The AM Forum

Wanted to get some feedback on an idea I had.
 
Just managed to put up a full wave 75m loop, fed with open wire. I’m somewhat restricted by property size, so Zig-zag’ing the wire to permit larger (possibly to 160m) is not an option.

I’m wondering if I were to break the loop randomly and bridge the gap with a length of ladder line shorted at the far end, would this effectively lengthen the antenna by twice the length of the ladder line? So three 25 ft hanging “tails” would increase the overall length by 150 ft. Am I dreaming or could this work?

no, not exactly  ... the 'tails' will not add an effective equal to both conductors since the currents will be in opposition .... to see this better look at a linearly loaded antenna such as a shortened 40 mtr beam like the Hygain 402 .... a ROUGH quick figure is about 1/2 that is a 25 ft 'tail' would add about 25 ft .... this will have to be done empirically

You can hang the FW loop in a vertical plane with only two supports if this fits better.  The loop can be fed along the lower length.  The loop doesn't have to be an exact square, any thing close will work.  The lower length can be close to the ground (about 10 ft.).

My loops are in vertical planes and they work FB.  I feed my with coax with a 1/4 wave of 75 ohm coax at the antenna which then connects to the RG-8 (50 ohm).

Fred

I added ladder line tails to a dipole in the past. It made the antenna electrically longer. Exactly home much, I am not sure. Worth a try. Since you are using open wire feedline and a tuner, I think adding any length would get you closer to easy and efficient tune up on 160 meters.

Some details at the link.

http://amwindow.org/tech/htm/160smallants.htm