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Loop Antenna Plan

xm49north7

Well-Known Member
Mar 21, 2019
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loop complete jpeg.jpg Here is my next build. Another full wave loop. Fed on the side at the angle for verticle, or centre bottom for horizontal
 

I'm curious.
Any particular reason for this shape?
It produces the highest gain possible for 11 meters. I hand tuned just about every shape and size possible, this is almost the best gain I could create, I also have one up that is this shape, though not right on these numbers. I hope somebody else will give this a go. Always up to find the best loop. They are hands down my fave antenna for local and Dx. I keep a pair on the roof at 36 feet to the feed, have one for vertical, and one for horizontal at the moment. I take them down when the weather is good and tune the shapes often, I have them top hung on pulleys. I did model a few with higher gain they were either way to big to hang, or to complex to build. For a single wire loop with 2 ish swr, this is the winner so far, after about 4 weeks of playing. The swr will be lower, as this model does not include the 1/4 wl coax 75 ohm matching line. So getting the swr down in the 1.5 : 1 should not be a problem, and has always been possible on all my loop experiments so far. Also the closer to round, IE the more area a loop antenna contains, the higher the gain is. A circle being said to be the best, This gets the area up while still being easy enough to top hang with three cross spreaders. I use very light cross spars, usually a wood top spar, and the middle and bottom are usually 1/4 inch drive way marker rods, from the dollar store, if a cord is run from the top for center support, they hang well and the whole rig is very light in weight. I use number 14 or 18 stranded copper wire for the loop. I usually run 75 ohm coax, from the loop into the house.
 
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I have modeled a circle, the software did not produce a better gain than, my loop. So far this is the best arrangement I could make. I tweaked every wire, and feed point, went with all different shapes etc. So far this one is the winner. I will keep trying, smiles. Even changing one of the wires by a few inches, does make model change quite a bit. Very interesting making models. I highly recommend trying the software, It is great fun. It is not hard to use. If you check out Dx commander on youtube, he does a few lessons on it, I watched a couple of his examples, and that was all I needed to get me off and running.
 
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That was one of my first loops for sure, they work very well. Nothing I like better. I have had , 5/8th, j-pole,2 el beam, 4 el beam, Dipoles, Moxon, In the air I like a loop, on the ground for portable , I like a vertical dipole, with a bent lower leg on the 45. Thos are my go-to antenna.
 
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Here is the mmana-gal, .mma file for this loop. Great free modeling software. Not to hard to learn, and great fun to use. You can download mmana-gal at this link. At the bottom of the page click on """Basic version MMANA-GAL (free, ~ 2,62 MB, current version 3.0.0.30)"""""""

http://gal-ana.de/basicmm/en/#18

xm49,I did not try and unzip your file above that you posted as "mgmg my best loop.zip".

Not sure, but I think those files should open automatically with a file extension xxxxx.maa

Should we unzip the fill.

I entered this previous model from the images you posted. With the feed point set to horizontal the match was very good, right out of the box, using 75 ohm coax.

The vertical side was resonant but the resistance was 172.8 ohms with 50 ohm coax and was 2.305 ohms with 75 ohm coax and I made no attempt to match it. As you will see, the vertical side pattern showed 5.83 dbi gain at 11* degrees regardless of the mismatch. I also did not run these models in Free Space so as to check the Average Gain Results for model accuracy.

The pattern was similar to your image on post #1, but in your modeling details it showed it was horizontal. I think I see the feed point location at the 9:00 o'clock position, right?

Below are my two Eznec models in PFD files. Just click on the "Open With" button in the pop-up window.

Homer, were you able to open xm49north7 zip file?
 

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  • xm49north7 Quad models horizontal and vertical.pdf
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xm49north7, Houston we have a problem.

Homer, I think folks would have to have MaMagal installed to open that file. All we want to see is the output results...and The DB use to post some of the files from his version of the product, so I know there is a way to fix this.

I just got to thinking, maybe a lot of folks might not be able to easily open my PDF files as well.
 
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OK, I don't have good current day recollections anymore and I was starting to wonder.

Sometime when I start to the Bathroom, and on the way I forget what I'm doing in the hallway...I'll just go back to bed.
 
xm49,I did not try and unzip your file above that you posted as "mgmg my best loop.zip".

Not sure, but I think those files should open automatically with a file extension xxxxx.maa

Should we unzip the fill.

I entered this previous model from the images you posted. With the feed point set to horizontal the match was very good, right out of the box, using 75 ohm coax.

The vertical side was resonant but the resistance was 172.8 ohms with 50 ohm coax and was 2.305 ohms with 75 ohm coax and I made no attempt to match it. As you will see, the vertical side pattern showed 5.83 dbi gain at 11* degrees regardless of the mismatch. I also did not run these models in Free Space so as to check the Average Gain Results for model accuracy.

The pattern was similar to your image on post #1, but in your modeling details it showed it was horizontal. I think I see the feed point location at the 9:00 o'clock position, right?

Below are my two Eznec models in a PFD files. Just click on the "Open With" button in the pop-up window.

Homer, were you able to open xm49north7 zip file?

Thank You for taking a look, yes, I fed at 9 oclock position, I had to zip the file as this forum would not take the file extension for upload, I knew it would accept a zip, so I zipped it in 7-zip. It is the saved loop file for mmana-gal. I will build shortly to these measurements, Soon as the ice is off the roof, my current loop will get replaced.
 

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