[TenTec] 17 Meter Antenna

[Jim Allen]

When you cost out Rich's design, it is not much more than other antenna
options.  By the time you get some No. 14 wire, coax, a mast, guying parts,
etc you have likely spent as much.  The vacuum variables used are both
sides of $100 mostly from Russia on eBay and the rest of the materials are
less than $100 typically, which can give you an antenna that works from say
40M to 10M sometimes.  The helically loaded magnetic loop has attracted a
great deal of attention from HOA dwellers and others in antenna restricted
circumstances, although the remote tuning can be a complication.

73 de W6OGC  Jim Allen

On Sun, Nov 23, 2014 at 3:01 PM, Reed <w4jz at bellsouth.net> wrote:

> Very good info guys.  I'm going to throw another antenna into the mix that
> I also have been thinking about. It's a magnetic loop designed by Rich
> K8NDS.  You can find info on his antennas at qrz.com &
> http://www.antennastealth.com/   He also has a u tube doing comparisons
> between the loop & doublet on 40 meters.
>
> I worked Rich some time ago on his 10-20M loop on 10 meters which is up 6
> feet high.  He got down to 15 milliwatts on the phone portion & I was still
> able to copy him enough to understand what he was saying. I have a old
> (1989) 2 El Hy-Gain tri band beam  on a very high hill which I know helped
> a lot for me to receive his weak signal.  But I've done this many times on
> CW into Europe, but never on phone anywhere.  Band conditions were not that
> great, but for 10 were pretty good.  I was using a Ten Tec Argonaut VI
> which I will say has a very good receiver.  Coax length is 150 feet of
> Belden RG-213 into beam that is only up 17 feet on a home-brew wooden tower
> bolted to a utility building.  I'm sitting on a huge rock with only 18
> inches of top soil.
>
> I was impressed with Rich's antenna, but that vacuum variable capacitor
> are not cheap. When he went down to 15 milliwatts that was what got my
> attention.  100 watts on ten meters into a wire on the ground will still
> make contacts if band is open, but going down to the milliwatt power is all
> about the antenna & coax.
>
> Would also be a good antenna for those in a HOA subdivision.
>
> 73,
> Reed  W4JZ
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