Need help making 20 meter magnetic loop antenna

Thread Starter

mrel

Joined Jan 20, 2009
185
Hello
Would 5 feet circle using 3/8 soft copper tubing be enough to receive signal on the 20 meter band.
mrel
 

DickCappels

Joined Aug 21, 2008
10,153
If you tune it, yes. As you might suspect the larger the area of the loop and the more turns, the greater the sensitivity. For that small of a loop at such a low frequency you would be much better off using multiple turns.

The internet is full of examples of small loop antennas. For example:
g8jnj.net/Remotely tuned 1m Dia HF loop antenna for 7 to 29MHz.pdf

http://makearadio.com/loops/index.php

http://www.iw5edi.com/ham-radio/?how-to-build-a-tuned-loop-antenna,118

https://www.qsl.net/pa3hbb/magloop2.htm

And there are plenty more!
 

recklessrog

Joined May 23, 2013
985
In what sort of environment do you want to use it, i.e indoors, outdoors, loft, shed etc? We, (my old amateur radio group) did some experiments some years ago with mag loops, and came to the conclusion that a half size G5RV with antenna tuner vastly outperformed every mag loop they built for receiving in our location. Properly matched for transmitting, they performed well enough. Having said that, I have spoken to many operators who reckon they are the "mutts nuts" so could just be our guys were unlucky with the designs they tried.
The beauty of the G5RV is you can use it in so many different configurations, as a centre fed sloper, inverted "V," as a "T" and more or less any way you can arrange it.
But, if you are stuck for space, give the mag loop a try.
 

ccfly

Joined Jun 22, 2008
4
If is not problematic for you ..
you can build Minkowski fractal antenna in a planar - panel way on a
piece of plastic or card board
dimensions are 30 x 30 cm.
You can use plastic insulated cooper wire and wind 10 turns in fractal shape.
here is a image :
 
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