Been running a 25x25 square for a month now, with a Cross Country Wireless Loop kit. Most impressed with the low noise, yet great signal capture. A hidden gem of a design.
Most urban interference is vertically polarized. It starts random but the horizontal portion strongly couples with the ground and gets attenuated. This gives horizontal antennas a noise advantage right off the ball. Next laying an antenna on the ground reduces the signal by about 100dB and the noise by about 140bB, increasing your signal to noise ratio by about 40dB (these figures were for a Beverage on the Ground) but the loop should be similar.
This LOG works superb. I have written an article in our club newsletter. It makes a huge difference for reception. Some days the noise is 7 - 9DB and switching to the LOG it goes down to 3 -5DB. Surprisingly one can find some conversation which is not audible on the other antennas. WORKS!
A ham from long ago, starting to listen again with an HF "dongle" (imagine that) to my computer. 40 meters my favorite. 60' loop in the grass with a simple impedance transformer works? Hell, living in my HOA home, I'm going to give it a go. Thanks!
Good info. Just got a rsp1a and looking for antenna ideas. I have an 132 ' endfed with a 9:1 balun to try with hf and maybe add a discone. No HOA but still want to stay low profile. Just like the gutter antenna, I wouldn't have expected the ground loop to do as good vs the dipole as it did
If you have 132' of wire in the air you'll do quite well. I would recommend the T2FD Antenna. It's a great all around receiving antenna and since it's terminated will complement the end-feed well when it's noisy.
Easy to setup for field trips. I have used 100 foot down to 40 foot circumference with 9:1 balun and all work well except that as it gets smaller, could use a preamp boost. I currently use a 29 foot 3-conductor wired like a folded dipole and connected to a Welbrook Medium aperture amplifier in place of the balun (the Welbrook amp has a 4:1 balun builtin). Thanks for the demo comparisons.
I have all of the parts to make one, I just need to assemble it. I hope to get it up yet this fall and bury it a couple inches in the ground for easy mowing and snow removal
Mine, with yard staples completely invisible under the grass. And yes, from 1,5 Mhz to 10 Mhz outperforms Cuschcraft R9 vertical from 5 to 10 db in SNR terms. Below 1 Mhz it take some noise from unknown neighbor sources. Compared with W6LVP magnetic loop, the LoG is a bit lose couple db's.
A week ago, with my 25x25- had a fabulous couple of nights catching AUS hams on 20M ~ 0700z in the MidWest. They were everywhere. Like another poster said: WORKS!
You can place it closer to the ground and you yard staples to hold it low enough. I have heard of placing it a couple inches below ground and plan to try that method myself.
5:2 binocular isn't a 9:1 balun, is it? More like a 6.25:1. I guess if you were matching to 50 ohms, you'd use 6:2 turns instead, and that'd be a 9:1 balun.
1:25 Can you please do a video out how you built the antenna switch including where you bought the materials? BTW, I am in the Upstate.
Sure, I'll add it to the list!
Been running a 25x25 square for a month now, with a Cross Country Wireless Loop kit. Most impressed with the low noise, yet great signal capture. A hidden gem of a design.
It really is an impressive antenna that many think won't work.
Most urban interference is vertically polarized. It starts random but the horizontal portion strongly couples with the ground and gets attenuated. This gives horizontal antennas a noise advantage right off the ball. Next laying an antenna on the ground reduces the signal by about 100dB and the noise by about 140bB, increasing your signal to noise ratio by about 40dB (these figures were for a Beverage on the Ground) but the loop should be similar.
It's all about that SNR!
This LOG works superb. I have written an article in our club newsletter. It makes a huge difference for reception. Some days the noise is 7 - 9DB and switching to the LOG it goes down to 3 -5DB. Surprisingly one can find some conversation which is not audible on the other antennas. WORKS!
I have noticed similar results. Sometimes switching to the log makes the difference in the signal being audible.
A ham from long ago, starting to listen again with an HF "dongle" (imagine that) to my computer. 40 meters my favorite. 60' loop in the grass with a simple impedance transformer works? Hell, living in my HOA home, I'm going to give it a go. Thanks!
I think you'll be surprised how well it works! Let me know what you think.
I want to try this soon.
It's a fun easy project with surprising results. Let me know how it goes for you!
Good info. Just got a rsp1a and looking for antenna ideas. I have an 132 ' endfed with a 9:1 balun to try with hf and maybe add a discone. No HOA but still want to stay low profile.
Just like the gutter antenna, I wouldn't have expected the ground loop to do as good vs the dipole as it did
If you have 132' of wire in the air you'll do quite well. I would recommend the T2FD Antenna. It's a great all around receiving antenna and since it's terminated will complement the end-feed well when it's noisy.
Easy to setup for field trips. I have used 100 foot down to 40 foot circumference with 9:1 balun and all work well except that as it gets smaller, could use a preamp boost. I currently use a 29 foot 3-conductor wired like a folded dipole and connected to a Welbrook Medium aperture amplifier in place of the balun (the Welbrook amp has a 4:1 balun builtin). Thanks for the demo comparisons.
It is one of the easiest to setup that's for sure.
I have all of the parts to make one, I just need to assemble it. I hope to get it up yet this fall and bury it a couple inches in the ground for easy mowing and snow removal
It is fast to construct and deploy. Should be able to accomplish it in a few hours. Let me know how it works for you.
Mine, with yard staples completely invisible under the grass. And yes, from 1,5 Mhz to 10 Mhz outperforms Cuschcraft R9 vertical from 5 to 10 db in SNR terms. Below 1 Mhz it take some noise from unknown neighbor sources. Compared with W6LVP magnetic loop, the LoG is a bit lose couple db's.
It definitely is for the top bands. As you said above 10 Mhz it doesn't work to well.
A week ago, with my 25x25- had a fabulous couple of nights catching AUS hams on 20M ~ 0700z in the MidWest. They were everywhere. Like another poster said: WORKS!
I’m trying to figure out how to put a receive antenna connector on my 991a - Any ideas how this is done
Can this setup be buried a few inches to not have to move for mowing?
You can place it closer to the ground and you yard staples to hold it low enough. I have heard of placing it a couple inches below ground and plan to try that method myself.
@@BrokenSignal My understanding is yes, you can.
Significant lowering on the noise floor with the LOG
That's it's best attribute!
can you transmit on the ground antenna?
No, this is a receive only antenna.
5:2 binocular isn't a 9:1 balun, is it? More like a 6.25:1. I guess if you were matching to 50 ohms, you'd use 6:2 turns instead, and that'd be a 9:1 balun.
Balanced to Unbalanced - or BalUn for short
now , rise the loop 2mt over the ground and repeat...
Then it wouldn't be a loop on the ground. HAHA
Nice…HOA comment hit home.
Living in an HOA can be challenging, but I now have 4 antennas and no one can see them!
Nice…JOA comment hit home
noise noise noise and a lot of it