Loop Antennas
According to Dr. David Jefferies
“A Loop antenna has a continuous conducting path leading from one conductor of a two-wire transmission line to the other conductor. You may think of it as a “coil that radiates”. The coil may have only a single turn.”
Loop antennas are very popular among low band enthusiasts, since allow operations on full wave antennas in a limited space, when compared to dipoles or beverage antennas.
Here a selection of 7 interesting Loop Antenna projects, that includes skywave horizontal loops, square and triangular loops aerials
This PDF document, authored by KT4QW in October 2004, details the construction and modeling of a dual-band, horizontally polarized hanging rectangular loop antenna for **10 and 17 meters**. The design, adapted from *The ARRL Handbook*, utilizes _NEC4WIN95_ software for scaling and optimization, targeting a 50 ohm feedpoint impedance. The resource includes a bill of materials, step-by-step construction instructions, and a discussion of the antenna's radiation characteristics. It presents NEC-generated elevation and azimuth patterns, comparing the loop's performance to a half-wave horizontal dipole at the same height and frequency. The 17-meter element is centered at 18.140 MHz for low SWR across the phone band, while the 10-meter element is centered at 28.500 MHz. Construction involves 14-gauge stranded copper wire and Schedule 40 PVC spreaders, with the total wire length calculated by the formula: Length in feet = 1005/MHz. The feedpoint impedance can be adjusted by modifying the rectangular aspect ratio. The document specifies hoisting the antenna to at least a half-wave above ground for testing. It notes that a balun was tested and found to have no measurable effect on SWR or radiation characteristics. A 2-meter scale model is presented to illustrate the physical design, and a "rotator" string is incorporated for directional adjustment up to 90 degrees.
An article at NFARL web site about differences in setting up a half-square antenna versus a Loop Skywire by W4QO
The antenna is a 10 - 160 meter horizontal loop fed with 450 ohm ladder line all the way into the ham shack to an Palstar AT1500BAL balanced line antenna tuner
More Links ?
You can find many more Loop Antenna Plans in our links Directory
Magnetic Loop antennas will be covered in a future article









