<What is consensus of opinion re: full wave loop on 160. Cloud burner?
Advantages ? <Disadvantages ?
<Would only be 50' above ground.
<Thanks for the input.. Robert WA3GGM
<
<And Tom said: " Loops are a good
<example of "feel good" antennas that are surrounded by
<exaggeration and love."
<Then Earl said: " It might be useful for short skip (straight up,
<straight down) propagation"
Dear Robert,
I'm afraid you may be misled by some "over stated" gloomy pronouncements
concerning the lack of effectiveness of big horizontal loops on 160, and other
bands for that matter. Rather than argue theory, or make any "feel good"
statements, I would like to give you some results of loops I have used. I
should
say first that 15 years ago I would have predicted different results than
these. Perhaps that was in part due to the fact that I had used quarter wave
verticals with great success for 25 years previous to that time. Maybe that's
the
"feel good" syndrome mentioned by W8JI.
In 1990 I put up a 160 full wave square horizontal loop on 50' wood poles
surrounding our newly purchased home in south Texas. It was fed with open wire
line at a corner. My intent was for it to be a receiving antenna for 160 and
a utility antenna for the other bands. Being a loop it had even less vertical
field than a dipole, I surmised, and would be relatively quieter. I planned
to put up a 70 ft. tower with my XYL's beam on top and use it as a top loaded
vertical for transmitting on 160 and 80. I didn't believe that anything
other than a vertical would get the job done.
I was pleased to find that the loop was very quiet and that I could hear DX
with no problem. What surprised me was that once my wife prodded me to call
the DX, I had no trouble being heard, also. That was a shocker!
I was not real active in the 90's and in fact in several of those years I
only spent an hour or two on the air. I'm a rather "casual" DXer anyway.
Nevertheless, in 12 years, using that loop, I worked 91 countries on all
continents on 160. I never ran over 500 watts. I found, when I compared them,
that
beverages and pennants, which worked well, didn't hear the DX any better than
the loop at that location.
Finally, about 2000 I put up that tower as a vertical. My wife had sold her
beam, because the loop worked so much better for her activity on 40, 20, and
15. So I used other methods to top load. It only beat out the loop 10% of the
time, and that was mostly for Carribean stations.
These results were not flash in the pan stuff. For example, over that period
I had about 250 JA QSO's, logging 168 different JA callsigns. Europe was
similar.
A year ago we moved to a new place a little further away from town. Late
last August I put up a new horizontal loop. It is a little over two
wavelengths
around on 160--about 1150', and it's 60' up on wood poles over farmland.
Here are the results for 160, using 500 watts and the same antenna for
receiving
and transmitting. I started out a bit slowly 'cuz I was still busy with the
new home, but I've been able to spend a few more hours a week as the season
has progressed.
In August, KH6, LA3, & DF2.
In September, UA0, DF2 IV3, VK (6 stns) FK, KH6, V63 (twice), & JA.
In October, JA (5 stns). HA (2), SM (4), PA, DL (2), SP, F, G (3), PJ2, CO,
FP, TI (2), HC8, KH7, & ZL.
In November, KH6, ZK1, UT7 (2 stns), HA (4 stns). YL2, IV3, RA0, VP2E, JA (7
stns), DL (2), UX, SP, OK (2), F, G (2), 5T5, 3E1, PJ2, P40, RA6, VK, KV4,
UA6, YU, RU1, ON4, YV1, & HC8.
In December, RA6, JA (6 stns), I (6 stns), 9H1, DL (8 stns), SV (twice), G
(5 stns), 9A (3 stns), HL3, KL7, UA6, KH6 (2 stns), SM (3 stns), LA0, EA3, OM
(2 stns), HB9, FO, RK1, UA2, SN7Q, LY, OK, OH0R, SO2R, YV5, & HR.
In January, YU, ON (2 stns), GW3, LU, RK3, G (2), LY, OZ, SP (2), OH, SM,
LA, I, VK (5), HA, OM, KL7, OE, DL, XE, KH6, EA8, RA6, PJ, JA (3), RA3, KP2,
9A, UU, C6, & CT.
In February, and so far in March, JA (34 stns), OM, HB, CT, SV, 4X4, HR,
KP2, 4N7, AL7, VK, 9V1, OK, PJ, I, 3D2, G, & DL.
My friend, Allan, W9YYG, came down in January and operated the CQ160CW test.
He made 525 contacts and worked 27 countries. I thought that was pretty good
for a modest station and one antenna made of #18 wire. (Sorry, that sounds
like a "feel good" comment if I ever heard one.)
Robert, I suggest that you decide for yourself. Don't be deterred by the
crepe hangers.......nor should you be overly expectant based on my results.
Maybe it won't work that way for you. Or, on the other hand, you may want much
better results than these.
Some learned folks I have talked to, say the success of the horizontal loop
may be related to certain locations and the magnetic flux patterns of the
earth. Could be, but I have helped put them up for friends accross the country
and so far, all those locations seem similar.....but that's rather subjective.
Good luck, Robert, and BTW, don't forget to use a good balanced tuner on the
loop, if you put it up.
73, Barry, W9UCW
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