I have been experimenting with some Receive-antennas for the Low HF bands (80 and 160 meters is “low-band” to me). I discovered these popular antennas from other Hams at the Contesting Club (Potomac Valley Radio Club) I belong to. Nearly all the serious Contesters in PVRC, and all of their Superstations, have Receive-only Antenna options for the lower Bands.
Receive-Antennas typically provide relatively low signal levels, but also very low Noise levels. So once you amplify the small received signals, you can receive signals with very low noise levels compared to common antennas such as dipoles. There are many different types of Receive-Antennas and I would suggest something like the ARRL Antenna Book for details. While most of these antennas have directional characteristics, some (such as this loop) cover a very broad beamwidth.
My Initial Trials with Receive Antennas
My current operating QTH is on ~ 0.9 acres, but it is narrow, so I do not have huge straight runs for long antennas. The natural first choice for Receive-Antennas seemed to be the Beverage antenna. For optimal performance at 160 meters, these ideally need to be over 400′ in length. That was never happening at this location. I discovered something called a Beverage-on-ground or BOG antenna. Putting a Beverage antenna on the ground, theoretically allows the use of a much shorter antenna than the more common Beverage mounted about 7 feet above the ground. I had about 200′ of straight length to work with, and gave that a try on 160 meters. I did not have much luck with my BOG, although I must admit I only tried for a couple weeks to get it tuned and working. So I put one “Beverage” at about 7′ height, but it is only 200′ long. It helps in some situations, more on 80 or 40 meters than on 160, but does not exhibit the desired directivity at 160 meters.
The Loop-on-ground (LOG) Antenna
Doing some reading, I discovered an article about a so-called Loop-on-ground (LOG) antenna. I found this great article by KK5JY about the Loop-on-ground antenna online. I had heard of this antenna before, but with my failed BOG experiences I was skeptical and never tried one. About this time, I saw an email from a friend (Steve, K3KQ) on the Club email reflector of the Fauquier Amatuer Radio Assoc (FARA). He was working with some other local Hams that were interested in the LF/VLF Bands and telling them they really should try a LOG antenna. Time to give it a try.
There was a 160 meter CW contest in a couple days that I wanted to work, but I currently had no antennas for that Band. I threw a crooked dipole (to fit on my lot) in the trees at about 25′, and planned to try a LOG for help with Receiving signals. The LOG can be a loop of any shape, but I was going to use a square. The article says that a square with 15′ of length on each of the 4 sides will work on 160 meters. You do not need ANY Ground system, no rods, no radials, nothing, according to what I have heard. Of course, you still want to provide a safety-ground at the entrance to your Shack. When the antenna is built, you just put it on the ground and attach a feedline. Almost TOO easy.
Construction of the LOG Antenna
Other than wire, other components needed for this antenna are an impedance transformer (~ 5:2 turns ratio), a couple common-mode chokes to reduce signal pickup in the feedline, and some RG-6 or other 75-ohm coax. The transformer can be wound on a toroidal or binocular core. The core needs to use a ferrite material that is suitable for these low frequencies. Since I had tried some Beverages, I had plenty of Type 31 ferrite material around, including a large binocular core. Several other ferrite Types are usable, and may be more desirable if you hope to use this antenna for LF/VLF work. I did not plan to do that in the foreseeable future.
160-meter Loop-on-ground Antenna Results
I connected it all up and hooked the feedline (about 150′ of RG-6) to my rig. I put a common-mode choke at each end of the feedline. I chose to use an outboard low-noise 160-meter preamp (KD9SV design, purchased from DX Engineering) that I have, but most modern radios also can provide the needed amplification. This preamp was made for 160 meter BOG antennas, and there are several other models that should also work. By the way, KD9SV is very helpful if you should run into any trouble with his products. I discovered this when I accidentally reverse-powered my preamp and it needed repair (yeah “stuff” happens..). The preamps in my FTDX-3000 also were suitable, and you may find that the preamps in your Radio are also sufficient.
The initial results were encouraging. The signals on 160 meters were indeed weak, but the noise was relatively low compared to the dipole. Once I enabled the preamp, I had plenty of signal to work with. The FTDX-3000 already has a very low-noise level on receive. Listening to the 160-meter Band with this setup was very enjoyable. My only other 160 meter antenna to compare with was my low-hanging dipole. I must admit that I could hear every signal on both antennas. But the level of noise was much worse on the dipole. This little loop made the difference between listening pleasure and a painful Contest with high noise-levels. Conditions just happened to be so good, that I had a good Contest run (about 215 CW QSOs in 4.5 hours) and even some EU stations responding to my CQs. I only listened to the dipole for periodic comparisons.
If you are struggling to get a good Receive-antenna for 160 meters, I highly recommend this Loop-on-Ground design. Your mileage may vary, but I would be surprised if you do not have a favorable result, and you will never build or install a simpler antenna than the LOG.
I may try some enhancements, or even using multiple loops to get some directionality. But for now, this loop will be a standard part of my station for any 160 meter operating. I have heard it may also be useful on 80 and possibly 40 meters. I hope to find out soon.
Follow-up — I used the loop for several hours on 80 meters in the ARRL RTTY Roundup last night. In a RTTY contest, the Band is full of big signals and lots of noise. Again, the loop was the antenna-of-choice for Receive. I again used this loop for 80 and 160 meter work in the recent North American QSO Party (NAQP) SSB Contest. Again the results were great. Noise levels were very high during this contest, so this Loop really helped me.
Update 3 August 2020 – this antenna continues to give good results, most recently in some domestic contests. With recent high QRN levels on 80 and 160 meters, it is just great to select the LOG, and see the noise levels drop. I now have a second LOG, with the feed point 90 degrees offset from the feed point of the original LOG. I hope to use the two in some contests over the next few weeks, and see how the directivity really works.
Update 2 December 2020 – Believe it or not, one day after my last Update, a tornado missed our House by about 1000 feet. It made quite a mess (another Post talks about it), and one of my test LOG antennas had to be removed so we could do some fairly major cleanup. I still have one LOG and used it in last weeks CQWW CW Contest. Once again, this antenna was a very welcome addition. When it was time to go to 80 meters, signals were very loud and the noise level was loud on my 80m Broadband Dipole. I switched to the LOG for Receive, and had a very enjoyable couple hours working European Stations. As in other cases, I could hear most of the stations on either the LOG or the Dipole, but copy was much easier on the LOG. I am now using a LOG with 25′ legs.
Kg3v Ham Radio Blog 
I can see this working for CW and data modes but do you have any experience with it for SSB voice?
This definitely worked for me on PHONE too. The only thing I will say, is that I am not sure the directionality is predictable and significant. I would like to try 2 at right angles, and compare. But it definitely knocks down the noise, and there was nothing I could hear with my dipole that I could net hear with the loop, with reduced noise level.
73,
Tom KG3V
Thanks for the reply, Tom. I will give this antenna a try. At the moment, I’m interested in NVIS emergency comms work, so not concerned too much about directionality. In fact, I’d like it to be omni. I live in a dense suburban neighborhood and my dipole picks up a lot of noise. Hoping your BOG idea can receive NVIS signals with less noise.
Have now a couple of these L.O.G. antennas. Both 120′. The ground conductivity is relatively decent here, but one of these L.O.G antennas is over my septic tank, and on 40 and 80 meters, hears much better with that septic tank underneath. I run RG6 all the way into the shack for both with a cheap simple AB switch, then into a DX Engineering RTR-1A (rig doesn’t support a separate RX antenna). I have dipoles in 3 different directions at around 70′, and am blessed to have buried power lines. Even with this setup, these L.O.Gs are proving to be useful. When static crashes are strong, on the bands, these things definitely are advantageous. Only been using for about a week, but they most definitely soften static crashes.
My observations so far concur with kg3v’s comment.
I need to figure out how to better capitalize on this septic tank. Earlier this evening I worked New Zealand on 40M, and the E/W Log (not over the septic tank), was worse than the N/S one (over the septic tank) for them. Crazy the massive difference. See if I can figure out a cheap way to capitalize on this apparently really good spot, for different directions. I know there is an expensive way to get there, but what fun is that :).
Dave,
Glad this antenna is working for you. You are now in front of me. I have just not had time to do much with the LOG recently, but hope to get back to it soon. The low noise level has been great. Makes the difference between painful and enjoyable operating on 80m at times.
Please keep me posted on your continued progress.
73,
Tom
Adding on to my comment above,and I neglected anyway to state my call sign: WD3LC. What I am thinking for a project this weekend, considering this seemingly optimum location over the septic tank, is to maybe do a 90-100 foot loop inside my 120′ loop. Just a matter of moving my other L.O.G.’s coax over there and shortening it up. Easy to do, so why not. Try to remember to report back here with the results! Posting here, has brought forth some ideas 🙂
Dave, WD3LC, in Maryland.
Well, the septic Tank won’t do much for you — being over the septic Field on the other hand may. I used to have a vertical over my field with not a huge # of radials (20 or so) and it sure looked better than would expect on the analyzer, and worked great on 80.
I’ve long been a fan of offbeat antennas, including antennas buried in the soil. But I have a question about the loop described here. I regularly use vertical loops of varying design and dimensions for medium wave AM broadcast reception, but angle any of these by 90 degrees so they are parallel to the earth and reception simply dies. Is this simply a polarization issue, and if so, can you guys copy stations using vertical polarization, or is that simply never used on 160 or 80?
I do not have a definitive answer to your question and I have not done any work with Horizontal loops. I know signal levels are LOW with this loop, but I have worked hundreds of stations with this antenna. I have always said that while I can hear the stations with my low dipole also, the noise level of the loop is low and there is some directional selectivity.
More technical info is available here: http://kk5jy.net/LoG/
73, Tom
I just stumbled across this blog and I think the LOG antenna could be a solution to my problem. I don’t have room for a large wire antenna, so I am using a 6BTV vertical for phone on 80, 40, and 20m. I even got it working with limited bandwidth on 160 by replacing the whip with about 18′ of wire. The problem is that my noise level is always very high, usually at least S7 and often worse. This makes it hard to pull weak signals out of the noise, so I’m looking into options for receive-only antennas.
I’m wondering about where to put the LOG, though. My entire back yard is covered in radials for my vertical. Would laying down a LOG on top of the radial field cause a problem?
That is a good question and I can not provide a solid answer. My initial thought is that Radials = ground, so I do not see why it would hurt the LOG. I might be concerned about using the LOG to RX if you were to Transmit with that vertical. Should that be the case, you would want some RX front-end protection. If I were you, I would give it a try, using insulated wire. My bet is that it would work. Any chance you would have room for a 160m inverted-L? It is shorter in length than a 80m dipole. Good Luck.
I’m running a websdr using RSP1A and a Loop On Ground antenna https://so8oo.net/en/websdr/ – you can hear how good it performs. It works really good from 160m up to 20m, but on 160m preamp is required.
This antenna is really a great performer when you consider used space, time and effort to setup. There are some issues with this kind of antennas like common mode chocking, but it is really worth to try it!
I want to try a LOG antenna; my concern is laying the antenna on the surface. A walking hazard, a lawn mower hazard are big concerns. I have researched this and there are comments that state YES, you can bury the LOG “a bit” without any appreciable loss of signal. Does anyone have info regarding this?
Can this LOG antenna be buried slightly to avoid hazards?
I have also heard that you can put antennas under a couple inches of dirt, but have not tried this. I would also be concerned about mowing over a wire, but it is not a walking hazard if you use a few landscape staples to push it well into the dirt.. I have found that a wire in the grass will disappear after a season, and I used a string trimmer over the wire until it is well-covered by the grass.
Wire stapled are a great idea. I am also considering COMBINING the Ground Loop antenna with a Beverage. I have a wooded area near the house which I can then bring the loop up to 10 feet for a distance also, which might combine the positives of each style. Thoughts?