The Best Ferrite Loop Antenna I Ever Built

In this series we compare a 16 inch ferrite loop antenna to the 3' experimental box loop. The pro and cons of each.
W1VLF

[@charleslauter5035]

You might find this interesting. Years ago I designed some fixed frequency radios for the US Navy. When I started, I took some transistor radios and tested them at colder and colder temperatures Until the radios stoped working. I then investigated to out why. The problem turned out to be the ferrite cord on

[@wifi404]

The ferrite loop sure does save a lot of space on the "group W" bench! Don't worry about the length of the videos, there very informative.

[@W1VLF]

Thank you... More on the way although it may be a few days work is incredibly busy W1VLF

[@monotech20.14]

@@W1VLF Do you know where I can buy the ferrite rod?

[@W1VLF]

@@monotech20.14 They are available on Ebay in all sorts of sizes

[@emjayel206]

I have the same one that you used to sell on eBay. This antenna works great.

[@jeff-73]

Freaking awesome!! It was cool you tuned into 333. I live about 2 miles away from the broadcast towers.

[@SDCHOI-e3n]

It's a very good idea~ If the AM broadcast frequency is in the range of 535~1605KHZ, the center frequency is 926KHZ~ If you tune based on this frequency, you won't have to go through the trouble of turning the varicon every time~ And if the receiver's external antenna input impedance is 50 ohm or 75 ohm, it doesn't matter, but if there is no separate external antenna terminal, the impedance is very high (about several K ohms), so you will need a transformer to lower this impedance. Personally, I made an amateur band antenna for 3.5MHz and 7MHz with a 1m long ferrite bar antenna, and it was possible to receive it indoors despite its short length~ I hope you have a fun hobby~^^

[@dean5263]

True to life situations. Great job.

[@dandruff7807]

I enjoy your experiments with simple portable ferrite & frame loop antennas. A couple of comments from me......You can inductively couple a ferrite loop & a frame loop antenna together. This would require a separate variable capacitor for both. Using litz wire is expensive & difficult to solder. I've had reasonable success using small diameter enamel and/or plastic insulated solid & stranded wire. Being a ham/swl, i like the capability of using either antenna on 160/80 meters receive. Walmart & some dollar stores sell plastic water guns. A small diameter plastic tube is inside a larger plastic tube. The small diameter plastic tube can be pushed & withdrawn. The combination of both tubes would make an excellent container/holder for an experimental ferrite loop antenna. Basically this would be a giant variable loop-stick or antenna tuner. Thanks again for your simple receive antenna contributions. I look forward to more of your experiments.

[@dandruff7807]

I meant to say that the "small & larger plastic tubes" can be used to wrap wire around them or as a container/holder.

[@dandruff7807]

You can also use a microphone holder as a "tilt" device for the ferrite loop.

[@KD9ZHF]

I wish you were my neighbor. You probably would not like that, as I would be asking you questions all the time and picking your brain constantly - what a wealth of information you would be for me! I'd pester you constantly!! Thanks for your videos!

[@W1VLF]

Thank you sir... I w3ish I had a neighbor interested in this stuff... few and far between here... W1VLF

[@KD9ZHF]

@@W1VLF Same here! At least very close - our local ham club has people, but we don’t hang out!

[@baneverything5580]

I just made a pizza box loop that works very well. It`s 16 turns of 24 AWG magnet wire on a 16 inch pizza box with a 450 pf tuning capacitor. There`s a demo of a station being tuned in over 140 miles away on my channel.

[@ssbfmcw]

How do you connect Litz wire? A video segment demonstrating the process would be very helpful.

[@MrJoestudent]

Great video! Question: what formula is that ferrite and how did u arrive at the length and diameter?

[@kurtisgump1104]

I love listening to the AM radio band I belong to the IRCA AM radio club International Radio Club Of America are you going to sell these ferrite loop antennas

[@prcguy9480]

Great informative video and I now have ferrite rods, Litz wire and a variable cap on order. Hoping you will post the number of primary turns to save us from fumbling and wasting expensive Litz wire.

[@W1VLF]

Hi Mike... at the end of the video I show the amount of turns in this particular design. How ever I will do some with regular magnet wire.. Yes... Litz is expensive. W1VLF

[@debojitacharjee]

*WHAT'S THE FORMULA*---I need to know the formula for building this antenna. Is is same as a simple loop antenna?

[@scottlorenz2955]

I have a question for you. Which Would love a higher Q. And more sensitive reception. A naturally tuned coil to a certain frequency, or a coil tuned with a capacitor? I am looking at receiving a frequency of 720 kHz

[@W1VLF]

For highest "Q" I would always go with an air core loop. Plus it is physically larger. I would tune it with the minimum amount of capacitance.. say 100 pf or so. When using an inductor in parallel a good quality cap like silver mica or air variable, the "Q" of the circuit will almost always be dominated by the coil. go for a coil at least 18" on a side. W1VLF

[@bobkozlarekwa2sqq59]

Links to the ferrite rods? Schematic and construction details? Great video. Going to try and receive the Xmas eve transmission of the motor generator generator in Sweden on 15.7 kHz. Any antenna suggestions?

[@blacksmock445]

I believe that the Christmas Eve transmission from SAQ in Sweden has been cancelled due to Covid 19. I have received it on previous occasions using a YouLoop antenna with my Airspy HF+ and also with a MiniWhip antenna and an upconverter + RTL-SDR v3. I am in Southern England, so perhaps its a lot easier here.

[@migsvensurfing6310]

Isnt it 17.2 kHz ? Construction details are given in the video, watch it again.

[@consciousness1237]

Is this what the Ccrane double ferrite antenna is could you make a larger one and put it up on a metal roof and turn it remotely to null out noise for a base reciever for low band and mw am . Possible other project. Great info I'm learning more on each video. Keep it up. And thanks AA4CP Chuck Patterson

[@migsvensurfing6310]

Very informative. Thanks. Is it posible to screen a rod antenna like this to only receive from one side, to possibley determine the direction to the transmitter ?

[@inverse2k1]

look up the cardioid antenna for good ideas.

[@migsvensurfing6310]

@@inverse2k1 Thank you. I will do that.

[@PaulanthonyBridge-kt4eg]

Yes. Chicken wire shield or alu. Foil shield on one side. (Grounded).

[@franzliszt3195]

Is the longer the ferrite the better?

[@W1VLF]

to some extent yes... In experiments, I have doubled the length of a single 7' ferrite rod to 17 inches and there was some increase in signal strength, beyond that is is doubtful there is much to be gained in MW band W1VLF

[@franzliszt3195]

@@W1VLF thank you. Kainka labs on yt showed a graph that after length/width >100 the relative permeability curve flattens out.

[@QUADBOYification]

Is the math correct if you use a ferrite ring (like 12 cm across) and wind the wire coil on a small section of that ring like you did on the stick, Does the ring need a gap (1 cm) to make it function the same way?

[@OfficerPonch80]

Thank you and greetings from Deutschland, I like longer videos because there is more information to learn. Short videos are clickbait.

[@W1VLF]

Noted!

[@HardcoreDXLithuania]

Can you couple this loop wirelessly with internal receivers loop?

[@paulschmolke188]

Seems odd that the ferrite rods work as a unit when they aren’t really joined tightly. Inductive coupling?

[@adriancressy8363]

Hi I'm trying to find some RFI using my AM radio and it's built-in ferrite antenna. I assume the ferrite rod is on the top of the radio. How do I know WHERE a signal is coming from. With the front or back of the radio pointing at the noise or the left or right side of the radio where the signal might null out???

[@LarryMassey]

Nice job.

[@marksommers4868]

I wish I could find LONG Fer. RODS - I can get little ones easy. But not much use-

[@benthere8051]

Short rods can be glued together to make longer rods (electrically and physically).

[@PaulanthonyBridge-kt4eg]

Just glue several rods together end to end. Easy.

[@kdkinen]

Man can operate!

[@atvalleau]

1500 kHz is probably Washington, D.C. Used to be WTOP, but they've changed their call sign to something else.

[@W1VLF]

Hello Yes... If this were at night.. It would be old reliable WTOP now WFED, during the day it is WFIF in Milford CT... Thanks, you inspired me to look that station up. W1VLF

[@atvalleau]

@@W1VLF Oh! Sorry, I thought this video was made at night! My bad! Anyway, glad I could help!😊

[@douggoodhill]

"I have lots of metal around here" - I was wondering about that huge vice holding up the antenna

[@W1VLF]

It definitely has an effect on being able to have symmetrical nulls.. They still occur, but as deep and not in the direction you might think the station is

[@hansvanhagen1714]

Thank you great information! Greetings from Amsterdam

[@W1VLF]

Wow, Amsterdam.. Hello Hans, thank you for commenting I will be continuing this series. W1VLF

[@AL-Mosammem-Neymar-Quran]

pls ... have you a solution to the q r m noise in the building 🙏

[@cleterjabe7558]

If I build this, can I receive the MEDFer beacon "T" signal on 1625 kHz again?

[@salahibrahim633]

How ican matching ferrite antenna with lower imput impedance mean how to calculate number of secondary turns to matching with this lower imput thank you

[@W1VLF]

I did not calculate the number of turns. I designed mine through experimentation. I usually wind more turns than I need and then it is easy to take one turn off at a time to peak the signal transfer into your receiver W1VLF

[@salahibrahim633]

@@W1VLF thankyou

[@petrovwall]

Where to buy an equivalent ferite rod......peter

[@DCDura]

Sadly you never gave us the link

[@charleslauter5035]

Sorry The problem at about -50 degrees was the ferrite cores in the IF transformers. I thought it would be the the transistors. Surprise! CAL

[@W1VLF]

LOL ... the permeability change and no coupling.. I would have thought the transistors myself!! W1VLF

[@davidwade2829]

Cool,

[@py2rpjrubens450]

FB OM! 73 from Brasil!!

[@ahmedsalim4294]

شكرا جزيلا لحضرتك

[@tecboywalid6479]

very far un clear