Yea I know. When going qrp, every watt counts. Using 10 watts, losing just 3 or 4 watts due to poor efficiency can make a big difference was my point. 73. Thanks for watching.
Greetings from Mexico! Wonder Loop antennas are not recommended to increase the thickness of the hoop since the voltage increases ... its capacitor is hardly a polyvaricon, it would not support so much voltage and would shorten its useful life!
Ahhh, I did not know this. I did see that with the supplied copper wire I had a sharper peak in noise level. I use the stock wire or plastic coated wire of the same Guage .....it's been too bulky to pack the tubing loop. Thanks for the info. 73
Would copper tubing work better? I have a Wonderful Loop coming so I'm thinking of adding thicker tubing for my home station and keeping the wire for portable operations
spray paint a plastic hulahoop with a piece of copper wire inside.. it is very light. 223cm is good loop for rx of apt weather satellite. i did not say transmitting of hf.. however does also rx well for 40m prehaps not as effectient as other lengths mentioned.. you could also transmit into a small bulb for gigles. it does work as well..
other lengths you can try according to this is 165cm as indicated below.. and through other items 137cm or 274cm those might be on par for transmitting depending on your equipment and desired frequencies. 210cm would make something work on 146mhz incase someone was interested in that one..
Ive made enough contacts on that mini loop with the supplied wire to say the antenna works surprisingly well....especially if your up in the air on a second or higher floor of a hotel or sitting on a boardwalk bench right on the ocean as ive done both. 73,
Hello friend what kind of material is that? and how thick ?? Weight ?? where did you get it from ?? in the hardware store ?? greetings from Switzerland
It's oxygen service grade stainless steel tubing. It's fairly light for what it is. It doesnt put stress on the lugs of the loop tuner. It was scrap from a job at my work. I hand bent it, working it slowly. It's about 1/8th inch diameter. It works well. 73
You mean the outer diameter is 3/16"? From the video, it looks like more than 1/4". I would like to duplicate your design, but not sure about the size the tube.
Are you sure the circumference is 45"? If so, are you able to get it to tune a low SWR on 40 meters? The included loop wire with the Whizz (at least the one I recently received) is approx. 65".
Jim Southwick sorry, i transposed the length. I just double checked the original and that loop as well and its 54 inches in circumference. I think you hane the wizz loop v2 which does 40 meters. The original one i have there goes to 20 meters.....it wont tune below 14 mhz......the v2 is 65 inches in circumference and does tune a bit below 7 mhz.....i have both versions and just measured both of the originals. I do have a loop i made out of 1/4 inch aluminum tubing from a old cb antenna ground radial which weighs half that of the one in this video and tunes to 20 meters and a tad bit lower than 14 mhz, like to 13mhz. But yes i transposed the numbers on the measurement. My bad.
Nice. Though as others have said I'd be concerned with the high voltages in the unit, probably near a KV. How has yours faired? I'm about to try and make a loop out of 10awg wire. Little bit more efficiency than the stock wire (I have the whip, not the wire) but keeps the voltage more reasonable. Thank you for sharing the circumference in a comment!
Output wattage, probably not. If you have equal SWR on both Antenna's, transmitted power should not change. What WILL improve is your E-R-P....Effective Radiated Power. AC7AA
I was not criticizing you in any way. I know YOU understand this. The only reason I commented is to help the less experienced Hams follow this material.
Most antennas have stainless steel whips especially the tried and true 102" whip. Copper would be the best but stainless has been used in alot of antenna applications. Thanks for your interest, I use the supplied copper wire now for ease of transport. ,73
@@gregoryburbage7906 Hi Gregory, thanks for your reply. I think RF conductivity is much more critical for a small loops such as this; the radiation-resistance, of the loop, is very low, so conductive losses become much more significant. 73, Tim
@@timdbl7804 well wort thinking about...i switched to a solid copper wire just a couple guages thicker than the one supplied for ridgity in the field in breezy conditions....the one in the video i abanded because it wasnt too portable....that copper loop worked really well maby because if greater skin effect but it was onky maby twice as thick as the original at most
Let me clarify. It was a really good video about the modification. The natural progression of the video would be to test it on the air. I think most viewers were expecting that. None the less, good modification.
Why not *try* holding the camera still when shooting videos. Novel concept but you will be surprised how much more "watch" time you get. By the way I call *BS* on your "more wattage because of a fatter wire". Does NOT make the antenna more efficient. It DOES improve the band pass of the antenna. That will make the antenna easier to tune and that will reduce the SWR slightly. It is a good modification but it does not work better for the reasons you are giving here.
A larger diameter wire or loop material will increase the efficiency of the radiated signal,but not the wattage output.A tuned loop antenna has a high Q,but a very narrow range of resonance.Tuning the VFO just a few kilocycles away in frequency will require it to be retuned to resonance.
No part of a antenna dictates it's max wattage output,but the directive elements do if it is a forward gain antenna,such as a yagi,or quad antenna.This is called ERP,or effective radiated power.
Old Dog go to any loop antenna calculator program and see the differences in efficiency in the different diameter tubing.....you can go from nominal efficiency to good efficiency when tubing diameter is increased......at least thats what the calculator dictates.....the difference from quarter inch to 1 inch diameter goes from like 83 percent to 93 percent with the same circumference measurement......thats how i determined what size tube i used in my home indoor loop. Check it out on line and run the numbers in the antenna calculator.
Well done, great modification.
'73.
Very Cool. Great Job!
very nice antenne dear om
Yea I know. When going qrp, every watt counts. Using 10 watts, losing just 3 or 4 watts due to poor efficiency can make a big difference was my point. 73. Thanks for watching.
Greetings from Mexico! Wonder Loop antennas are not recommended to increase the thickness of the hoop since the voltage increases ... its capacitor is hardly a polyvaricon, it would not support so much voltage and would shorten its useful life!
Ahhh, I did not know this. I did see that with the supplied copper wire I had a sharper peak in noise level. I use the stock wire or plastic coated wire of the same Guage .....it's been too bulky to pack the tubing loop. Thanks for the info. 73
Would copper tubing work better? I have a Wonderful Loop coming so I'm thinking of adding thicker tubing for my home station and keeping the wire for portable operations
I didn't have copper at the time, but it would of worked as well. 73
Walter did you try the copper loop if so how did you get on.
spray paint a plastic hulahoop with a piece of copper wire inside.. it is very light. 223cm is good loop for rx of apt weather satellite. i did not say transmitting of hf.. however does also rx well for 40m prehaps not as effectient as other lengths mentioned.. you could also transmit into a small bulb for gigles. it does work as well..
223cm is the total length of the material used to make the loop. not the diameter of the loop.
other lengths you can try according to this is 165cm as indicated below.. and through other items 137cm or 274cm those might be on par for transmitting depending on your equipment and desired frequencies. 210cm would make something work on 146mhz incase someone was interested in that one..
Ive made enough contacts on that mini loop with the supplied wire to say the antenna works surprisingly well....especially if your up in the air on a second or higher floor of a hotel or
sitting on a boardwalk bench right on the ocean as ive done both. 73,
great - where can I buy such a wonderful loop for my Whizz Loop V2 ? - It´s not possible 4 me to do it on my own...
Where are you located? I could send one of mine to you.....
Hello friend what kind of material is that? and how thick ?? Weight ?? where did you get it from ?? in the hardware store ?? greetings from Switzerland
It's oxygen service grade stainless steel tubing. It's fairly light for what it is. It doesnt put stress on the lugs of the loop tuner. It was scrap from a job at my work. I hand bent it, working it slowly. It's about 1/8th inch diameter. It works well. 73
Great job! Can I ask what is the diameter of the tube?
qzwxecrvtbyn789. its 3/16ths stainless. Its super lite compaired to its size. Works very well in the summer on the upper deck of the house.
You mean the outer diameter is 3/16"? From the video, it looks like more than 1/4". I would like to duplicate your design, but not sure about the size the tube.
qzwxecrvtbyn789. Circumference or total length of tube is 46 inches I believe, tube is 3/16s
Thanks. BTW, what's the model of handheld transceiver that you mentioned in the video?
qzwxecrvtbyn789 a cherokee ah 100 handheld or a yaesu ft 817 qrp radio
Are you sure the circumference is 45"? If so, are you able to get it to tune a low SWR on 40 meters? The included loop wire with the Whizz (at least the one I recently received) is approx. 65".
Jim Southwick sorry, i transposed the length. I just double checked the original and that loop as well and its 54 inches in circumference. I think you hane the wizz loop v2 which does 40 meters. The original one i have there goes to 20 meters.....it wont tune below 14 mhz......the v2 is 65 inches in circumference and does tune a bit below 7 mhz.....i have both versions and just measured both of the originals. I do have a loop i made out of 1/4 inch aluminum tubing from a old cb antenna ground radial which weighs half that of the one in this video and tunes to 20 meters and a tad bit lower than 14 mhz, like to 13mhz. But yes i transposed the numbers on the measurement. My bad.
Nice. Though as others have said I'd be concerned with the high voltages in the unit, probably near a KV. How has yours faired?
I'm about to try and make a loop out of 10awg wire. Little bit more efficiency than the stock wire (I have the whip, not the wire) but keeps the voltage more reasonable.
Thank you for sharing the circumference in a comment!
very nice 73 f1rcx philippe nord france
The loop does not need to be round. A square loop will work just the same. Squares are far easier to construct at home.
But is it light?
Yes suprisingly........its tubing so it really is
Output wattage, probably not. If you have equal SWR on both Antenna's, transmitted power should not change. What WILL improve is your E-R-P....Effective Radiated Power. AC7AA
Bruce Forster yes it improves efficiency. It radiates a better percentage of the 10 watts. Maby 7 out of ten not 4 or 5 out of ten. Thsnks.
I was not criticizing you in any way. I know YOU understand this. The only reason I commented is to help the less experienced Hams follow this material.
demonstration would have been nice
Aluminum not Stainless steel 😊👍
I'm not sure that steel is a good material to use; its RF resistivity can be much higher than copper.
Most antennas have stainless steel whips especially the tried and true 102" whip. Copper would be the best but stainless has been used in alot of antenna applications. Thanks for your interest, I use the supplied copper wire now for ease of transport. ,73
@@gregoryburbage7906 Hi Gregory, thanks for your reply. I think RF conductivity is much more critical for a small loops such as this; the radiation-resistance, of the loop, is very low, so conductive losses become much more significant. 73, Tim
@@timdbl7804 well wort thinking about...i switched to a solid copper wire just a couple guages thicker than the one supplied for ridgity in the field in breezy conditions....the one in the video i abanded because it wasnt too portable....that copper loop worked really well maby because if greater skin effect but it was onky maby twice as thick as the original at most
@@gregoryburbage7906 That's interesting; I might try that on my wonderloop :-D
Why not demonstrate it? Disappointing.
Why? Build it, and use it yourself. I just put it out there for a idea. Its not a demo video.
Let me clarify. It was a really good video about the modification. The natural progression of the video would be to test it on the air. I think most viewers were expecting that. None the less, good modification.
Why not *try* holding the camera still when shooting videos. Novel concept but you will be surprised how much more "watch" time you get.
By the way I call *BS* on your "more wattage because of a fatter wire". Does NOT make the antenna more efficient. It DOES improve the band pass of the antenna. That will make the antenna easier to tune and that will reduce the SWR slightly. It is a good modification but it does not work better for the reasons you are giving here.
A larger diameter wire or loop material will increase the efficiency of the
radiated signal,but not the wattage output.A tuned loop antenna has a high Q,but a very narrow range of resonance.Tuning the VFO just a few kilocycles away in frequency will require it to be retuned to resonance.
Which part of an antenna dictates the max wattage input? Serious question.
No part of a antenna dictates it's max wattage output,but the directive elements do if it is a forward gain antenna,such as a yagi,or quad antenna.This is called ERP,or effective radiated power.
Old Dog go to any loop antenna calculator program and see the differences in efficiency in the different diameter tubing.....you can go from nominal efficiency to good efficiency when tubing diameter is increased......at least thats what the calculator dictates.....the difference from quarter inch to 1 inch diameter goes from like 83 percent to 93 percent with the same circumference measurement......thats how i determined what size tube i used in my home indoor loop. Check it out on line and run the numbers in the antenna calculator.