Loop antennas may be constructed in many forms including horizontal full wave loops in square, rectangle or triangle (delta) shapes. They can also be in the vertical plane and are most often in the same shapes with the delta being very popular as it has both vertical and horizontal polarization. The impedance at the loop resonant frequency is approximately 100 ohms but will very slightly on harmonics. Loops are “quiet” antennas compared to verticals and dipoles and are omni-directional. The also exhibit gain on harmonic bands. Once you try a loop antenna you will know why they are so popular with old timers but still a secret to newcomers. Shown below are some typical designs:
Full Wave Horizontal Loop Antenna (a.k.a Skyloop)
This antenna is horizontally polarized and should be mounted as high as possible but works well at low heights of 10-30 feet. They are quieter than a dipole or a vertical, have a broader bandwidth and will usually out perform a dipole antenna.To determine the approximate circumference in feet of a full wave loop antenna use the formula:
1005/Freq in Mhz = length in feet.
The feed point impedance of a full wave loop antenna is theoretically in the vicinity of 120 ohms and requires a 2:1 impedance transformer (for single band loops or a 4:1 balun to match on multiple bands) with 50 ohm line. You will also need a feed line choke or better yet, just get the Hybrid 4:1+1:1 in a single box.
Vertical Delta Loops
Vertical delta loops can be oriented several way but the most popular is to have the “pointy” end at the top (usually a single support) and the lower horizontal ends just out of reach of humans and animals. Best feed point is 1/4 wavelength (246/f(mhz)) from the top point down one side. Vertical delta loops use the same 2:1 baluns as the horizontal loops or 4:1 for multi-band operation.
Model BA-1-1000 is a 1:1 balun kit used to translate a 50 ohm
unbalanced input to 50 ohms unbalanced at power levels up to 1000 watts
PEP/100 watts continuous when used with a matched load. With a matched
load the SWR will not exceed 1.5 over the frequency range 1.8 to 61 MHz.
1,000 PEP watt rating on a 25% duty cycle. Will sustain about 100 watts RTTY or FT8 at 6 meters. (for higher power use the BA-1-1500 with 6-8 turns for higher frequencies).
Common mode impedance peaks
around 3,500 ohms at 10Mmhz.
With a matched 50 ohm load the SWR over the frequency range 1.8 to 61
MHz is shown in the following table measured with an AIM 4170 network
analyzer. Notice that the conversion from 50 to 50 ohms is very
consistent from 1.8-61 MHz and SWR is less than 1.3:1 over the range
allowing easy tuning by most radio internal antenna tuners or an
external tuner.
Ba-1-1000 1:1 Balun/Unun 1KW PEP 1-61 Mhz
The kit consists of a F140 ferrite toroidal core, enamel insulated
wire, a SO-239 connector with stainless steel hardware, and an
illustrated instruction manual with directions to connect the kit as a 1
to 1 balun/unun (unbalanced coax to unbalanced antenna or balanced
antenna like a dipole). Balun assembly time takes about an hour and is a
fun learning process.
Add a SO-239 Kit on output side to create a 1:1 unun (coax to coax line isolator) or add studs for a balun for use with dipole or beam antenna.
Use the recommwnded CB-Box-1 for a convenient enclosure.
