Build a simple magnetic loop antenna.

 This article is a reprint from my original article published in 2004. I don’t use the antenna anymore (collecting dust in the basement) but the article will stay here for informational purposes.

I live in an appartment and don’t have the space to put up a large antenna for my Kenwood R1000 receiver.
I knew the excistance of magnetic loops, but I never spent time to take a look at it. Why ? Who knows.

For the main loop I used a soft copper tube, diameter is 10 mm, length about 3 meter.
Try to make a circle (not always easy). A friend of me, Carl ON7NH, has drilled and tapped M3 tread into it. This makes it possible to use solder lips. The entire loop is constructed on a sunday afternoon.
The smaller loop is about 60 cm in length (diameter 1/5 of the main loop), material is 1,5 square mm copperwire.

With the capacitor found in my junkbox, I can tune the loop from 2,9 Mhz till 10 Mhz. Other capacitors will give other tuning ranges, have to experiment here.