Topband: Wellbrook receive loop performance

[wb6rse1 at mac.com]

On Apr 11, 2012, at 12:23 PM, W2PM wrote:

 Nice for nulling strong local point source noise but that's it. It will enable qsos not possible otherwise and some DX I suppose but Wellbrook is not a good choice for any serious DX work. No mag antenna is. 
_______

I would not be too quick to dismiss small magnetic receiving loops from consideration for DX work. I used a coax diamond loop, 5 feet on a side, on a rotator at 20 feet, prior to trying larger wire loops. The small loop enabled many contacts in Europe from my West Coast city lot. The signals were otherwise unreadable on my transmit vertical.

Small loops are relatively inexpensive to build. A pre-amp and usually a front end RX signal limiter are necessary and add to the overall investment but those can be used with any RX only antenna. A loop and a transmit vertical used for diversity receive can be surprising.

I highly recommend small receive loops if your real-estate will not allow for more.

73 - Steve WB6RSE