Topband: K9AY Loop Question

Mark - N5OT r-emails at n5ot.com
Sun Jan 17 10:34:04 EST 2021


Hi Pete, I have a PILE of experience with K9AY loops, but I don't use 
them in the usual "one-support-two-loops-four-directions" 
configuration.  Mine are all individual loops on individual supports 
dedicated into arrays in various directions.

The first thing I would check is to make sure you have continuity 
through the torroid inductors/transformers.  I have had loops work only 
sort-of when it turns out one of the teeny wires opened up. So it ... 
"kind-of" worked.  Like I could hear some signals, but the loop just 
wasn't behaving like it was really supposed to.

Another thing you might check is to see that the termination resistor in 
the box is not somehow broken / open / shorted / something.  The other 
things you describe, shape of the loop, sloping ground, etc, seem to not 
matter in my experience.

Mark


On 1/14/2021 8:23 PM, N4ZR wrote:
> I'm in the process of putting up a K9AY loop, using the Array 
> Solutions/Wolf RF control boxes.  I had the antenna up last year but 
> it didn't seem to work very well, and I'm looking for suggestions.  A 
> couple of areas for which I've found no answers:
>
> How important is the geometry of the loops?  Illustrations I've seen 
> seem to imply that the lower legs should slope upward somewhat to the 
> corners, but without dimensions other than the total length of the loops.
>
> The ground around the antenna slopes slightly toward one side - should 
> I attempt to get the corners in the same plane, or the same distance 
> above ground?
>
> The relay box is mounted on the central fiberglass pole is 
> approximately 2 feet above ground.  Is this dimension important? The 
> relay box is grounded to a ground rod very close by.  Last year I 
> experimented with also laying a couple of radials on the ground under 
> the loops.  I read that suggested somewhere, but don't know if it's a 
> good or bad idea.
>
>



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