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.
BUY THIS KIT NOW TO REDUCE NOISE IN THE RECEIVER AND SUPPRESS INTERFERENCE TO/FROM OTHER ELECTRONICS ON YOUR VESSEL.
Works on most marine HF transceivers including ICOM M700, M710, M800, M801, M802, M810, GM800 HF Transceivers up to 60 MHz. Also applicable to SEA 225 & 323, Furuno FS 1502, SGC SG-2000 and similar HF marine radios with external antenna tuners.
Purpose. The RFI kit is designed to be installed on your radio transceiver to reduce Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) caused by common mode current on the outside of the coax braid at the output of your radio and AC/DC power cable and antenna tuner cable.
This kit will help reduce or eliminate:
1. “Hot mic” RFI caused by poor grounding of antennas or common mode currents from linear amps feeding unbalanced (coax fed) antennas without baluns/line isolators.
2. RFI to other electronic devices including audio/video systems, computers, marine electronics, etc.
A side benefit is a reduction in noise floor in your receiver depending on the amount of noise being introduced by common mode currents (which are blocked/reduced by the chokes in this kit).
These chokes use a special mix of ferrite core material that is effective in suppressing radio frequency interference from transmitters and high noise floor on receivers.
The split beads beads are easy to use, don’t require modification of the protected equipment and work in almost all cases, even when plug-in filters fail.
Use of the chokes often helps cure SWR problems between transceiver and antenna tuner s used on marine systems. The DC power line choke helps keep common mode current out of the power line which could cause interference to other devices connected to the same power line if not suppressed.
Included are the following chokes and installation guidelines:
RF Input/Output: Antenna feed line choke installed between radio and antenna tuner coax to reduce noise into receiver and suppress RFI. Includes double barrel male connector for joining choke directly to antenna tuner.
DC Input: 1.4" inside diameter filter ring – coil 3-7 turns of DC power cable through center
Antenna tuner cable: Two 1/2 snap on for 1-2 turns through center at each end of cable.
