Thanks for sharing your knowledge. My favorite antenna is a 80 Meter full wave horizontal loop antenna fed with 450 Ohm Ladder line. At the rig end, the ladder line gives into a 4:1 Balun and then into a tuner via short coax jumper cable. Tunes all bands,super quiet receive and fantastic DX performance on higher frequency bands....just be sure to unplug the antenna from the radios when actually not in use. You can rubber band a fluorescent tube to the coax and enjoy thunder storms as the tube will flash with lightening strikes...good fun!
You have to figure the wire length according to the lowest frequency used, ladder line length I like to use just what I need. I have adjusted its length to lower impedance.
Great Explanation! I use the 600-ohm version of the ladder line and do not twist the wire to a height of about 70 feet without issue. Keep the videos coming.
My take away is to use 600 ohm for dipoles, is that correct? Is the main benefit of ladder vs coax the ability to run long distance from antenna to shack? How does your 80 meter loop work? How high in the air is it? Thanks for the video.
I stayed with 450 ohm simply because I had it, and I am very satisfied with my loop's performance. All 4 corners are roughly 35' in the air, That is low for 80 meters but it still works surprisingly well, even better on higher bands. The ladder line can handle higher SWR over coax and when put right to the tuner or on a balun close to tuner the loss is minor compared to a run of coax with higher SWR.
As the feed line gets farther apart do the conductors need to be larger? The reason I’m asking I saw an old WW2 radio station that had 4 inch or so copper tubes feeding a massive loop. They were about 20-26 inches apart, maybe more. Would that mean it’s higher in ohms like 1200 or 2400? Many of the 600 ohm ladder line builders use 12 gauge and not 16 or 18 so I thought it might be a scaling up type thing.
The only real consideration with spacing is it should not be over 1 percent of the highest-frequency wavelength. Since you mention massive loop and WW2 I am assuming the antenna is well outside the ham bands. A 1-inch spaced with #18 line is 450 ohm, the same 1-inch spaced with #14 line is 370 ohms. The spacing and wire size work together in producing the Ohm rating of the line. A 6-inch spaced with #12 is about 600 ohms. Scaling up does play a part in power rating, but the design characteristics has the final say. The Ohm rating is far less critical with open wire then it is with coax since you are not trying to match it at the feed point.
I want to thank you for the clarification! That is one of those things in the back of my mind that puzzled me. You channel is very informative and helpful.
First time I ever herd ladder line explained in depth makes since thanks Vince.
I hope it helped
40 years in radio never seen this explained this well. Sir you not only know your craft you're a fantastic teacher.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. My favorite antenna is a 80 Meter full wave horizontal loop antenna fed with 450 Ohm Ladder line. At the rig end, the ladder line gives into a 4:1 Balun and then into a tuner via short coax jumper cable. Tunes all bands,super quiet receive and fantastic DX performance on higher frequency bands....just be sure to unplug the antenna from the radios when actually not in use. You can rubber band a fluorescent tube to the coax and enjoy thunder storms as the tube will flash with lightening strikes...good fun!
I want to make one like that. Do you know your wire and ladder line lengths?
You have to figure the wire length according to the lowest frequency used, ladder line length I like to use just what I need. I have adjusted its length to lower impedance.
I did not know about the tube flashing thing, I will try that. Thank you
Great Explanation! I use the 600-ohm version of the ladder line and do not twist the wire to a height of about 70 feet without issue. Keep the videos coming.
Thank You ! I found this very informative
Glad it was helpful!
Good presentation, thanks! Studying for AE and this is on the exam.
Glad it was helpful! Good luck on your test!!
great video!
Thanks!
My take away is to use 600 ohm for dipoles, is that correct? Is the main benefit of ladder vs coax the ability to run long distance from antenna to shack? How does your 80 meter loop work? How high in the air is it? Thanks for the video.
I stayed with 450 ohm simply because I had it, and I am very satisfied with my loop's performance. All 4 corners are roughly 35' in the air, That is low for 80 meters but it still works surprisingly well, even better on higher bands. The ladder line can handle higher SWR over coax and when put right to the tuner or on a balun close to tuner the loss is minor compared to a run of coax with higher SWR.
Thank you! This is great information!
Glad it was helpful!
As the feed line gets farther apart do the conductors need to be larger? The reason I’m asking I saw an old WW2 radio station that had 4 inch or so copper tubes feeding a massive loop. They were about 20-26 inches apart, maybe more.
Would that mean it’s higher in ohms like 1200 or 2400?
Many of the 600 ohm ladder line builders use 12 gauge and not 16 or 18 so I thought it might be a scaling up type thing.
The only real consideration with spacing is it should not be over 1 percent of the highest-frequency wavelength. Since you mention massive loop and WW2 I am assuming the antenna is well outside the ham bands. A 1-inch spaced with #18 line is 450 ohm, the same 1-inch spaced with #14 line is 370 ohms. The spacing and wire size work together in producing the Ohm rating of the line. A 6-inch spaced with #12 is about 600 ohms. Scaling up does play a part in power rating, but the design characteristics has the final say.
The Ohm rating is far less critical with open wire then it is with coax since you are not trying to match it at the feed point.
I want to thank you for the clarification! That is one of those things in the back of my mind that puzzled me.
You channel is very informative and helpful.
TU
I love your very comprehensive and chill way of explains things ... de ac0v
Glad you liked it!