when I got rid of the gnarly kinked up magnet wire. *I
think I paid about 40 bucks to make my loop look nicer. *I will concur
with Mr Telamon- Save your money. *And to answer your question - you
should do just as well with homebrew as with store bought with same
dimensions. *And size does matter. *If some guy tells you it dont, you
can be sure he is playing with a small loop.

My friend just built the 20db preamp for one of his 160m & 75m loops
and told me it does a nice job. *It is in Jan/Feb 2001 QEX. *By Zack
Lau, W1VT.

Thanks for the thread. *Let us know of your adventurers with your
loop.

regards,
Bob
N9NEO- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Bob N9NEO,

Yes the Litz Wire made of 165 Strands of *#42 to
#46 Wire is good stuff and pricy too.

For One and All,

Anyone Remember an AM/MW Loop Antenna -webpage-
Using Twin Lead as a Coupling Coil and Feed-in-Line ?

- FO&A,
-
- Somewhere at some time I came across a webpage
- that featured an AM/MW Loop Antenna which used
- a short piece of 300 Ohm TV type Twin Lead as the
- Coupling Coil between the Loop and the Radio.
-
- One of the Wires in the Twin Lead was connected
- across the ends or the Larger Loop and the Tuning
- Capacitor.
-
- The 'other' of the Wires in the Twin Lead was then
- connected to another piece of Twin Lead; that was
- used as the Balance HI-Z feed-in-line.
-
- IIRC - The reason this was done was that the Receiver
- was already using the SO-238 Jack for the External
- Shortwave Antenna and this Twin Lead Coupling
- Loop Arrangement allowed the use of the Receiver's
- HI-Z Terminals with out having to use an External
- Antenna Switch with the two Antennas. *Just use
- the Receiver's built-in Antenna Switch to change
- Antennas and go from Shortwave Listening (SWL)
- to AM/MW Radio Program DXing (BCL).
-
- Anyone remember a AM/MW Loop Antenna webpage
- using Twin Lead as a Coupling ? - I have looked and
- looked but can't find it again. *Maybe it has been
- removed ? - i want to know ~ RHF
- *.

RHF wrote:

Yes the Litz Wire made of 165 Strands of #42 to
#46 Wire is good stuff and pricy too.


It has to be pricey.

Do you realize how hard it is to make a roll of it go from #42 on one
end to #46 on the other? Infinitely variable wire dies cost money!




mike