If we leave out the issue of being ON the ground, then we all know that
a beverage is a vertically polarized antenna even if it just a few feet
high. Lower it to the ground, and it is still vertically polarized.
Now conventional loop antennas are mounted with the axis of the loop
being horizontal. We all know they are vertically polarized. However
a Loop On the Ground is mounted with the axis of the loop being
vertical. It is well known that a loop of this orientation that is
NOT laying on the ground in horizontally polarized. I suspect that
will also be the case if it is laying on the ground.
It is also well known that local (IE ground wave) noise is always
vertically polarized. Therefore, if the QTH is such that local
noise dominates, it is entirely possible that a horizontally
polarized loop receive antenna will outperform vertically polarized
receive antenna.
I built a 15m x 15m square loop and mounted it a heights varying from
3 to 10 meters. I tested it on local BCB stations in the 1600 to 1700
kHz band. It substantially reduced the strength of these ground
wave signals. Skywave signals have random polarization and hence
they are not rejected by the loop. So I was able to listen to a 1700
kHz Mexican BCB station at night and get considerable improvement
in SNR vs just a plain vertical receive antenna.
So I would say that DL8LAS's findings have extended what I observed
in my experiments to laying the loop on the ground.
73
Rick N6RK
On 10/8/2026 11:50 PM, Andree DL8LAS via Topband wrote:
Hey gentlemen,
after a long time, I finally tested a Loop on Ground (LOG) antenna again.
The antenna measures 7.5m × 7.5 m, and its shape is not critical — it can be a
square, rectangle, or circle. The wire simply lies on the ground.
For the feedpoint, you can use a simple 9:1 Beverage balun, or even better, the
feedpoint preamp from Hamparts_shop .
The results were impressive once again! I monitored K1LT on 160 meters and then
compared my 68-meter-long Beverage on Ground (BOG) antenna with the LOG.
Here are the result.
https://youtu.be/E959mU-_exU?is=lc2jbwznCoguk9kI
73,Andy DL8LAS
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