[VHFcontesting] microwave loop boom

[Rick R]

Can someone help me understand why microwave loop antennas are made on a 
tubular boom rather than a square-tube boom? I am in the process of 
improving some of my rover microwave antennas, and will be restoring the 
length of the 903, 1296 and 2304 loopers back to their full sizes (I have 
been using half of them for several years, figured this is the easiest and 
cheapest way to add db for both xmt and rcv). When I bought these loopers, 
they came with a small piece of square tubing mount and aluminum plate. I am 
also going to remount the antennas to the main mast using a piece or 2 of 
rectangular cross-boom to support all the loops, as it makes the alignment, 
drilling, and parallel mounting of all the loopers easier. I was just 
curious as to why the ease of using a rectangular boom for these loopers is 
not the standard? Would it severely degrade or affect the antenna/gain 
pattern?
Thanks...rr.. K1DS

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