Gary K9AY helped me put up a single K9AY loop
broadside NE/SW back in about 1995 or 6. I used one 8 foot ground rod
already in the ground from an old grounded half loop I had up several years
before. I also initially hooked the ground to the remains of 2700 feet of
radials and that was a bust because I heard WCNN Radio which is about 4
miles from me with 6 towers all over 160. I laid out two 160 radials and
WCNN (they have changed the call sign) went away.
The K9AY loop is far superior to my old shielded link loop that AB0X
describes in a 1980's CQ on all bands. On 160 Europeans signals stand out
and even South American signals have better signal to noise ratios than any
of the transmit antennas I have used. On 80 the loop is much better on
Europe and the South Pacific. On 40 my beam at 86 feet is always better on
receive.
Having just one loop up I feed it with RG8X (120 feet) to a Palomar 408
preamp that I got from Don N4IN's estate. Don had it marked for W7 at 11
o'clock and EU at 3 o'clock so he used it with his great looking classic
beverages.
Being on a half acre lot with an average of 5 wire antennas up you have to
be careful of all sorts of intermod. I moved one of my 80 meter vertical
dipoles because of getting WSB (8 miles airline) all over the low end of 80.
Dave K4JRB
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