| For about a year, I have been using a full-wave 40m loop fed with 100 ft of RG-8X, with a 4:1 balun at the antenna's feed point. This results in an SWR of approximately 1:1 (measured at the balun) on 40/20/15/10 and the SSB portion of 6m, without a tuner. The antenna also seems effective on 17m and 12m with a tuner. In addition, I have made local contacts on 80m (out to a few hundred miles), with a tuner, but I feel sure the antenna is not efficient on 80m when using my current feeding technique. Overall, I am pleased with the number of contacts I have made on all the bands mentioned, and I have gotten good signal reports despite the poor propagation conditions over the past couple of years. What really surprises me is the decent performance even though the antenna is only roughly 20 feet high. |
