Topband: Goniometers and 160

[k6se@juno.com]

Automatic Direction Finding (ADF) equipment in the old days of avionics
used a rotating loop antenna in conjuction with a "sense" antenna to find
the direction of a beacon or AM BC station.  The receiver generally
covered the 100 kHz to 1700 kHz frequency range.

In the 1950s, the mechanically-rotating loop was replaced with a fixed
loop which was called a "goniometer".  As I recall, this goniometer was
actually loop antenna with three windings with axes 120 degrees from each
other.  "Rotation" was done electronically.

Like Ford, N0FP, I've also sometimes thought that this might be a useful
device to automatically point or phase an antenna, and am also interested
if anyone has experimented with this concept.

73, de Earl, K6SE


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