Topband: Loop question

[KJ0M <kj0m@mchsi.com>]

I'm thinking through the improvement of my antennas here for 80/160 
and would like a little bit of advice.

I'm currently using a quarter wave sloper off the top of my 72 foot 
retractable tower. It works fairly well and has allowed me to attain 
a 5BWAZ and 5BDXCC over the years. I've also managed to garner 34 
countries on 160 meters, although I've never really put a lot of 
effort into that band. The noise is pretty bad with this antenna. 
I've been reading lots of interesting tales on this reflector, so I'd 
like to change my antennas here. In the next few years, 160/80 meters 
is going to be the place to be, I think.

I am in the process of building a BC trapper antenna which I am going 
to suspend from a catenary wire running from my tower to a rooftop 
tripod on my house. I have great hopes for this as a transmitting 
antenna. It gets pretty good reviews and I think in my situation, it 
would work quite well for TX, especially if I lay down 30 or so 
radials.

The problem comes on receive. I know how noisy my sloper can be on 
160/80 meters and I'm certain the BC trapper will be just as bad.

I am on a small lot and don't have the room for a Beverage so I've 
really given some thought to a 4 way K9AY loop. The problem lies in 
not being able to get more than about 50 feet away from the TX 
antenna. Also, my house is covered in steel siding, which will also 
blow the pattern of the loops. I understand that. The house siding is 
going to cause a big problem with the pattern.

What I'm wondering is this. Would the loops make good listening 
antennas even though they wouldn't have the nice cardioid pattern 
shown by the K9AY loop? What I am looking for is  a nice quiet 
listening antenna to go along with the BC trapper and loops seem to 
be the way to go on a small lot except for the interaction problems 
throwing the pattern off.

With a preamp, will the K9AY loop, or any type of loop for that 
matter, be a good listening antenna in my case or am I better off 
just suffering with the noise on the vertical?

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
--

73,

de KJ0M
Jim
._._.
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