Posted: 11/24/2015 2:44:07 PM EDT
| Just wondering how many use a loop , what size , how configured and what is it fed with. I run a 80 meter horizontal loop at 35ft , it is configured in a square and fed at one corner with coax thru a 4 to 1 balun. Best antenna i have ever used , i dont even use my tuner. |
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40m delta loop (triangle)
apex is 40 feet high. sloping at near 45 degrees with top west and bottom east. -edit- loop is made from 10-3 home/electrical wire. it's what I had on hand. ok for a 40m loop but would get really heavy for anything bigger. -edit- fed at a bottom corner making it vertically polarized. about 20' of buryflex to a buryflex wound air choke (some say balun/unun). 100' buryflex to shack. no breaks/connectors/splices between loop feed and shack. mfj tuner extender is used on 17m and 12m. super quiet and 'hears' well. I've worked many 5 and 0 stations due to low noise rx. major lobe/s going in Germany's direction. WAS and 129 countries (90 LOTW) with it. still moving toward adding a directional antenna to the mix. it hears way to much at times. 'monkey |
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I have two, both above/encircling the house.
One is an oval shaped (8 pull points) 160m FWL, fed by homebrew 4" open wire feeder that runs to within 3' of the rig (TS-590S) & transitions to coax via a 3 core 9:1 current balun and a 1:1 choke. The feedline is maybe 130', the feedpoint is at about 75' near the southeast pullpoint with the highest points of the loop being 100'+. Wire is 14awg THHN, both for feedline and loop. The entry box includes high voltage shunts and high resistance static drains for both legs and a buss bar disconnect. The other is an 80m FWL diamond shaped (4 pull points), fed by about 75' of homebrew 4" open wire that transitions to coax via a 4:1 two core current balun at the entry box. The coax runs about 30' to the rig and shares a 5 position coax switch with other antennae and the dummy load. The feed point is at about 45' at the western pullpoint and the highest points of the loop are about 60'. The entry box includes high voltage shunts and high resistance static drains for both legs and a buss bar disconnect. Both loops get tuned by the internal atu in the TS-590 and provide full coverage of the HF bands, mostly overlapping between both loops. SSB contacts w/100w include the continental US, the Mediterranean countries, europe and scandinavia over into Russia and asiatic Russa. To the west to Alaska, Guam, Hawaii & Japan. South down to Faulkland islands, Chile and Buenos Aires. Nick |
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The entry boxes I have been putting together at the house are built from a non-fused 60 amp exterior disconnect box sold at Lowe's for about $7.
(http://www.lowes.com/pd_95578-82364-DPU222RP_0__?productId=1114583&store_code=388&cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-RoughPlumbingElectrical-_-Switchgear-_-1114583:Eaton&CAWELAID=&kpid=1114583&CAWELAID=1367998006&k_clickID=1947a4fc-dd68-4ec7-9483-d983a6652fbb) This is the 80m FWL entry, it incorporates a 4:1 current balun for transition to coax, which then goes into the house. 
The white wire going around the spark plugs is the ladder line coming in from behind and going up to the terminal of the disconnect, the signal is transferred by the buss bar to the terminals with the red wire that goes to the balun. Also attached to the input terminals are the bundles of 1/2 watt carbon resistors (6 pieces 2.2Mohm ?) that make up the static drain for both legs, which get tied to the ground block. The spark plug terminals are also tied to the disconnect terminals and act as high voltage shunts for each leg. The 160m FWL box is similar, but does not have the integral balun. It passes both legs through the masonry wall in separate holes to continue across the basement ceiling to the rig's location. It also has a different attachment for the spark plug/shunts. Rather than direct connection to the box wall, they were welded to a 3/8" bolt head and attached with a nut. The spark plug terminals were filed flat on two sides & drilled for the wire which was also wrapped a couple of turns & soldered. The ground buss terminals attached to the box back have connections with a 6 awg copper ground wire that connects to the nearby ground rod/station ground (which is tied to the ground rods at the house service entrance & the entry box at the far end of the house) as well as the static drains. Nick |