[Antennaware] Height for horizontal loops

[Paul Decker]

Hi John, 



Of course, higher seems to be better, and bigger also seems to be better to some extent.   



This might be sensory overload, but it does demonstrate what loop size and height can do to/for the loop. 



I did some modeling on this a while back over average ground, which seems better than what I have: 





80 meter dipole at: 



15 feet  has - 0.22 dBi @ 50 deg, -1.53 @ 40, -3.47 @ 30, -6.52 @ 20, -12.15 @ 10 deg 

30 feet has 3.78 dBi @ 50 deg, 2.57 @ 40, 0.73 @ 30, -2.24 @ 20, -7.83 @ 10 deg 

60 feet has 5.81 dBi @ 50 deg, 5.01 @ 40, 3.53 @ 30, 0.86 @ 20, -4.54 @ 10 deg 

120 feet has 5.29 dBi @ 50 deg, 6.66 @ 40, 6.9 @ 30, 5.47 @ 20, 0.82 @ 10 deg 

180 feet has -10.64 dBi @ 50 deg, 1.38 @ 40, 6.86 @ 30, 8.04 @ 20, 4.72 @ 10 deg 



a full wave 80 meter horizontal loop at: 



15 feet  has -0.67 dBi @ 50 deg, -2.47 @ 40, -4.9 @ 30, -8.35 @ 20, -14.26 @ 10 deg 

30 feet  has 2.94 dBi @  50 deg, 1.54  @ 40, -0.79 @ 30, -4.17 @ 20, -10.03 @ 10 deg 

60 feet has 5.31 dBi @ 50 deg, 4.03 @ 40, 2.08 @ 30, -1.00 @ 20, -6.65 @ 10 deg 

120 feet has 5.14 dBi @ 50 deg, 6 .03 @ 40, 5 . 8 @ 30, 3.96 @ 20, -0.9 5 @ 10 deg 

180 feet has -10.66 dBi @ 50 deg, 0.87 @ 40, 5.88 @ 30, 6.65 @ 20, 3.06 @ 10 deg 



three full waves on 80 meters, horizontal loop at: 



(NOTE: pattern has "gain" lobes at different take off angles need to point to right directions) 



60 feet has 6.58 dBi @ 50 deg, 6.73 @ 40, 5.55 @ 30, 2.81 @ 20, -2.68 @ 10 deg 

120 feet has 5. 4 dBi @ 50 deg, 7.72 @ 40, 8.25 @ 30, 6.73 @ 20, 1.91 @ 10 deg 

180 feet has -10.33 dBi @ 50 deg, 2.5 @ 40, 8.3 @ 30, 9.41 @ 20, 5.93 @ 10 deg 


using same 3x loop on 20 meters: 



60 feet has 12.97 dBi @ 14.0 deg 

120 feet has 9.01 @ 23 deg, 14.4 @ 8 deg 

180 feet has 6.2 dBi @ 27 deg, 12.55 @ 17 deg, 14.6 @ 5 deg 



You can see that using the extremely large loop on the higher frequiencies has some serious advantages.   The pattern isn't clean, but if the lobes are pointed in a direction you want, bonus!   



hope this is a little useful anyway, 



73, 
Paul (KG7HF) 



From: John Geiger <aa5jg at yahoo.com> 
Subject: [Antennaware] Height for horizontal loops 

How high does a horizontal loop (the look skywire) need to be for decent performance?  A quick google search revealed that people were running them at 25 or 30 feet with good results (in their opinion).  I know that high is better, but how high does it need to be to show real improvement over a dipole? 

73s John AA5JG