Saturday, June 23, 2012

Looping the loop

Whenever I have taken a rig to operate in the Great Outdoors using a wire antenna I have often been disappointed. This is probably due to my use of inadequate antennas - Miracle Whips and the like. When I have tried wire I usually fail to get it up high enough. Usually when hurling a rock attached to a string into the trees, the rock rebounds off a branch and narrowly avoids hitting me on the head. If I do manage to get it up high the rock irremovably entwines itself with a branch just out of reach. There has to be a better way!

AlexLoop WalkHam carrying case

I have long been an enthusiast for magnetic loop antennas and have often wished I could use one as a portable antenna. My Wonder Loop was an attempt to make such an antenna, but it was less portable than transportable (by car) and has seen more use as a spare antenna from inside the shack.

I looked longingly at the WalkHam made by Alex PY1AHD and wished I could make a portable loop as neat and compact as that. If I had to make it myself it might never get done so I decided to bite the bullet and buy one of Alex's ready-made loops.

There are two versions of the AlexLoop. One is a kit using copper tube  for the radiating element and costs $199 US. The other version, called the WalkHam, uses stout coaxial cable for the main loop and comes ready built in its own custom made carrying case similar to a laptop case. The price of the AlexLoop WalkHam is $299 US. Shipping to the UK by express courier to the UK is a further $82 US. The total cost to me using PayPal was just over £250 at the present exchange rate.
AlexLoop WalkHam in its case
 The WalkHam is well made with gold plated connectors for the loop element. It is easy to assemble, though not so easy to pack away unless you have a photo to show how the parts go back! The mast is made of black plastic tubing and is in three push-together sections. Once assembled the antenna may be used whilst held aloft - hence the name. Most users will probably prefer some sort of mast.
The AlexLoop WalkHam ready for use.

The loop is 1 metre in diameter and tuned using an air spaced variable capacitor with a 3:1 reduction drive giving a 4 : 1 tuning range: 10m - 40m. Most magnetic loops including home-made ones only manage a tuning range of 3:1: 10m - 30m or 15m - 40m. My MFJ magnetic loop is the 40m - 15m version as it was bought during the last solar minimum when 12m and 10m were not much use!

The coupling loop has a diameter of about 20cm. The maximum power handling is 20 watts PEP, 10 watts continuous wave, making the WalkHam perfect for use with QRP radios like the FT-817 or Elecraft's new KX3!

Tuning as expected of a magnetic loop is extremely sharp but I noticed little or no hand-capacitance effect. With a little practice the loop can be tuned by peaking for maximum noise in the receiver. If the SWR isn't low enough then the tuning may be touched up using transmit and the rig's built-in SWR meter if it has one (both the FT-817 and KX3 do!) If not, a simple SWR indicator as I used in my Wonder Loop would be a big help.

Subjectively the AlexLoop seems to work as well as my MFJ magnetic loop in the attic, which itself is comparable to a full-size dipole. There are not many portable antennas that would beat the AlexLoop WalkHam for performance, unless you are able to erect a couple of 40-foot masts!

One thing that would improve the package would be a way of erecting the antenna so that it will stand on its own. I think my arm would soon get tired holding the WalkHam aloft! Possibly a short guyed mast made of sections of electrical conduit would do the job: magnetic loops don't need to be far above ground in order to work. Some users are reportedly using photographic tripods so I'll probably investigate that in due course.

9 comments:

  1. Hallo Julian,

    Saw your blog via Bas in the Netherlands and wanted to say I had seriously considered buying one of Alex's fine loops. Good for you. It's a great looking package and after building your wonder loop I am a fully converted loop fan now.

    Hope you have hours of fun with it.

    73 Adam (M6RDP)

    ReplyDelete
  2. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a Targus camera tripod whose legs work like a metal whip antenna (with a locking mechanism). I just slip the bottom of my Alexloop on the handle meant to be used for panning (I set it vertically as much as possible) and it becomes the perfect setup for park bench operating. It fits in the antenna bag. This said, I love my Alexloop.

    73 Amir K9CHP

    ReplyDelete
  4. "There are not many portable antennas that would beat the AlexLoop WalkHam for performance"

    That's a bold comment Julian. I would have thought a simple dipole as used by most portable operators would beat a magnetic loop!

    Look forward to hearing how it goes out in the field when you are up to it.

    73

    Richard
    G3CWI

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Amir. I would never have thought of using the panning handle. Something to investigate.

    Richard, whenever I have done A/B comprisons between a multi-band dipole and an MFJ magnetic loop the results have always been too close to say one is always better than the other. A dipole or EFHW will always be the ones to beat, but Alex's loop has the advantage of portability and can quickly be deployed anywhere without regard to the availability of trees etc.

    I am looking forward to trying it out in the field.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Julian

    This review may be of interest:

    http://www.eham.net/articles/28124

    It seems to show the loop to be significantly worse than a dipole over the course of many observations.

    YMMV of course and there may be other good reasons to use a loop.

    73

    Richard
    G3CWI

    ReplyDelete
  7. The loop used for the comparison is a home made loop not the MFJ one. As someone commented: "A loop designed with 11% efficiency doesn't sound like a fair comparison of the test results between the two antennas."

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Julian

    I'm very much looking forward to reading a comparison of the 'AlexLoop' versus your own 'Wonder Loop'... is this something you might do, do you think?

    73

    Richard F5VJD

    ReplyDelete
  9. Probably not, Richard, as every Wonder Loop will perform a bit differently due to differences in the way the builder built it, so the comparison would not be very useful to most people.

    ReplyDelete