4 Sept 2010

136/500kHz loop ATU

This morning I tidied up the arrangement to match my "in the air" wire loop antenna currently being used on 136kHz and 500kHz. The loop looks like a few ohms resistive when tuned so I have a 4:1 turns ratio step-down transformer wound on a 3C90 core. The loop is tuned using an old decade capacitance box and this is fine tuned with the 365pF variable capacitor. The picture shows the values needed to resonate the loop on both bands. It is simple but works fine at the QRP power levels I'm using (5W max from PAs on both bands). My report from M0BMU at 69km on 500kHz WSPR was -8/-9dB S/N which is pretty good.

No comments: