Hi John, just seen this video and I know a lot of waves have passed through the sky since you made it, but I just had to say, you really did justice to that build- it’s so aesthetically pleasing to the the eye- the dark wood n brass really gel together. And yes it does work wonderfully on your vintage Philco 630B- which is an awesome looking receiver. And Gator wires work- here in the UK we call em Crocodile clips 😂. Thanks for sharing this project- And I am looking for a loop design- this one won. 73 Barnie de M7PBX.
Who the heck disliked this?! What's to dislike?! Haha! This is just great. I'm a long time loop antenna fanatic and I always enjoy and appreciate well made and attractive loops!
Thanks John - that is Sooo COOL! I have read about these things but never actually built one. I just didn't think they would be that effective! Thanks for the demo. Dave
Beautiful job. I agree. These things should be decorative and yours didn't disappoint. You get a kid into this next thing he's an electrical engineer or some sort of highly paid nerd!
I made a big ugly one 4 feet on a side just to prove a point. None of it is permanent and I plan to take it apart some day soon. Before I do, I expect to try making a one turn version with a huge tuning capacitor just to see if that works too.
Hey John, Thanks for showing how well this antenna works. I know you've mentioned in the past about the poor reception in your area, especially during the day. Your antenna really pulls in the signal. At night it must really be good. All my best to you and your family this Christmas, Tom
Yeah it's like those cool old monochrome photos of people using longwave radios in the field. So beautiful and classic looking antenna, just like the old big centerpiece wooden tube radios.
Just realized you're in my area, heard the Hot Springs commercial. I'm in Hot Springs Village. Great job on the antenna. Gonna build one of these for my antique radios - thanks for a great vid
John, just a note , I have a 2 ft homebrew AM BC loop and it works excellent on of course all modern radios with a built in ferrite rod, but to my surprise I have tested it by just using a single alligator clip lead from the tuning cap to the antenna screw on a handful of 1930s and 1940s wood radios, and it works excellent wonder if you have tried that and if there is really any difference?, I am not sure it would work on all early wood radios but so far 2 Crosley, 2 RCAs and 2 Sears Silvertones it works great, 2 were all American 5s the others had 6 tubes All were long wire hook up. no built-in loop antennas. all of them except my 1936 Silvertone are now long gone to other owners but plan on keeping this love your videos and look forward to everything you post-- all the best - Jim in MO
"SIMPLE" AM BROADCAST BAND ANTENNAS If you`re an AM broadcast band DXer and want to receive extremely long range daytime signals the most simple and least expensive way if you have the space is by winding a coil of 24 AWG magnet wire close wound and side by side turns on a vitamin bottle...about 80 to 120 turns...and connect two very long wires strung out in opposite directions to each end of the coil and place near the radio. 500 feet of wire connected to each end of the coil isn`t too much. I`ve always wanted to try way more but can`t. You can also make a very simple coil (like rope is coiled but tape it to hold it in shape) of 6 or 7 turns 6 or 7 inches in diameter in a long wire connected to a ground rod and put it near the radio. I had my best luck with the former but just experiment. Or you can buy an AN-200 inductive loop antenna and a mono audio plug that fits the input port and connect it to the wires and do the same but adjust the tuning capacitor to resonance on the target frequency. These inductive antennas don`t need an external antenna wire to boost reception but in many cases an external antenna connection is the only way to override static interference from modern electronics and get a clean AM signal inside a home. They can also draw lightning into your home so keep antenna wires outside and away from anything you don`t want to destroy, kill, or damage. Study antenna safety. I`m too crazy to offer advice. You can also wind 17 turns of 24 AWG magnet wire around the edge of a 16 inch pizza box and connect both gangs of a large sized tuning capacitor. I think the one I use is 450pf. You can also use two 365pf tuning capacitors in series or try one and see if it still works for your target station. Adding or subtracting coil turns can help you get the station if it`s at the edge of the band. An even larger coil form, several feet or more in size, will boost signal strength even more and can be used by itself, especially outdoors, to receive daytime stations at great distances. I used a 4 ft solar panel box wrapped with 6 turns to get a very strong signal from New Orleans during the day 170 miles away. Wrap two turns of magnet wire over the center of your coil and add a female mono plug port to connect an external antenna.
John, not only can you make old equipment look and sound good, you also have the talent to make new equipment look and sound old. Well done! Merry Christmas to you and your family and I wish you a wonderful New Year! 73 -- de Mick, WB4LSS
I'd seen a few of these made from PCV, but really didn't like the way they looked. Really glad I found your video, this antenna not just functions great, but looks great too! Plan to build one myself now! Thanks for the great video, and link to Dave's website it really helps!
Sure is nice John. I am intrigued to the point that I believe I have to make one too. The reception, in particular, is what amazes me. Nice design. Thanks for sharing this one as well...Joe
Joe. Just git in there and make'er happen. You can do it. Be sure to check out Dave's Radio Loop page though. He has lots of additional info I didn't cover. Regards, John
Thanks Joernone. Great video. Interesting and really well explained. Not really wanting to make this antenna but the video was very informational. Nice manner and delivery too. keep them coming Joerrnone.
John, I decided to try to make one of these after watching this video a week or two ago. I am a complete electronic idiot but I am following your oft told advice, there's no hurry and no rush. I'm certainly in no hurry because it's 30 miles to the nearest Lowe's from here, lol. I think I have all the parts I need, only thing I'm doing differently is using 7/8th inch oak dowel roads notched out for the crossbeam and I think I'm going to build a box to mount on a larger base to house the variable capacitor and the banana plugs. I guess I'll learn through trial and error where to hook up the wires to the variable capacitor. I'm getting some better at soldering as I've been practicing with my late father's old weller 8200. He worked on tube tv's for years back when I was a kid. We used to have literally thousands of vacuum tubes of all kinds back then stored everywhere. I could kick myself now because we ended up throwing them all away back in the late 1980's thinking there would never be a use for them anymore. He once repaired the circuit board on an old 13" b&w magnavox and gave it to me when I was 13. I kept it and used it as my bedroom tv until my mid 30's when the picture tube finally played out. I only saw him imjured once, he was working on a TV and touched the wrong spot in that metal box in back and it literally knocked him across the room. Fortunately he was still conscious, just knocked silly for a bit. That scared me enough to not want to mess with electronics at all up until now.
Nice job! Betcha that does an amazing job at night! I made one a few years back (no where near as nice as yours) to use during the DX winter season. I made mine with a bearing in the base so I could rotate it. This way I could receive/null stations close together or on the same frequency! RW
RW, Right. Night-time reception was excellent. And like you, I plan to use a lazy susan with the next antenna effort, but it'll be removable, not permanently attached. Thanks for popping in, my friend. Regards, John
Thank you, my friend. It was a bunch of fun building it. But I had no idea it would work until turning the loop tuner. It was almost like hearing that first sound from a restored radio. :-) Regards, John
Hi John .... Greetings from Bahrain I personally think of you as my Mentor for Vintage Electronics. I started repairing Home Electronics in 19779 and I graduated from Manama Technical School in 1986 (Radio/TV Servicing) Section (By that time most people almost forgot about tube Radios and TVs and went onto the Transitor and I.C lane.) but I never stopped since then. I found out about your Videos from Shango 066 and since then I never Stopped watching You Videos and others of course (Man i like your Style of Radio Servicing) Keep on the Good Work God Bless you All By the way Buzz 1159 told me that you Stopped doing Radio Repair because you cannot compete with His Genuineness Is that true ??? !!!!) Thank You and God bless you All... Mohammed A. Rahim Bahrain
Hi John think i'm gonna have a go at building one but make it bigger a lots of the radio stations here in the UK use low power transmitters & get swamped be stations from Europe .Hope you & your family a great Christmas & best wishes for 2014
Mark, You know...I'd like to see a bigger tunable loop antenna than this one, and see how it works. I wonder how large one can go with these. And a very Merry Christmas a Happy New Year to you and yours. Regards, John
That is great!! I've been looking to buy one for years, but never saw one I liked. When you and your grandson go into mass production, I'll be your first customer. Since that is tunable, I wonder if it works better for you than the one in the tree. I'm speaking of amplitude moduation only.
Michael, Watchamean, customer? Build one. A child could do it. It doesn't have to be perfect. As I was telling another of our subscribers...there's a web site out there where a guy strung a loop antenna on wooden clothes hangers. Works well. As for the antenna in the tree, I still need it for shortwave reception...until I eventually build a tunable loop for that. Regards, John
joernone John, you made me do it. I have the wire and the var. cap coming from ebay. BTW, my wife said I couldn't put this in the living room when done. Poor sport. :)
Since you seem to have used raw plastic stock for the panel at the bottom of the assembly, you could cut two strips (maybe 1/2" wide I'd guess) the length of the panel. Epoxy or cement them to the back of the panel to make a double thickness of the plastic. It will make it more rigid. If you want to keep the same holes that you have used to screw the panel to the upright, you can add a third piece of plastic between the two stiffening pieces to fill the gap between the panel and the upright. Nice project. Jim KN4FAF
Nice video John, and well explained.and very well made. I will make one for sure for AM broadcast listening, because I think it beats a long wire. The long wire picks up too much noise and static. I made a magnetic loop for transmitting on the 40 meter HAM band (1.8 meter diameter) and can work all of Europe easily. 73 from pd0rk
+joernone ... In fact John, I made one this week. I made a wooden square, giving sides of 60 by 60 cm, and gave it 12 winding of copper wire with the windings next to one-another, so they all have the same radius. Spaced them 0.5 cm from each-other. I put a variable capacitor of what I think is approx 450 pF parallel to it. The result ? Excellent reception, tunable between 380 and 1620 kHz. But trying to tune to interesting African MW stations failed big time, because on almost every MW frequency, the Spanish, and French Broadcasters are blocking my way to Africa...... But never mind. The experiment was well worth it, and now I'm planning to alter it to a mag-loop usuable for the 80 meter band. Another challenge coming up. 73.
John. I am planning on building one for the guy who owns the chairside. On the plastic; do not overlook the kitchen section of the discount stores. Plastic cutting boards are fairly cheap and can provide lots of plastic parts. 73 - Al
That is a great video, thanks. Just one question, and I'm sure I could figure it out if I watch the video several more times, but, would you have a parts list to build one?
FB John! Living in an electrically noisy apartment, I've become a big fan of loop antennas. They have an amazing ability to null out unwanted noise and interference by rotating or tilting them. Careful positioning will even allow you to listen to two different stations on the same frequency, by nulling out the unwanted station. They can be built for any band of frequencies; VLF, LW, MW, SW, even VHF. Dave Schmarder, by the way, is a regular visitor and contributor at The Radio Board (www.theradioboard.com). Great bunch of guys, please check it out. Once again, great job, but be careful, loop antennas can become very addictive! 73, Karl
Karl, It's very good to hear from you, my friend. At some point I do want to make a shortwave loop, but I haven't found a clear, concise web site about how to do it. It would be much better if internet posters had an ability to keep things at a basic level, as most of us hackers out here prefer to not go through an online electrical engineering course just to build a loop antenna. Thanks for popping in. Please do so again. Regards, John
joernone Hi John, and Seasons Greetings. Here's a terrific loop for SW. Go to www.kr1st.com/swlloop.htm. It's the first SW loop I made, and it works great. Enjoy! Best Wishes, and 73, Karl
Joernone, thanks for your video above & for interacting with me. What do u consider vintage? Vintage radios commonly have ferrite antennas inside (which can couple to a loop inductively) or non-ferrite loops on the back of the radio. There exist today many ferrite antenna radios, which can couple to an external loop antenna by placing it near the loop. Then there are car radios (which may be used outside of cars) which have motorola jacks for antenna (unbalance in the 50-100 ohm range probably). Then there are Stereo Receivers which have little loop antennas furnished which connect to dual clamps on the back. Then there are stereo receivers which connect the provided loop to a 3 pin connector on the back (purpose of 3 pins is beyond me).
I don't think you answer old video questions, but here goes: A few things you did not mention. One; How long are the four wooden sticks you use? Two: What is the distance between brass bolts?
Hey Michael, it's good to hear from you again. This is the web site I mentioned in the vid. Go there for the scoop. Page 1 gives dimensions, etc, but you can reasonably modify it to suit your needs: makearadio.com/loops/ Regards, John
+joernone Well, I did it! I made one. I must have viewed your video about seven times and Dave's site as well. But, I videoed my construction as well. I picked up Toronto from Maryland. That's 471 miles from where I live! I also tune in NYC. Cool. Thanks for posting !!!
Thank you very much John for this great video of this amazing antenna. Just curious... if you see the video in 8 seconds and 3:37 too. I see on the trunk of the tree a face... Someone was making a sculpture or is just my imagination? I see a very clear face in there :-)
John: season’s greetings to you and your family. An excellent tutorial/demonstration video using a good old tried and tested design. It is neatly constructed and I particularly like the large solid base that will keep the whole structure stable. The control panel is also neat given you used what was available. Perhaps it could be strengthened with a narrow wooden or metal strip attached to the rear (just a thought)? The wood-stain certainly gives it a vintage look, and I like the centre faux jewel. Most importantly, its performance certainly fulfilled your expectations. A superb first attempt, well done my friend. Regards, Phil.
Phil, Thank you, old bean...I much appreciate your kind words. I'm back in the throes of finding plexiglass at a reasonable price. Today's cost for even small pieces is outrageous. It's a matter of pronciple that I won't pay what's being asked. But I do have my peepers on something that just might solve the problem. Time will tell. You and the Mrs. please have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Regards, John
Great video! I am going to build this. My primary radio for actual listening, is a Zenith H725, which is an AM/FM radio. Question: Could this loop antenna also be used to assist with the FM band. I know that normally the 2 types of antennas for each band is different. Just wondering if it is possible to modify this design to accommodate both uses in the same antenna?????? Thanks.
Bruce, Hey fella...thanks for popping in. The loop antenna itself is for the AM broadcast band...no good for short wave and FM. However, there is an interesting video on how to make an FM antenna by coiling speaker wire around a vertical rod, the type of vertical rod which the AM tunable loop antenna just happens to have. LOL Give it a shot. Connect them to a switch so you can flip back and forth at will, then come back and tell us how it went. If you're successful I might just try it myself. ruclips.net/video/_diI-a7afQM/видео.html Regards, John
Just beautiful john Very nice One of the best presentations I've seen on RUclips ! Just curious how you mounted the capacitor to keep it from spinning when turning knob
The Talking House and iAM Transmitters both have a 50-75 OHM output. This could be used for a Transmitter antenna too I bet. Gonna send this video to my friend Jeff.
John, Hello how have you been ? Very good job on the antenna, glad it worked out for you. Something like this would be nice for my Stewart Warner when finished. Thanks for the idea and for sharing it. Nathan
Nathan, This is a great project that'll help clear your mind of unwanted radio issues, which come with any restoration effort. Give it a shot, my friend. Regards, John.
You realy did a nice job on this thing, John. Has my curiosity up, since I get such lousy AM reception where I live, what one of these will do. An after Christmas project, for sure. It will look nice sitting next to the AK. Really well done and great explanation. Thank you, my friend.
Al, Thanks, my friend. The best part of a loop antenna is its ability to filter out quite a bit of static. I like that. You can make these things out of just about anything. One web site I went to had a guy who used wooden coat hangers for a frame. The was a cool idea. Regards, John
I guess you could use an old TV stand that so many people are throwing away...to mount the antenna. So one side of the antenna is hooked to the lug on the variable capacitor and the other side is hooked to the ground, or case of the capacitor??? This is a cool thing..thanks..
Robin, I like the red sparkly too. I figured if the antenna was a bust I'd at least have something cool to look at. :-) Thanks for stopping by. Regards, John
I have an old console model farm radio called a coronado that I have no intention of trying to get restored. Would the tuning fin section of it work as a variable capacitor or does it need to be a small one like what you have?
Brother Mac, Talented?...not really. I just get these crazy ideas from others and opt to give some of them a try. Some turn out well and some not. This one I got lucky on. As always, my friend, I appreciate you popping in. Regards, John
hey John, I think I've wanted to make one of these for a while and wanted to ask you a question. I don't know alot about radios or electronics and you make this project sound really simple to build, but the question I wanted to ask is if I had a spare full sized tuning capacitor from an old radio, could I mount that to the base of the tunable antenna, or do you need a small one gang tuning cap. this is really neat and would be authentic looking connected to my old radios.
I see no problem with your plan. Go for it, my friend. If it's a two-gang tuner, use the larger one. Be sure to let me know how it goes. My curiosity is tingling. lol Regards, John
No sense if half-stepping. Better to start fresh with a stronger material. 1/8" plexiglas will do the job. Finding it in small pieces is the problem. Thanks for stopping in. I greatly apprerciate it. Regards, John
I don't know why you comment below denying a ground, since your diagram & voice clearly saying ground in the video. You are grounding 1 side of the the pickup loop which goes to your radio. I can't see why you would ground that unless you are going to put a balan in between your balanced output; aren't you creating an unbalanced transmission line by grounding one side?
length of wire? This shows how important the antenna is. I may give this one a whirl. I have one of those Talking House AM transmitters, and it barely can be heard outside the room. I got it cheap on eeba, so it may be defective. Butit does transmit a weak signal. I have a random wire about twenty feet long on it. I like loops antennas, and especially cubical quads. Of course this is for receivers, but the concept is kewl.
Don, I didn't bother to measure the length of wire. There was no need to reinvent the wheel, so I pretty much followed the plan on Dave's Radio Loop web site. It turned out ok. What have you got to lose? Goferit, old boy. Regards, John
That is a great looking and performing AM antenna John! Oh, Oh... Here we go... I wonder if it would work in the shortwave spectrum if you decreased the capacitance by hooking up a 300pf or such in series with the ganged capacitor. Or maybe a center tap on the LC portion of the antenna. If you did that though the other part of the antenna may be thrown out of resonance. ARGH... Maybe I should shut the heck up because I don't know what I am talking about. :-() I think I'll stick to building the K4KIO hexbeam instead, and call it good. Anyway, great AM antenna! 73s to you my friend, and may you and your entire family have a Very Merry Christmas! from: Tom and his family
Hey, Tom. I have no idea what would happen if I made those changes. I barely know how it works now. But I do believe you're right about even one change amounting to a cause and affect situation. But I will at some point try my hand at a SW antenna. Regards, John
Awesome antenna! Is that a Philco 650 your using? I have the console model 650X. I noticed your shadow meter isn't working. Neither is is mine. Always enjoy your videos. Thanks for posting.
You must have missed me saying it in the video, but it's a Philco 630B. Not too long ago I did a RUclips restoration series on it. And the shadow meter does work. You know...the loop antenna might be having a negative effect on it. I'll have to check this out. Regards, John
Hey Gordon, Of course you can, my friend. It's a passive device, no electricity going to it. Put as many trimmer on it as you like, but you'll likely soon get tired of trimming. Also, there is a limit to the antenna's tuning capability aka: efficiency. Let me know how you make out. Regards, John
I have a question. One the web site you talk about he used 70 feet of wire for the inner loop and 14 on the outer. That is a total of 17 loops. On yours I see 20 or 21 loops. Which is more important loops or the length of the wire?
Kevin, Loops or length?...you got me, my friend. I decided to go with 20 loops just to see what would happen and it worked out fine. If it hadn't, then I would have just built another and not lost any sleep over it. LOL Regards, John
If your radio has a balanced antenna input, would u directly connect ur 2 leads to that input without a ground? What is the impedance presented by your antenna output? Is not the output intrinsically balanced? So how are you grounding one side without a balun? I own a Sony receiver/amplifier (AV Center). The loop that comes with it has a twisted pair of wires coming from its loop & those wires connect into connection jaws in the back of the Sony. There is no capacitor visble (maybe one is inside the Sony?) & u don't tune that loop. So I am interested in a better loop antenna, but I really don't know what impedances are involved nor why you are grounding a loop antenna which I think is balanced. If you were to ground, I would think you would use a balun and then ground the shield side of your transmission cable.
I have no idea what you're talking about. This is a passive AM non-Earth-grounded tunable loop antenna used to improve reception for vintage AM radio receivers that have no built-in antennas. It'll keep one from having to string up an outside random long-wire antenna. It's not to be used for transmitting. There would be no advantage in connecting this type of loop antenna to a receiver that already has its own loop antenna, such as your Sony. But if your Sony has a set of wires coming off the loop it's there so you can hook up an outside long-wire antenna. So build a loop and connect it to those two wires and see what happens.
Thanks, Jer for responding, but no, the Sony loop antenna that comes with the Sony Stereo has a couple of wires coming out of it, twisted which plug into 2 antenna clamps in the rear. It has nothing to do with any long-wire antenna. This is an el cheapo antenna with no tuning capacitor in it. I am quite curious as to impedance of loops. Do u know what the impedance of your loop is? I want to replace the el cheapo untunable loop with a higher class larger loop. I wud like to know how many turns at what diameter to get 300 ohms output. I don't see how a loop could have anything but balanced output, requiring a balun if you will use coax as the transmission line. This has nothing to do with transmitting. I will not be transmitting on the AM broadcast band.
I can't see using a "long wire" as the impedance would be a very bad mismatch & no where near a 1/4 wave long for AM. I doubt it would do as well as licking your finger and touching the antenna input. And if you did get it 1/4 wave long, I think it would be designed for picking up signals from the moon over head.
I Love your antenne construction. Like to build one for my LW/MW (SW) radio. What are the dimensions you used for the crossbooms? Thank You Stay Safe Greetings from Belgium
@@joernone Thanks for the answer, one more question, the additional 360pF capacitor (on the switch), what type is this, and which capacitor you use for the tuner? Apologies for all the question. Regards Lambert
Lambert, Go here for the 365pf variable capacitor: www.ebay.com/itm/Capacitor-365pF-Variable-Single-Section/132032487083?epid=1712229709&hash=item1ebdbfdeab:g:N2wAAOSwfSJdC88J This is the type of 360pf mica capacitor I used. The voltage rating is mega-overkill, but it was all I had on hand at the time: www.ebay.com/itm/Capacitor-365pF-Variable-Single-Section/132032487083?epid=1712229709&hash=item1ebdbfdeab:g:N2wAAOSwfSJdC88J Regards, John
@@joernone Thanks again John. Sadly they don't ship to Belgium. I have looked locally, but could'nt find a variable capacitor that was usable. Will look further though. Greetings Lambert
I can't solder to save my soul. Would this work ok using crimp on leads to the screws? Every time I try to solder all I end up doing is making a mess and the wire never sticks, lol
Rebel9668 I taught myself how to solder and I think it looks decent. I've had an old soldering gun that for years sat out in the garage. It belonged to my Pappy back when he used to repair tv's. An old Weller 8200. I think I may get a stick-type iron though, my hands tend to shake a bit when i'm trying to do work on small things like solder connections and since there's no trigger on the stick kind maybe it'll be a little easier to use.
Daniel, Go to Dave's Radio Loop Antenna web site. He covers everything you'll ever need to know about crystal radios and their associated antennas. Regards, John
thanks. im getting started on restoring radios (working on a ge model 60 currently) but im getting a atwater kent model 20 and was looking for how to make an antenna
the sticking point with most loop antenna presentations which I have seen is a failure to describe precisely the interface between the loop & the radio, taking into account the type of antenna connectors which the radio has (ferrite antenna radios have no antenna jacks at all). And another problem for me is a failure to address the issues of balanced vs unbalanced transmission & impedance matching. If an inductive connection between 2 loops is going to be used as the connection, I can't understand why you would ground any loop at any place since it appears to me that any inductive connection must by nature be balanced & you do not ground one side of a balanced circuit (if you do this with 240 Volts AC in the house, expect an explosion).
I used 22ga enamel coated magnet wire, but 24ga would have been a little easier to use. It's all in the video. Here's a good deal on a 22ga 128 foot roll with free shipping. Why 128 feet?...hey, someday you might want to make a second or third antenna and copper wire will not get cheaper over time. If you make one of these antennas come back and let us know how it works. www.ebay.com/itm/Enamel-Coated-Magnet-Wire-22G-4oz-Spool/181876113620?epid=1062204783&hash=item2a58a940d4:g:f3cAAOSw54xUVW37:sc:USPSFirstClass!72032!US!-1:rk:1:pf:0 Regards, John
Here is the type of Sony loop antenna that I have, tho it appears to be a bare frame that lacks the wire in the foto: ruclips.net/video/EmD-Z7Wsw4w/видео.html
Hi John, just seen this video and I know a lot of waves have passed through the sky since you made it, but I just had to say, you really did justice to that build- it’s so aesthetically pleasing to the the eye- the dark wood n brass really gel together.
And yes it does work wonderfully on your vintage Philco 630B- which is an awesome looking receiver.
And Gator wires work- here in the UK we call em Crocodile clips 😂.
Thanks for sharing this project-
And I am looking for a loop design- this one won.
73 Barnie de M7PBX.
Who the heck disliked this?! What's to dislike?! Haha! This is just great. I'm a long time loop antenna fanatic and I always enjoy and appreciate well made and attractive loops!
Thanks John - that is Sooo COOL! I have read about these things but never actually built one. I just didn't think they would be that effective! Thanks for the demo.
Dave
David,
Just gotferit, my friend. They're easy to build and you already know what the results will be. You can do it!
Regards,
John
Super looking antenna. I down loaded the schematic and checking the scrap pile for all the material.Thanks again for your videos
Brad
Brad,
You're very welcome, my friend. Good luck with your loop. If possible, put up a vid of the completed product.
Regards,
John
Beautiful job.
I agree. These things should be decorative and yours didn't disappoint.
You get a kid into this next thing he's an electrical engineer or some sort of highly paid nerd!
I made a big ugly one 4 feet on a side just to prove a point. None of it is permanent and I plan to take it apart some day soon. Before I do, I expect to try making a one turn version with a huge tuning capacitor just to see if that works too.
Hey John, Thanks for showing how well this antenna works. I know you've mentioned in the past about the poor reception in your area, especially during the day. Your antenna really pulls in the signal. At night it must really be good. All my best to you and your family this Christmas, Tom
Antenna really looks the part, It has a period look to it and works great.
Yeah it's like those cool old monochrome photos of people using longwave radios in the field. So beautiful and classic looking antenna, just like the old big centerpiece wooden tube radios.
Just realized you're in my area, heard the Hot Springs commercial. I'm in Hot Springs Village. Great job on the antenna. Gonna build one of these for my antique radios - thanks for a great vid
John, just a note , I have a 2 ft homebrew AM BC loop and it works excellent on of course all modern radios with a built in ferrite rod, but to my surprise I have tested it by just using a single alligator clip lead from the tuning cap to the antenna screw on a handful of 1930s and 1940s wood radios, and it works excellent wonder if you have tried that and if there is really any difference?, I am not sure it would work on all early wood radios but so far 2 Crosley, 2 RCAs and 2 Sears Silvertones it works great, 2 were all American 5s the others had 6 tubes All were long wire hook up. no built-in loop antennas. all of them except my 1936 Silvertone are now long gone to other owners but plan on keeping this love your videos and look forward to everything you post-- all the best - Jim in MO
"SIMPLE" AM BROADCAST BAND ANTENNAS
If you`re an AM broadcast band DXer and want to receive extremely long range daytime signals the most simple and least expensive way if you have the space is by winding a coil of 24 AWG magnet wire close wound and side by side turns on a vitamin bottle...about 80 to 120 turns...and connect two very long wires strung out in opposite directions to each end of the coil and place near the radio. 500 feet of wire connected to each end of the coil isn`t too much. I`ve always wanted to try way more but can`t. You can also make a very simple coil (like rope is coiled but tape it to hold it in shape) of 6 or 7 turns 6 or 7 inches in diameter in a long wire connected to a ground rod and put it near the radio. I had my best luck with the former but just experiment.
Or you can buy an AN-200 inductive loop antenna and a mono audio plug that fits the input port and connect it to the wires and do the same but adjust the tuning capacitor to resonance on the target frequency. These inductive antennas don`t need an external antenna wire to boost reception but in many cases an external antenna connection is the only way to override static interference from modern electronics and get a clean AM signal inside a home. They can also draw lightning into your home so keep antenna wires outside and away from anything you don`t want to destroy, kill, or damage. Study antenna safety. I`m too crazy to offer advice.
You can also wind 17 turns of 24 AWG magnet wire around the edge of a 16 inch pizza box and connect both gangs of a large sized tuning capacitor. I think the one I use is 450pf. You can also use two 365pf tuning capacitors in series or try one and see if it still works for your target station. Adding or subtracting coil turns can help you get the station if it`s at the edge of the band.
An even larger coil form, several feet or more in size, will boost signal strength even more and can be used by itself, especially outdoors, to receive daytime stations at great distances. I used a 4 ft solar panel box wrapped with 6 turns to get a very strong signal from New Orleans during the day 170 miles away. Wrap two turns of magnet wire over the center of your coil and add a female mono plug port to connect an external antenna.
John, not only can you make old equipment look and sound good, you also have the talent to make new equipment look and sound old. Well done!
Merry Christmas to you and your family and I wish you a wonderful New Year!
73 -- de Mick, WB4LSS
Thank you, Mick. I appreciate your comment very much.
And a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours as well.
Regards,
John
I'd seen a few of these made from PCV, but really didn't like the way they looked. Really glad I found your video, this antenna not just functions great, but looks great too! Plan to build one myself now!
Thanks for the great video, and link to Dave's website it really helps!
Very impressive... Nice build and functional....
Sure is nice John. I am intrigued to the point that I believe I have to make one too. The reception, in particular, is what amazes me. Nice design. Thanks for sharing this one as well...Joe
Joe.
Just git in there and make'er happen. You can do it. Be sure to check out Dave's Radio Loop page though. He has lots of additional info I didn't cover.
Regards,
John
Nice! Good job explaining the antenna. I need to start making one!
Beautiful!!! Going to make mine floor standable!!!
Thanks Joernone. Great video. Interesting and really well explained. Not really wanting to make this antenna but the video was very informational. Nice manner and delivery too. keep them coming Joerrnone.
John, I decided to try to make one of these after watching this video a week or two ago. I am a complete electronic idiot but I am following your oft told advice, there's no hurry and no rush. I'm certainly in no hurry because it's 30 miles to the nearest Lowe's from here, lol. I think I have all the parts I need, only thing I'm doing differently is using 7/8th inch oak dowel roads notched out for the crossbeam and I think I'm going to build a box to mount on a larger base to house the variable capacitor and the banana plugs. I guess I'll learn through trial and error where to hook up the wires to the variable capacitor. I'm getting some better at soldering as I've been practicing with my late father's old weller 8200. He worked on tube tv's for years back when I was a kid. We used to have literally thousands of vacuum tubes of all kinds back then stored everywhere. I could kick myself now because we ended up throwing them all away back in the late 1980's thinking there would never be a use for them anymore. He once repaired the circuit board on an old 13" b&w magnavox and gave it to me when I was 13. I kept it and used it as my bedroom tv until my mid 30's when the picture tube finally played out. I only saw him imjured once, he was working on a TV and touched the wrong spot in that metal box in back and it literally knocked him across the room. Fortunately he was still conscious, just knocked silly for a bit. That scared me enough to not want to mess with electronics at all up until now.
Very cool John!!! Thanks for another great video.
Merry Christmas.
Terry
You're very welcome, Terry. And Merry Christmas to you and yours as well.
Regards,
John
Very nice John! I have been wanting to build one for a while, now you have inspired me. Thanks for sharing. Regards Larry
Nice job! Betcha that does an amazing job at night! I made one a few years back (no where near as nice as yours) to use during the DX winter season. I made mine with a bearing in the base so I could rotate it. This way I could receive/null stations close together or on the same frequency! RW
RW,
Right. Night-time reception was excellent. And like you, I plan to use a lazy susan with the next antenna effort, but it'll be removable, not permanently attached.
Thanks for popping in, my friend.
Regards,
John
Awesome Job Joe, nice finish and works great to boot, you can't do much better!
Thank you, my friend. It was a bunch of fun building it. But I had no idea it would work until turning the loop tuner. It was almost like hearing that first sound from a restored radio. :-)
Regards,
John
Hi John ....
Greetings from Bahrain
I personally think of you as my Mentor for Vintage Electronics. I started repairing Home Electronics in 19779 and I graduated from Manama Technical School in 1986 (Radio/TV Servicing) Section (By that time most people almost forgot about tube Radios and TVs and went onto the Transitor and I.C lane.) but I never stopped since then.
I found out about your Videos from Shango 066 and since then I never Stopped watching You Videos and others of course (Man i like your Style of Radio Servicing)
Keep on the Good Work
God Bless you All
By the way Buzz 1159 told me that you Stopped doing Radio Repair because you cannot compete with His Genuineness Is that true ??? !!!!)
Thank You and God bless you All...
Mohammed A. Rahim
Bahrain
Hi John think i'm gonna have a go at building one but make it bigger a lots of the radio stations here in the UK use low power transmitters & get swamped be stations from Europe .Hope you & your family a great Christmas & best wishes for 2014
Mark,
You know...I'd like to see a bigger tunable loop antenna than this one, and see how it works. I wonder how large one can go with these.
And a very Merry Christmas a Happy New Year to you and yours.
Regards,
John
Wow probably the best looking one I've seen good job.
That is great!! I've been looking to buy one for years, but never saw one I liked. When you and your grandson go into mass production, I'll be your first customer. Since that is tunable, I wonder if it works better for you than the one in the tree. I'm speaking of amplitude moduation only.
Michael,
Watchamean, customer? Build one. A child could do it. It doesn't have to be perfect. As I was telling another of our subscribers...there's a web site out there where a guy strung a loop antenna on wooden clothes hangers. Works well.
As for the antenna in the tree, I still need it for shortwave reception...until I eventually build a tunable loop for that.
Regards,
John
joernone
John, you made me do it. I have the wire and the var. cap coming from ebay. BTW, my wife said I couldn't put this in the living room when done. Poor sport. :)
Since you seem to have used raw plastic stock for the panel at the bottom of the assembly, you could cut two strips (maybe 1/2" wide I'd guess) the length of the panel. Epoxy or cement them to the back of the panel to make a double thickness of the plastic. It will make it more rigid. If you want to keep the same holes that you have used to screw the panel to the upright, you can add a third piece of plastic between the two stiffening pieces to fill the gap between the panel and the upright.
Nice project.
Jim KN4FAF
Nice job and a great demo. Thanks John.
You're welcome, my friend. It's my pleasure.
Regards,
John
Love the little red Baofeng on the table in the background! :)
Nice video John, and well explained.and very well made. I will make one for sure for AM broadcast listening, because I think it beats a long wire. The long wire picks up too much noise and static.
I made a magnetic loop for transmitting on the 40 meter HAM band (1.8 meter diameter) and can work all of Europe easily. 73 from pd0rk
I do recommend that you build one. They work well. I've since built two more, one for me and another vintage radio buff.
Regards,
John
+joernone ... In fact John, I made one this week. I made a wooden square, giving sides of 60 by 60 cm, and gave it 12 winding of copper wire with the windings next to one-another, so they all have the same radius. Spaced them 0.5 cm from each-other. I put a variable capacitor of what I think is approx 450 pF parallel to it.
The result ? Excellent reception, tunable between 380 and 1620 kHz. But trying to tune to interesting African MW stations failed big time, because on almost every MW frequency, the Spanish, and French Broadcasters are blocking my way to Africa...... But never mind. The experiment was well worth it, and now I'm planning to alter it to a mag-loop usuable for the 80 meter band. Another challenge coming up. 73.
I'm happy to see you got one built and have had success with it, my friend. Please keep me informed on your 80 meter mag loop progress.
Regards,
John
John. I am planning on building one for the guy who owns the chairside. On the plastic; do not overlook the kitchen section of the discount stores. Plastic cutting boards are fairly cheap and can provide lots of plastic parts. 73 - Al
Very very clear and excellent work❤️
From India West Bengal Kolkata..
Any short wave easiest reception module..like this loop antenna...
That is a great video, thanks. Just one question, and I'm sure I could figure it out if I watch the video several more times, but, would you have a parts list to build one?
FB John! Living in an electrically noisy apartment, I've become a big fan of loop antennas. They have an amazing ability to null out unwanted noise and interference by rotating or tilting them. Careful positioning will even allow you to listen to two different stations on the same frequency, by nulling out the unwanted station. They can be built for any band of frequencies; VLF, LW, MW, SW, even VHF. Dave Schmarder, by the way, is a regular visitor and contributor at The Radio Board (www.theradioboard.com). Great bunch of guys, please check it out. Once again, great job, but be careful, loop antennas can become very addictive! 73, Karl
Karl,
It's very good to hear from you, my friend. At some point I do want to make a shortwave loop, but I haven't found a clear, concise web site about how to do it. It would be much better if internet posters had an ability to keep things at a basic level, as most of us hackers out here prefer to not go through an online electrical engineering course just to build a loop antenna.
Thanks for popping in. Please do so again.
Regards,
John
joernone Hi John, and Seasons Greetings. Here's a terrific loop for SW. Go to www.kr1st.com/swlloop.htm. It's the first SW loop I made, and it works great. Enjoy! Best Wishes, and 73, Karl
Once again, a great video. Thanks for the education.
Spud,
You're very welcome, my friend. Glad I could help.
Regards,
John
Fantastic Job John. Thank you for sharing and take care.
Thanks, Bobby. I'm glad you liked the finished product.
Regards,
John
Joernone, thanks for your video above & for interacting with me. What do u consider vintage? Vintage radios commonly have ferrite antennas inside (which can couple to a loop inductively) or non-ferrite loops on the back of the radio. There exist today many ferrite antenna radios, which can couple to an external loop antenna by placing it near the loop. Then there are car radios (which may be used outside of cars) which have motorola jacks for antenna (unbalance in the 50-100 ohm range probably). Then there are Stereo Receivers which have little loop antennas furnished which connect to dual clamps on the back. Then there are stereo receivers which connect the provided loop to a 3 pin connector on the back (purpose of 3 pins is beyond me).
Like always good job john, merry christmas & a happy new year to you &yours
phil
Hi John,
BRASS NAIL, Got it. Doh! I need to LISTEN more closely.
Thanks again!
Gord.
I don't think you answer old video questions, but here goes: A few things you did not mention. One; How long are the four wooden sticks you use? Two: What is the distance between brass bolts?
Hey Michael, it's good to hear from you again.
This is the web site I mentioned in the vid. Go there for the scoop. Page 1 gives dimensions, etc, but you can reasonably modify it to suit your needs:
makearadio.com/loops/
Regards,
John
+joernone Well, I did it! I made one. I must have viewed your video about seven times and Dave's site as well. But, I videoed my construction as well. I picked up Toronto from Maryland. That's 471 miles from where I live! I also tune in NYC. Cool. Thanks for posting !!!
This is snazzy! Looks great!!
Thank you very much John for this great video of this amazing antenna. Just curious... if you see the video in 8 seconds and 3:37 too. I see on the trunk of the tree a face... Someone was making a sculpture or is just my imagination? I see a very clear face in there :-)
John: season’s greetings to you and your family.
An excellent tutorial/demonstration video using a good old tried and tested design. It is neatly constructed and I particularly like the large solid base that will keep the whole structure stable. The control panel is also neat given you used what was available. Perhaps it could be strengthened with a narrow wooden or metal strip attached to the rear (just a thought)? The wood-stain certainly gives it a vintage look, and I like the centre faux jewel. Most importantly, its performance certainly fulfilled your expectations. A superb first attempt, well done my friend.
Regards,
Phil.
Phil,
Thank you, old bean...I much appreciate your kind words. I'm back in the throes of finding plexiglass at a reasonable price. Today's cost for even small pieces is outrageous. It's a matter of pronciple that I won't pay what's being asked. But I do have my peepers on something that just might solve the problem. Time will tell.
You and the Mrs. please have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Regards,
John
John, that's the most beautiful antenna. You never cease to amaze.
Do you think that design would work if it were located in a basement?
Also....these are directional. You can increase the received signal by turning towards the transmitting station if it's far away.
You are 100% correct, my friend.
Regards,
John
Very informative and instructive video. Good job.
Great video! I am going to build this. My primary radio for actual listening, is a Zenith H725, which is an AM/FM radio. Question: Could this loop antenna also be used to assist with the FM band. I know that normally the 2 types of antennas for each band is different. Just wondering if it is possible to modify this design to accommodate both uses in the same antenna?????? Thanks.
Bruce,
Hey fella...thanks for popping in.
The loop antenna itself is for the AM broadcast band...no good for short wave and FM. However, there is an interesting video on how to make an FM antenna by coiling speaker wire around a vertical rod, the type of vertical rod which the AM tunable loop antenna just happens to have. LOL Give it a shot. Connect them to a switch so you can flip back and forth at will, then come back and tell us how it went. If you're successful I might just try it myself.
ruclips.net/video/_diI-a7afQM/видео.html
Regards,
John
Just beautiful john
Very nice
One of the best presentations I've seen on RUclips !
Just curious how you mounted the capacitor to keep it from spinning when turning knob
The Talking House and iAM Transmitters both have a 50-75 OHM output. This could be used for a Transmitter antenna too I bet. Gonna send this video to my friend Jeff.
John,
Hello how have you been ? Very good job on the antenna, glad it worked out for you. Something like this would be nice for my Stewart Warner when finished. Thanks for the idea and for sharing it.
Nathan
Nathan,
This is a great project that'll help clear your mind of unwanted radio issues, which come with any restoration effort. Give it a shot, my friend.
Regards,
John.
You realy did a nice job on this thing, John. Has my curiosity up, since I get such lousy AM reception where I live, what one of these will do. An after Christmas project, for sure. It will look nice sitting next to the AK. Really well done and great explanation. Thank you, my friend.
Al,
Thanks, my friend. The best part of a loop antenna is its ability to filter out quite a bit of static. I like that. You can make these things out of just about anything. One web site I went to had a guy who used wooden coat hangers for a frame. The was a cool idea.
Regards,
John
Sweeeeet! Really worked well. Thanks for sharing . . . Rog
I appreciate it, my friend. Thanks for being here.
Regards,
John
Beautiful build.
You have convinced me to try and make one john!
Lovely job !
I guess you could use an old TV stand that so many people are throwing away...to mount the antenna. So one side of the antenna is hooked to the lug on the variable capacitor and the other side is hooked to the ground, or case of the capacitor??? This is a cool thing..thanks..
I wonder if this design van be used as a tuneable tv antenna?
Well done...love the red sparkly.
Robin,
I like the red sparkly too. I figured if the antenna was a bust I'd at least have something cool to look at. :-)
Thanks for stopping by.
Regards,
John
I have an old console model farm radio called a coronado that I have no intention of trying to get restored. Would the tuning fin section of it work as a variable capacitor or does it need to be a small one like what you have?
I meant wire...Is it speaker wire?
Your talented. good job.
Brother Mac,
Talented?...not really. I just get these crazy ideas from others and opt to give some of them a try. Some turn out well and some not. This one I got lucky on.
As always, my friend, I appreciate you popping in.
Regards,
John
What kind of cable do you use in this antenna?
Didn't use a cable, just 22ga wire for the loops and gator wires to connect it to the radio.
Regards,
John
I agree. No reason why a tool can't be nice looking
I wonder if it works with the X band?
Jerry,
Build one and give it a try. :-)
Regards,
John
Hi John,
Can I ask what you used on the arms of your loop antenna? Was it brass screws or brass pins/nails?
Regards,
Gord.
Gordon,
Watch the video again...especially beginning at time 6:37.
Regards,
John
Good job ! Really enjoyed the video !
Thank you, my friend. I'm glad you stopped by.
Regards,
John
hey John, I think I've wanted to make one of these for a while and wanted to ask you a question. I don't know alot about radios or electronics and you make this project sound really simple to build, but the question I wanted to ask is if I had a spare full sized tuning capacitor from an old radio, could I mount that to the base of the tunable antenna, or do you need a small one gang tuning cap. this is really neat and would be authentic looking connected to my old radios.
I see no problem with your plan. Go for it, my friend. If it's a two-gang tuner, use the larger one. Be sure to let me know how it goes. My curiosity is tingling. lol
Regards,
John
Hi John,
Great video..I was wondering about using a piece of lexan behind the plastic panel to shore it up; just a thought..Looks GREAT
No sense if half-stepping. Better to start fresh with a stronger material. 1/8" plexiglas will do the job. Finding it in small pieces is the problem.
Thanks for stopping in. I greatly apprerciate it.
Regards,
John
Like always John, enjoyable.
I appreciate it, Mike. It's always good to have you here.
Regards,
John
Plexiglass or lexan for the plastic would work.
I don't know why you comment below denying a ground, since your diagram & voice clearly saying ground in the video. You are grounding 1 side of the the pickup loop which goes to your radio. I can't see why you would ground that unless you are going to put a balan in between your balanced output; aren't you creating an unbalanced transmission line by grounding one side?
length of wire? This shows how important the antenna is. I may give this one a whirl. I have one of those Talking House AM transmitters, and it barely can be heard outside the room. I got it cheap on eeba, so it may be defective. Butit does transmit a weak signal. I have a random wire about twenty feet long on it. I like loops antennas, and especially cubical quads. Of course this is for receivers, but the concept is kewl.
Don,
I didn't bother to measure the length of wire. There was no need to reinvent the wheel, so I pretty much followed the plan on Dave's Radio Loop web site. It turned out ok. What have you got to lose? Goferit, old boy.
Regards,
John
That is a great looking and performing AM antenna John!
Oh, Oh... Here we go... I wonder if it would work in the shortwave spectrum if you decreased the capacitance by hooking up a 300pf or such in series with the ganged capacitor. Or maybe a center tap on the LC portion of the antenna. If you did that though the other part of the antenna may be thrown out of resonance. ARGH... Maybe I should shut the heck up because I don't know what I am talking about. :-()
I think I'll stick to building the K4KIO hexbeam instead, and call it good.
Anyway, great AM antenna!
73s to you my friend, and may you and your entire family have a Very Merry Christmas!
from:
Tom and his family
Hey, Tom. I have no idea what would happen if I made those changes. I barely know how it works now. But I do believe you're right about even one change amounting to a cause and affect situation. But I will at some point try my hand at a SW antenna.
Regards,
John
Awesome antenna! Is that a Philco 650 your using? I have the console model 650X. I noticed your shadow meter isn't working. Neither is is mine. Always enjoy your videos. Thanks for posting.
You must have missed me saying it in the video, but it's a Philco 630B. Not too long ago I did a RUclips restoration series on it. And the shadow meter does work. You know...the loop antenna might be having a negative effect on it. I'll have to check this out.
Regards,
John
Could you put a trimmer capacitor on this for more precise tuning?
Hey Gordon,
Of course you can, my friend. It's a passive device, no electricity going to it. Put as many trimmer on it as you like, but you'll likely soon get tired of trimming. Also, there is a limit to the antenna's tuning capability aka: efficiency.
Let me know how you make out.
Regards,
John
How can you use just banana plugs unshielded for a HF antenna?
HF antenna. Say what?
I have a question. One the web site you talk about he used 70 feet of wire for the inner loop and 14 on the outer. That is a total of 17 loops. On yours I see 20 or 21 loops. Which is more important loops or the length of the wire?
Kevin Sharples P.S. Great video.
Kevin,
Loops or length?...you got me, my friend. I decided to go with 20 loops just to see what would happen and it worked out fine. If it hadn't, then I would have just built another and not lost any sleep over it. LOL
Regards,
John
Kevin,
Thanks for stopping by. Please do come again.
Regards,
John
Hello! You attached the inner loop to each lug on only the one side of the cap?
Very nice looking Antenna :D
Thank you for posting this.
Endo. You're very welcome, my friend. I've since made two more and they work very well. Regards, John
If your radio has a balanced antenna input, would u directly connect ur 2 leads to that input without a ground? What is the impedance presented by your antenna output? Is not the output intrinsically balanced? So how are you grounding one side without a balun? I own a Sony receiver/amplifier (AV Center). The loop that comes with it has a twisted pair of wires coming from its loop & those wires connect into connection jaws in the back of the Sony. There is no capacitor visble (maybe one is inside the Sony?) & u don't tune that loop. So I am interested in a better loop antenna, but I really don't know what impedances are involved nor why you are grounding a loop antenna which I think is balanced. If you were to ground, I would think you would use a balun and then ground the shield side of your transmission cable.
I have no idea what you're talking about. This is a passive AM non-Earth-grounded tunable loop antenna used to improve reception for vintage AM radio receivers that have no built-in antennas. It'll keep one from having to string up an outside random long-wire antenna. It's not to be used for transmitting. There would be no advantage in connecting this type of loop antenna to a receiver that already has its own loop antenna, such as your Sony. But if your Sony has a set of wires coming off the loop it's there so you can hook up an outside long-wire antenna. So build a loop and connect it to those two wires and see what happens.
Thanks, Jer for responding, but no, the Sony loop antenna that comes with the Sony Stereo has a couple of wires coming out of it, twisted which plug into 2 antenna clamps in the rear. It has nothing to do with any long-wire antenna. This is an el cheapo antenna with no tuning capacitor in it. I am quite curious as to impedance of loops. Do u know what the impedance of your loop is? I want to replace the el cheapo untunable loop with a higher class larger loop. I wud like to know how many turns at what diameter to get 300 ohms output. I don't see how a loop could have anything but balanced output, requiring a balun if you will use coax as the transmission line. This has nothing to do with transmitting. I will not be transmitting on the AM broadcast band.
I can't see using a "long wire" as the impedance would be a very bad mismatch & no where near a 1/4 wave long for AM. I doubt it would do as well as licking your finger and touching the antenna input. And if you did get it 1/4 wave long, I think it would be designed for picking up signals from the moon over head.
I Love your antenne construction. Like to build one for my LW/MW (SW) radio. What are the dimensions you used for the crossbooms?
Thank You
Stay Safe
Greetings from Belgium
Lambert,
12 1/2" each side. Good luck with it, my friend.
Regards,
John
@@joernone Thanks for the answer, one more question, the additional 360pF capacitor (on the switch), what type is this, and which capacitor you use for the tuner?
Apologies for all the question.
Regards
Lambert
Lambert,
Go here for the 365pf variable capacitor:
www.ebay.com/itm/Capacitor-365pF-Variable-Single-Section/132032487083?epid=1712229709&hash=item1ebdbfdeab:g:N2wAAOSwfSJdC88J
This is the type of 360pf mica capacitor I used. The voltage rating is mega-overkill, but it was all I had on hand at the time:
www.ebay.com/itm/Capacitor-365pF-Variable-Single-Section/132032487083?epid=1712229709&hash=item1ebdbfdeab:g:N2wAAOSwfSJdC88J
Regards,
John
Lambert,
One more thing, my friend. This antenna is for the AM broadcast band only. It won't work for shortwave
Regards,
John
@@joernone Thanks again John. Sadly they don't ship to Belgium. I have looked locally, but could'nt find a variable capacitor that was usable.
Will look further though.
Greetings
Lambert
I can't solder to save my soul. Would this work ok using crimp on leads to the screws? Every time I try to solder all I end up doing is making a mess and the wire never sticks, lol
Rebel9668 I taught myself how to solder and I think it looks decent. I've had an old soldering gun that for years sat out in the garage. It belonged to my Pappy back when he used to repair tv's. An old Weller 8200. I think I may get a stick-type iron though, my hands tend to shake a bit when i'm trying to do work on small things like solder connections and since there's no trigger on the stick kind maybe it'll be a little easier to use.
Nice one! Works well.
Recipe Please 🤩
Cool!
Can you pickup WSM during the day now?
I bet it booms in at night!
Dennis,
Right you are, my friend. It did boom at night, but it's been handed off to it's rightful owner. So I'll have to build another.
Regards,
John
wow that's cool! I wonder how well that would work for a crystal radio?
Daniel,
Go to Dave's Radio Loop Antenna web site. He covers everything you'll ever need to know about crystal radios and their associated antennas.
Regards,
John
beautiful job
Dan,
Thank you, my friend.
Regards,
John
Its beautiful!
so how could i apply this to a 1920s radio with a variable cap in it?
All receivers have variable tuning capacitors. Just hook the tunable loop to the antenna connections on the radio.
thanks. im getting started on restoring radios (working on a ge model 60 currently) but im getting a atwater kent model 20 and was looking for how to make an antenna
Fantastic Job
David, ole boy, I again ask how the heck have you been? I appreciate you stopping in once more.
regards,
John
Thank you john doing good i have new video.have a Merry Christmas. i will build me one loop antenna look good .have fun !
Man this is amazing! Can this be done on/with wood?
Not sure what you mean by "on/with wood". Please elaborate.
Regards,
John
Thanks man, I meant using a wood frame or base or rods...etc. like this guy did
ruclips.net/video/VPALB-ZZGbY/видео.html
hi john, very cool antenna and construction. I compare it to a friend of ours', antenna amplifier in a pm (see your message inbox) cheers ~wiggy
the sticking point with most loop antenna presentations which I have seen is a failure to describe precisely the interface between the loop & the radio, taking into account the type of antenna connectors which the radio has (ferrite antenna radios have no antenna jacks at all). And another problem for me is a failure to address the issues of balanced vs unbalanced transmission & impedance matching. If an inductive connection between 2 loops is going to be used as the connection, I can't understand why you would ground any loop at any place since it appears to me that any inductive connection must by nature be balanced & you do not ground one side of a balanced circuit (if you do this with 240 Volts AC in the house, expect an explosion).
I meant wire...İs it speaker wire?
I used 22ga enamel coated magnet wire, but 24ga would have been a little easier to use. It's all in the video.
Here's a good deal on a 22ga 128 foot roll with free shipping. Why 128 feet?...hey, someday you might want to make a second or third antenna and copper wire will not get cheaper over time. If you make one of these antennas come back and let us know how it works.
www.ebay.com/itm/Enamel-Coated-Magnet-Wire-22G-4oz-Spool/181876113620?epid=1062204783&hash=item2a58a940d4:g:f3cAAOSw54xUVW37:sc:USPSFirstClass!72032!US!-1:rk:1:pf:0
Regards,
John
Very excellent
Ahmed,
Thank you, my friend. It was good of you to stop by. Please come again.
Regards,
John
70' and 14' of wire
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
Ouch, looks like you wacked your middle left finger, the nail is turning black.
Yeah, I popped it with a hammer. But it didn't hurt that much, so cussing and swearing was kept to a minimum...NOT!!!
Regards,
John
Here is the type of Sony loop antenna that I have, tho it appears to be a bare frame that lacks the wire in the foto: ruclips.net/video/EmD-Z7Wsw4w/видео.html
can someone sell me some litz wire 44 or 46.175/220
duckduckgo.com/?q=litz+wire&ia=products
www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?SearchText=litz+wire
Ebay
You should put links to things like Daves antennas. I can find references to this site but not the site.