A 30m Through 80m Loop
Great indoor antenna for QRP.
he reason s for designing a rela-
T lively small an tenna for
meters arc usually to get around
antenna restrictions or 10 solve the
gO
problem of lack of space . There is a n-
othe r good reason. ho wever. and tbut is
convenie nce.
Consider an antenna thai fi ts easily into
a mom of a ho use, is easy to build and rc-
pair even during the w(1);1weather, and is
simple to tunc. Isn't that conve nience? The
difficult thing is coming up with one that's
small but capable. even 31 Q RP levels of
power (5 wutts or less ).
T he design
Having had good QRP results on 40
meters with a small. single-t um loop
based o n standard design s. I decided to
try to scale it up to l:{O meters. Usi ng pro -
po rtions. I estimated the size needed and
laid it out on the din ing room floor using
ordinary zipcord a nd a 250 pF varia ble. I
was lucky and wax able 10 tunc up 00 80
meters the first try. By prunmg it. I
was a ble to use the full extent o f the
o tha t could shield the a ntenna and cause it
CAPAOTOR
MAIN
66.5" lOOP
NPUT lOOP
- Const ruction
Fig. J. The 80 meier loopantenna. showing
lilt' construction details.
36 73 Amateur Radio Today . October 1996
capacitor. I fo und thai I could tune the
30 a nd 40 meter bands. a'.. well as the 80.
I also fo un d that the loop. though techni-
cally a small loop. was not exactly tiny.
It was approximately 6-l- inches square.
Si nce the ant enna was to sta nd upri gh t
to save space. I mad e it 66.5 inches high
and 62.5 inc hes wide . This favors the
vertical wires. wh ich do most of the ra-
diati ng , Tho advan tages of havi ng the
loop upright arc that it is less sensitive to
bein g near ground le vel than a hori zon-
tal loop. and it has some gain alo ng the
plane o f the loop. Al so. interference can
be reduced because of the sharp tuning
" This antenna fits easily
inside a house, is easy to build
and repair evell during
the worst weather, and is
simple to tune:"
c haracteristics o f a small loop and by
mean s o f the null associated with this
type of a ntenna ,
Si nce my house IS constructed of
wood. the antenna works well in almost
a ny locati on; some homes or buildings
have a lot of metal in their constructio n
to work poo rly. Eve n so. the re may he a
spo t that will work . s uch as a porch or an
attic space above the met al.
One drawback o f a n antenna in the
home is the da nger o f a n RF burn. lns u-
la tion o f the ex posed parts of the antenna
can help prevent this. but an indoor an-
tenna m ust be treated with respect whe n
it is be ing used to transmit.
Insulated ho use wire (# 12 st ra nded)
was used to form the loop. Howe ver. a
w ire loop req uires a frame to hold it. I
Jay Jeffery WV8R
3819 Parkdale Road
C leveland Heights OH 44121
built a si mp le frame of furring strips de-
signed 10 put as little wood between the
rad iating wires as poss ible. The frame
holds the loop. the variable capacitor
(2 40 pf), a nd the coupling loop firmly in
place. ye t it is lightweight a nd easy to
reposition . See Fig. I.
The sides o f the I(XlP are se parate
pieces o f wire. s upported and connected
with plastic te rminal blocks (Radio
Shack'>' #274-678), S ince bo lts and
screws ho ld the frame together a nd the
wire s ides a rc hel d by the te rmina l bloc k
sc rews. it IS easy to disassemble the
w hole a ntenna to move it. The capaci to r
IS mou nted o n a Plexiglas" plate
sc rewed to the central support . (A plastic
e nclosure .....ould be safer. but the plate
was quic kcr. ) The act ual construction
took about two hours.
Looki ng at th e c irc uit design in F ig"
2. you ca n see t he s ma ll loop that
co uples the coax to the ma in loop . The
coup ling loop is made o f so lid insu-
lated # 12 wrre . Thi s mak es it more
rigid for easy sha pi ng a nd po s ition ing .
The top o f thi s loop is he ld by part of a
1-- - - 61 5" - -
I• - - -
-'
250 pF
66.5"
r;j'P1. 259
I· 'T
Fig, 2. Loop lln/elll ra ci re ll it desig n and
d imensions.
 terminal block . T he bottom is taped to
l lNI::AR AMPLIFIER S HAR O TO F IN O PARTS
the main loo p itse lf. T he small loop is HF ""p1~ ....

27 inches by 3.5 inch es.

Operation
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lI>lI llIolorolol . p p. d'on _

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The antenna must be tuned to the fre- "'" 'H"'"

"'OlW,
36W . ......... ~. ' 79,951'109 95
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tor until resonance is reached. At this
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you ca n transmit briefly at low power to CIRCLE 99 ON READER SERVICE CARD
peak the output, using a field- stren gth
meter. Marking reso nance points on the
plate that holds the capacitor ma kes
retuning very quick and simple. ULTIMATE MODIFICATION BIBLE VOL V
By inserting a tuner an d an SWR
meter in the ci rcuit. the impedance seen
........._-""".._.. . ...... r,"="'= ,-,
......
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_ .~ "" -.. ~
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wider range o f freq uencies ca n be used
withou t ret uning the antenna. O nly the
....."""""'A""'
,,"'- " """"-,,~ ...... ,...- ".
,.... ",",""'t1C1.,., .....""""'''''....''-''''''-''''......... $29 9~
tuner needs to be touched up if the ;;DC SOUND ,,"",,'U''''.,I''' ,''_ ...,.<Y ootn
' 010' ''''' ..... anor.CAlLl _ ,~ ,,,, , """-'''''''' ", a:
aI.UoI<nt.o.... , ~
cha nges in freq uency are not dras tic. Re-
CIRCLE: 151 ON REA OEA SEAVICE CARD
cord ing tu ner settings for fut ure use will
allow you to leave the tuner in the
circuit, set it. and then resonate the loop .
Using an antenna analyzer, the reso-
nance can be found more qu ickly and
accurately without having to transmit.
The antenna sends out maximum sig-
nals along the plane o f the loop. At the
same time there is a pronounced null per-
pendicular to the plane at its center, These
properties can be employed to enhance re-
ceived and transmitted signals. Also, aim-
ing the null at a noise source can cut down
or eli minate that noise. I keep the antenna
fl at against a wall in an upstairs bedroom. PB·33 ID1100D 6' 12IIIJma 549.00
By moving the left side or the right side
out. t can easily change direction.
Since this antenna was intended for EBP·22S\illWII> 800ma S6S00
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served the purpose. At greater power levels • One Year WarranIy
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Comments Please call forpridng! lliIuIar &lkrieI
It 's a pleasure to operate C W or SS B
QRP on 80 meters us ing a relatively
small antenna while still gelli ng very
.,d!'!!iIP G'RlPHG'K: iJ,~.
the only thing low obout our chorge is the cost...
good res ults (not getti ng TV I comp laints
is also pleasant, even when the T V is in
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the next room) . The anten na works as
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well o n 30 and 40 meters as it does on htl p :l/home .n a,i sort.comlpt'ri pht""
80. Give it a try. Fa C.RCLE 6& o~ REAOER SERVICE CAR D

73 Amateur Radio Today . October 1996 37