Ham Radio Building the small Magnetic Loop Antenna

👍Thank you for video Kevin. Wondering about the low Q conern, a couple of things come to mind. It may be due to DC resistance. However, your design seems to be good in terms of minimising resistance. One other thing I found with loops I made is the shape of the small loop and how it is coupled to the larger loop. Changing the shape of the small loop to more of a horizontal oval shape and making sure the top half of the oval was very close to the large loop is what generally worked for me. This kind of made sense as you would expect narrow bandwidth high Q transformers to have close coupling. Rather than use co-ax for the small loop I have used things like stout copper wire or even car copper/brass brake pipe so that I can bend it into shape that works best. Great thing about the VNA is you can see the results as you try different things.

Glad you’re back at it! You have been one of my YouTube Elmers since I started. I’ve learned a lot. Sometimes what I’m learn I don’t use for a while, but it’s there. Get better! 73 de Bill

You remain my favorite ham instructor, Kevin. Thanks so much for another great video. In case I missed it, it would be fun to get a tour of your RV, showing how you laid out your radio/work area while keeping a small kitchen, bath, storage, and sleeping area. This must be similar to a small ocean-going sailboat. Here's hoping for your continued health. Michael

You are looking much better Kevin, good to see. I am a subscriber, I just logged in on the wrong name. 🙂 This is what Hams are supposed to be doing, experimenting, learning, and sharing. And never worry about negative comments. Heck, I am a Pro, and Amateur of 60 years experience, I even owned an aerial factory last century, and I still use tape, trash, and cable ties to test stuff. I used to get flamed by the "experts" all the time before I quit the web, who cares? Happy days ahead, keep smiling.

Kevin, not watched yet - but I'm so pleased you have the energy to put this together..

I love to see mag-loop projects like this - can't wait to see the next iteration. Recently I built a mag-loop optimized for 10m, but this time I built it "military style" using three capacitors instead of one (1 duel-gang & 1 single). This eliminates any exciter loop or gamma match by connecting the loop directly across a duel-gang capacitor, with the feed point and third cap connected in series across one side of the duel-gang. This allows much more precise tuning because the duel-gang functions as rough tuning and the third cap works as fine tuning.

Great seeing you back in RV and back your old self and lots off people have miss you on here. Will definitely have a go making loop antenna. Thanks for the video.

Glad to see the video Kevin, enjoyed seeing you build something again. Keep’em coming. Praying you get back to where you were before your illness soon, God bless!

Good to see you back Kevin and hope your recovery continues long term. Thanks for the video, some great ideas and makes me think that a loop like this is a must for a travelling ham.

Great work! I've never built one but it seems like an antenna every ham should build.

Very impressive Kevin! I am glad to see you back. Take it easy so you recover fully. 73s.

Glad you are feeling better. Keep on moving is all you can do. I'd like to see a couple things if I made my own loop. Get as close to 20w as possible so I could use my G90 and cover 40-10m. I've seen someone use foil tape over PVC for the big loop which looked interesting.

I'd take some of the plates out of the variable capacitor and put spacers in to allow for more power. My 2E0ERO Magloop has 11 outer and 10 inner plates with 5-6mm spacing and it puts out 30W without issue. Love your build though wih just a single outer loop Kevin. I made a contact with Russia a couple of weeks ago from Northern Ireland with my magloop sitting on my coffee table hihi. They REALLY are a beautiful antenna, tuning is very narrow so it cuts down noise so well. Sending prayers for your good health and full recovery. God bless Kevin.

Outstanding! The 'Old Master' of magnetic loop antennas condenses tips, tricks, ins & outs and years of experience of "Try, Fail, Learn, Repeat" in a single half hour tutorial. Guard your health and "Keep the Faith", Kevin. Thank you...🇺🇸 👍☕

Hi Kevin welcome back, you sound a lot better than last time. Thanks for the walk through of your design, it will be very helpful in my mag loop build.

Loop antennas are awesome. Good to see you working on the hobby again.

Great to see you're well enough to get some more projects under way - but don't overdo things,

So glad to see you back Kevin you have been missed you are one of my favorites for sure - Stellar job on the video as usual and best of health to you going forward - 73

It gives me great pleasure to see a new video from you. I assume/hope you are on the mend!

So great to see you back, Kevin! I've learned so much from your videos.