554
Item nr.
Gerard E3 Loop antenna
Successor to E2
Data for Gerard E3
Production | The Netherlands, 2021.
Price was 1€. |
Bands | Tropical and Short Wave (3.1-11MHz). |
Cabinet | Wood box.
Size 15x15x6cm.
|
The Design
This project combines a handy box for Tecsun PL-680 supplies with an elegant loop aerial for Tropical and (not so) Short Waves.
When taking the Tecsun on a holiday, one likes to have the charger, earpiece, country code list, and antenna cable with it, and this box, found for 70ct in a scrap store, carries them all. A few years before, I made a loop antenna wired around an old plastic box, and to prevent stocking of useles material, I decided to reuse the parts (jack and capacitor) in that antenna, the E2.
Obtained | 8/2021
from Home made. |
Condition | 9. |
Value (est.) | 2,2€. |
This Object
In the first photo, we see the wood box as it came from the thrift shop, and the prototype antenna E2. The outer size of the old plastic ice cream box is about the same as the inner size of this box. So, with the same capacitor, the tuning range should be about the same. I decided for 5 turns, so the lower frequency limit should be the same as the low position of the E2, a little over 3.4MHz. I reduced the spacing between the turns to make the lower bound a bit lower still, because I still hope to receive 90m stations some day. By removing the rotation block on the capacitor, the upper limit is increased without the need for a switch in the coil.
It is quite easy to wind wire around any box on the outside. To get it on the inside, I carefully bended the wire to fit into the corners, and fixated the turns with hot glue. The main coil has 5 turns of brown wire, the pickup coil is one turn of purple wire.
Part of Gerard's Radio Corner.
Generated by SiteBuilder on
26/2/2024
by Gerard
(g.tel@uu.nl)