Forum » Antennas, feed lines, baluns and antenna tuners

160 Loop

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Oct 6th 2015, 18:45
SIZE358 Joined: Apr 19th 2009, 19:30 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	I have a 160 meter horiz. Loop 530 feet around. with a 4;1 balun the swr is 1;1 on 1.8 MHz and 3.5 swr on 1.950 . With a 9;1 balun I cant tune above 1.855 . WHAT balun do I need to have low swr at 1.9 MHz ? [ tuner will not tune above 3;1 swr . baluns are at the antenna feed point] . thanks.
Oct 6th 2015, 19:00
K9EI Joined: Dec 20th 2000, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Are you feeding the loop with coax or balanced feedline?
Oct 6th 2015, 19:11
SIZE358 Joined: Apr 19th 2009, 19:30 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	coax
Oct 6th 2015, 19:17
K9EI Joined: Dec 20th 2000, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	I'd say stick with the 4:1 for now. You may need to shorten the loop a bit but 3.5 to 1 is not too bad with a resonant loop for 160. Another option is to switch to a 1:1 balun and feed it with balanced feed-line and use an external tuner. You'll make up some efficiency lost to the coax and you also will be able to tune it on all bands. MFJ makes some very affordable external tuners. Just something to think about for the future.
Oct 28th 2015, 12:48
W3RMO Joined: Apr 4th 1998, 00:00 Total Topics: 0 Total Posts: 0	Don't use a balun. Feed with window line. I have used a 540' since 1988 to a Johnson Matchbox. Tunes all bands 80-10 and 160 with a Dentron (balun) tuner. VERY effective low loss DX-getter.