Posted: 2/23/2016 5:24:48 PM EDT
|
The recent high winds here buckled the top of my old vertical antenna. It is not worth repairing as it buckled just below the upper trap and I don't want to put money into an antenna that wasn't working all that well.
I am going to put a loop on my AH-4 to get back on the air. My question is whether I can go around a 90° corner when looking at the loop from the top? I can gain about 15' on the overall length of the loop by doing this but am not sure if it might be more advantageous to keep the loop in one plane rater than L shaped when looking at it from above. Either of the loop lengths fall within the "good" measurements for the AH-4 on the frequencies I want to use. Thanks for all comments. |
|
Higher is better, and shape doesn't matter -- so I'd go with whatever layout gets as much of the antenna higher
as possible. If the loop isn't all in one plane, it just means you'll have a mix of horizontal and vertical polarization -- not necessarily a bad thing. |
| I am unfamiliar with loop antennas so probably didn't make my first post clear enough, it is just going around a corner. All of the longest elements will be in the horizontal plane of a rectangle. I was hoping the extra length, even though it isn't that much, might make it tune up a little better on the lower frequencies. Does bending the loop around a corner add a vertical polarity component to the radiation pattern? |
|
OK, I misunderstood. Changes in height will add a vertical component, but if everything is at the same height,
then it'll still be horizontal. Not a big deal either way. Going around the corner will let you go longer which may or may not change the tuning ability. IIRC the general rule with loops is gain is tied to area inside the loop -- if going around the corner doesn't add significant area, it'll just enable tuning but not improve performance per se. Honestly most of this is academic, as 15' isn't going to make a whole lot of difference either way. |