Pete and all: A couple years after the original article, I began recommending adding 4 or 8 radials if the ground rod alone did not provide a good pattern. The radials need to extend a bit beyond the loop wires' footprint. 21 ft should be OK.
My own loops have always worked with just a ground rod, first in Georgia red clay, then here in the midwest black dirt. Also, with just one null, in one direction, it may take a while to be sure how your loop is working. Gary K9AY www.aytechnologies.com Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2018 17:33:38 -0500 From: Peter Bertini <radioconnect...@gmail.com> To: topband@contesting.com Subject: Topband: K9AY loop -- adding additional radials? Message-ID: <CA+uDY2RaM3JUJ5qPovLhzzNaTPARqhn__=EAUsZ=jqhj_za...@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Hello to the group. I installed a K9AY system last week and added four 21 foot radials on ground radials with a ground rod at the center. The antenna didn't seem to have much directivity, so today I added another four 4-ft inexpensive TV type ground rods at the ends of each of the radials. We've had some heavy rain, but tonight I am noticing excellent nulls on European stations when changing directions. The antenna is located in a wooded area, and I had assumed the ground was fairly conductive, but apparently not... would adding another set of four radials in between the existing four improve the system? I am not sure how much the change relates to the heavy rains or adding the grounds. Pete --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _________________ Searchable Archives: http://www.contesting.com/_topband - Topband Reflector