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A 160 Metre Transmitting and Receiving Thin Wire Magnetic Loop Capable of DX

Based on the patent GB 2285712

Designed and Patented by Ben Edginton G0CWT.

The dimensions starting at the bottom left of the wire are 30 foot up to the chimney, then 58 foot across to the mast, 12 foot down to the nylon tie and 28 foot back down to the shack roof. a total of 128 foot of wire. The Loop is pulled into shape by the nylon cord from both the chimney and the mast.

The box shown on the roof of the shack contains a variable capacitor and the ferrite transformer which uses three turns for the primary winding to connect to the 50 ohm coax feeder, The secondary is two turns and connects between the loop and the capacitor. A description of the ferrite core can be found at www.edginton.info If more information is required E-Mail me at -- ben@edginton.info --

The shape of the Loop is not important but will change the direction of the main radiation which is normally away from the capacitor and through the loop center point.

When 128 foot of wire is used in this loop it can be resonated on the 160 meter band and is capable of DX on this band.

On forty metres this 128 foot loop is a full wave loop and by switching out the capacitor and switching in extra turns on the secondary making a total of six turns it becomes an excellent antenna on forty metres and will also work on all the other bands through to ten metres (except 80mtrs )although an ATU may be needed on some of the bands to get a one to one SWR

The only exception is 80 metres this is because it is a one half wave length loop and the feed point impedance becomes very high. This makes it necessary to use an additional matching transformer to bring it down to 50 ohms and this is not very easy to achieve. for this reason I still use the 64 foot loop for 80mtrs .

I have used the 128 foot thin wire loop on all the other bands and find that I can get through a pile up with less than 100 watts and can have a TV switched on in the same room while transmitting without any sign of interference.

I still favour the 64 foot G0CWT Loop for 80 metres it uses a thick wire element made from multi core cable and can be tuned to resonance at 80 metres giving it a better radiation pattern towards the west when the capacitor is on the east details can also be found at www.edginton.info  -it is excellent for DX as well as inter G work.