2022 LoG (Loop on Ground antenna) for SDR radio tested on Airspy HF+ Discovery SDR KK5JY HAM radio

[@willmunshower8401]

I just wanted to thank you. I was in an accident, and had to retire 20 years early. I'm on a fixed income, and had to sell my entire shack. I had so many radios, I didn't know what to do with them. But, they had to go. Priorities, and such. I just recently discovered RTL-SDR, through my love of aviation. I had no idea that I could receive ADS-B, ACARS, ATC, etc on a device that cost $30.00. I am smitten, to say the very least. I see this hobby consuming me. This is a situation I desperately need. You've just become my new best friend. I hope that I can contribute to your channel soon. 73 de, Lars

[@FrugalRadio]

It's great to have you around Lars. A hearty welcome to you. I'm glad the SDRs are opening the door of radio back up to you. It certainly is easy to become smitten all over again. Welcome to the Frugal Radio family!

[@seanhancockphotofilm8960]

Now building it as I had a 1:9 balun spare. Thanks for this video it's really appreciated

[@FrugalRadio]

Excellent. Enjoy the project!

[@seanhancockphotofilm8960]

@@FrugalRadio Works amazingly well. Picking up from Norway 5 and 9 from here in Norfolk, UK. I've never seen my waterfall so lit up.

[@FrugalRadio]

It has worked - well done!

[@element77]

Very cool build. I'm motivated enough to try to replicate this!

[@FrugalRadio]

Good! Give it a go and tell us how it works out for you!

[@jj2me]

Thank you for sharing this idea Rob. Another great video indeed. I'll have to give it a try. Thanks again for all you do for this hobby! Jim

[@FrugalRadio]

Appreciate you taking the time to comment Jim. Thanks. Have a great weekend 😄

[@chris_dixon]

Very much enjoyed this one. Amazing what you can achieve with bits you’ve got around the place. Best New Years log I’ve seen.

[@FrugalRadio]

🤭

[@HFAeroDX]

Great video, the VOLMET on 6679 is Auckland VOLMET so a great catch for you there in Canada!

[@FrugalRadio]

I'm pretty happy to have picked it up!

[@bigredmachine230]

Your video's are really great and are very informative!

[@FrugalRadio]

Thanks David.

[@BrianHall]

This is awesome! One question: did you just use a male SMA to F type adapter to attach the coax to the balun?

[@FrugalRadio]

Hello @Brian Hall. Yes, that's exactly what I did!

[@yaroslavartyukh964]

I use LoG since 2020, but in the current version extended to 120ft, which improved SnR. And current mode choke on both sides is a must, decreasing the noise level furthermore.

[@FrugalRadio]

That sounds great. Perhaps when the weather improves, I'll see if I can fit in the extended length. Good to hear yours is working well.

[@yaroslavartyukh964]

@@FrugalRadio G8JNJ did a great job on LoG performance. Check his website

[@FrugalRadio]

Oh, I hadn't seen his site. www.g8jnj.net/loop-on-the-ground has some good information and tests. Thanks for pointing it out.

[@RadioRake]

Great video as usual! I've built the transformer from the web page you've referenced but have not done the antenna yet, will need to try both that and with the nooelec 9:1 (I have one of those lying around too). Thanks for your information as always!

[@FrugalRadio]

You're welcome John. Have fun with the project and let us know what kind of results you get!

[@graphicventures]

Hello Frugal, hope all is well. Have not seen any of your videos since a long time. God bless.

[@FrugalRadio]

Thanks. Hoping to get back to making videos again soon.

[@-vermin-]

Do you think you having non conductive frozen ground was an advantage? I'm wondering if this would would work as well on a swampy back yard.

[@FrugalRadio]

I honestly don't know. I had wondered if it would work at all, but as you saw in the video, it seemed to work just fine. I imagine swampy ground would work too, but the only real test is to give it a go!

[@MnACreations]

Pretty cool! Thank you for sharing!

[@FrugalRadio]

No worries! Thanks for your comment.

[@patd9737]

How did you protect the Nooelec 9:1 balun from the rain and snow outdoors? Was your only protection placing it under the plywood sitting on top of the tire?

[@FrugalRadio]

No, I sealed it in a plastic bag, and made a hole in the end for the coax to pass through.

[@ALSNewsNow]

Video idea: have you ever tried one of those "USB over Cat5 extenders" on Amazon to put the SDR in the attic? Will they work for SDR's? They should, no? See, I already have two Cat 5e runs up into my attic....but no antenna wire. Plus, the RX reception should be better in theory with only a few foot antenna cable at most since the SDR is in the attic!

[@FrugalRadio]

It's a great idea. But no, never tried it. The main thing would be ensuring the SDR gets enough voltage to run. All I can suggest is you try it out and see. Please report back if you do! And yes, reception with shortened coax sand antenna in the attic should produce better results than having the antenna on the main floor.

[@danedewaard8215]

Wow, it seems like the LOG antenna is quite good on HF! I wonder how it would perform in an attic location, at about 20 feet off the ground? I'll have to try it out sometime with some Dollar Store green twist tie wire. Thanks for the video!!!

[@FrugalRadio]

Yes, it has been working well. But if it goes in your attic, it will no longer be a loop on the ground. You may find you get a higher noise floor. Please report back if you try it!

[@scriptguru8]

@@FrugalRadio It will be LOA antenna. Loop On the Attic. It would probably make sense to try putting it on a layer of grounded foil.

[@FrugalRadio]

Interesting thought. That might help cut down QRM from within the house.

[@Scotscan]

Very cool. Think I might give this a go!

[@FrugalRadio]

It's certainly worth a try. Have fun!

[@cwtrain]

"I badly need to get into HF. But how will I build an antenna in my yard if an inverted V-dipole is out of the question?" It's like you upload a video the day after I get a brainwave and I'd like to kindly ask you to get out of my head. But seriously, this is perfect and I'm engaging with exactly this rig this weekend. Cheers.

[@FrugalRadio]

Awesome to hear. Have fun with it!

Great for listening. If you want to transmit you'll need a second antenna; the LoG isn't good for that. A vertical might suit your limited space; I'm guess your yard is too small for an inverted V for the bands you want.

[@FrugalRadio]

No, I've got space for a dipole, G5RV or similar. Although I think I would probably go with an end fed half wave or vertical for a transmit antenna.

[@tlebryk]

LoG is receive only, period.

[@FrugalRadio]

Yes, this is a receive only antenna, although there are users who have a separate tx antenna, and switch to the LoG for rx.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

Interesting video, thanks. When you have time it would be good to have a comparison between your LOG and a raised antenna in your location. From other videos, there seem to be mixed results. A lot seems to depend on frequency (lower HF bands better than VHF) and how electrically noisy your neighbourhood is.

[@FrugalRadio]

Yes, I think RF noise plays a big part in which type of antenna you would choose. Right now i only have 1 coax run set up, but come spring I should be able to do an A/B comparison with an HF dipole.

[@acestudioscouk-Ace-G0ACE]

@@FrugalRadio Thanks for the reply and I look forward to a comparison test. I enjoy your very well explained videos and learn a lot. Keep up the good work!

[@sclerismockrey8506]

Well of course you know any antenna set up in colder weather is going to be much better than one set up in nice weather. The more miserable the weather while putting it up, the better it will work. :) But seriously... my KK5JY LoG works very well in my situation. It may not work EVERYWHERE, but for many of us it makes a big difference. Of course, your S meter will read lower, and I will sometimes use the onboard preamps in my receivers, but most of the time I just bring up the volume a bit and hear that S:N make its magic. But again, like most things antenna, it depends on your situation.

[@FrugalRadio]

It was a great experiment, and one i had wanted to do for a while. Once Spring arrived and the snow melted I had to remove it. Management at home said so! But I do like a low noise floor!

[@thenaimis]

Nice. I'll have to give this a try. I currently have a gap in antenna coverage from 220kHz-25MHz, and an unused 1:9. Also a crapton of RG6 that I will probably *never* run out of.

[@FrugalRadio]

Sounds like you've got all you need then!

[@thenaimis]

@@FrugalRadio Using 60 ft of otherwise useless phone cable as the antenna, I was able to pick up CHU in Ottawa and WRMI (Radio Miami International out of Okeechobee FL). I'm in central Texas, so not too shabby.

[@FrugalRadio]

Excellent, well done, and thanks for the report. Great to hear it worked in Texas!

[@zenermaniac2571]

Have you A/B’ed it against any other antennas to compare in equal conditions?

[@FrugalRadio]

Unfortunately I only have the LoG and a dipole set up. But they share the same coax feed and have to be manually connected outside. Perhaps in Summer I can run extra coax and get set up for real A/B testing.

[@graphicventures]

Great Video

[@FrugalRadio]

Thanks!

[@lumixS5M2]

15 feet is 4.572 meter

[@BrianHall]

Did you have to ground this at all?

[@FrugalRadio]

In this temporary setup I haven't grounded it. When spring comes, the grounding can begin ;-)

[@MrDwadi84]

Yeap speaker wire is best option for that projects. I am thinking about same antenna design, but I will try install it in more permanent way. I have small recomendation for you, if you wanna have device similar to RSPduo's Diversity try QRM Eliminator or any kind of phaser, it work great even on 2m band. 73

[@FrugalRadio]

Oh, interesting. I think some of the diversity projects could be really beneficial for reception.

[@MrDwadi84]

@@FrugalRadio yeap, I have Duo and QRM Eliminator, Eliminator is better in one thing if you turn it off it passes signal from main antenna, in Duo reverting to single tuner resets waterfall, and you lose checking point from Diversity. Good thing and cheap.

[@FrugalRadio]

Thanks for the info!

Speaker wire is best if you're buying new because it's inexpensive. If you can get to a hamfest you might find other options at an even better price, like the big spool of black hookup wire I bought years ago.

[@MrDwadi84]

@ but sometimes you get steel wire, copper OFC wire is not bad for antennas, and you have 2 antennas (long wire) or dipole from same length of wire.

[@frankbeckman2663]

Would RG8X be OK?

[@FrugalRadio]

For your antenna, you might want to remove the outer shielding, as it is designed to stop signals passing through. For your feeling, RG8X would be fine on the HF frequencies.

[@brianlfarrell1]

Where can one get an Airspy hf+ discovery in US?

[@FrugalRadio]

AirSpy.us is your local dealer. However there are major distributions in deliveries right now because of the chip shortages. Might be worth checking if they've got stock.

@@FrugalRadio Their website says they are backordered and they don't know when they will receive them.

[@FrugalRadio]

Ah, okay. Yeah, the factory have run very short on components. They are getting small batches made and sent out, but the chip shortages and bidding wars among manufacturers have caused major issues. It might be a while before restock happens.