{"id":61402,"date":"2024-12-14T19:16:39","date_gmt":"2024-12-14T23:16:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=61402"},"modified":"2024-12-14T19:16:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T23:16:39","slug":"the-great-gonzo-radio-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/the-great-gonzo-radio-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Great Gonzo Radio Experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny how you can start out thinking about how to solve a problem, the whole process takes a turn, and you wind up with an unexpected but pleasing result.<\/p>\n

It all started innocently enough. Alan posted this \u2014 https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/bbc-rd-how-to-test-a-loop-antenna\/<\/a> \u2014 and this statement appeared at the end of a BBC report on how to test loop antennas:<\/p>\n

\u201cPolarisation Illustrations of the antenna usually show it mounted upright; that is, with<\/em>
\nits axis parallel to the ground. This is fine for the reception of LF and MF transmissions, which are vertically polarised, but most HF transmissions are horizontally polarised.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When I tested that assertion here — https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/here-we-go-loop-de-loop-in-which-your-humble-correspondent-tests-a-hypothesis\/<\/a> — there were a couple of interesting responses.<\/p>\n

Bob Colegrove said (in part):<\/p>\n

\u201cTo address your conundrum, from my long-standing, untutored tinkering with loop antennas, I have concluded that, regardless of LW, MW, or SW, optimum performance for peaks and nulls requires that the axis of the loop (i.e., line through the center of the coil) be able to rotate 360 degrees laterally and 90 degrees vertically<\/u>.\u201d<\/em> (emphasis mine)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert Gulley added:<\/p>\n

\u201cI will have to concur with Bob \u2013 if I may state it another way, there is no \u201cproper\u201d position for a loop when getting shortwave signals.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To which I responded:<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose the ultimate setup might be an articulated motorized outdoor mount with a joystick inside that would allow me to fiddle the loop to the optimal position.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Early in the morning I awoke thinking about how a system capable of manipulating my three-foot-diameter MFJ 1886 loop both vertically and horizontally might be implemented. Everything that came to mind seemed awkward, hard to put together, difficult to operate, expensive, and just plain clunky.<\/p>\n

I dozed off and woke up thinking: \u201cWhat about a really small loop? I could hold it in my hand and easily turn it to different positions to optimize reception, no equipment required.\u201d<\/p>\n

A thought came to mind: \u201cYou\u2019ve got a small loop antenna, why don\u2019t you see what you can do with it?\u201d<\/p>\n

At this point, I need to make my Shameful Admission: I got so intrigued by the idea of using my wrist and hand to turn a small loop to various orientations that I forgot that I was trying to solve the problem of manipulating a shortwave<\/u> loop.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The loop that came to mind is the Terk AM Advantage. I tested it here<\/a>. \u00a0Designed to boost signals on medium wave<\/em>, it is a nine-inch tunable loop encased in plastic that requires no power supply. It inductively couples with the ferrite antenna inside a portable radio. But I seemed to recall that it also comes with a direct wire connector that can be used with some radios. Perhaps I could connect it to my CCrane EP-PRO which has clips and a switch for an external medium wave antenna on the back of the case.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I found the Terk AM Advantage easily enough, but the direct wire connector required a major archeological dig. Once I unearthed it, I plugged the connector into the back of the Terk AM Advantage, slipped the wires from the connector into the clips on the back of the EP-PRO.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now to try it out . . .<\/p>\n

Tuning slowly down the dial, I found across a very faint signal that I could barely copy. Reaching around the back of the EP-PRO, I switched from the EP-PRO\u2019s internal antenna to the Terk AM Advantage external loop antenna (which I was holding in my hand), rotated it from side to side, tipped it back and forth, and \u2013 tah-dah! \u2013 was rewarded by a far more copyable signal. It was WEEU in Reading PA, 200 miles away, transmitting 6,000 watts into the darkness on 830 kHz. Switching back to the EP-PRO\u2019s internal antenna, I tried rotating the EP-PRO to optimize the signal but could not produce a signal that was as good as the external loop.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Repeating the procedure with additional faint stations, I got the same results: better reception with the handheld loop antenna, and it was fun and easy to use. I held it in my left hand (it\u2019s light) so I could rotate the dial that peaks the signal with my thumb and working the tuning knob on the EP-PRO with my right hand. It was a very pleasing, almost addictive, experience.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for a potent setup for medium wave DXing, I can recommend the EP-PRO\/Terk AM Advantage combo, even though it wasn\u2019t my original objective. Call it serendipity.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, does anyone know what might be the smallest loop that could be handheld for shortwave reception and would provide a performance boost over a whip antenna?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM It\u2019s funny how you can start out thinking about how to solve a problem, the whole process takes a turn, and you wind up with an unexpected but pleasing result. It all started innocently enough. Alan posted this \u2014 https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/bbc-rd-how-to-test-a-loop-antenna\/ \u2014 and this statement appeared at the end of a BBC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3607,433,3,43],"tags":[9323,4667,3417,8402],"class_list":["post-61402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-antennas","category-mediumwave","category-news","category-shortwave-radio","tag-jock-elliott-kb2gom","tag-loop-antennas","tag-magnetic-loop-antennas","tag-passive-loop-antennas"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-fYm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61335,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/here-we-go-loop-de-loop-in-which-your-humble-correspondent-tests-a-hypothesis\/","url_meta":{"origin":61402,"position":0},"title":"Here we go loop de loop . . . in which your humble correspondent tests a hypothesis","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"December 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM It was this post by Alan -- https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/bbc-rd-how-to-test-a-loop-antenna\/ -- that set me off. After downloading the BBC report on how to test a loop antenna, I noticed the following in it: \u201cPolarisation Illustrations of the antenna usually show it mounted upright; that is, with its axis\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/MW-amp-001-1024x431.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/MW-amp-001-1024x431.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/MW-amp-001-1024x431.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":49295,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/06\/jock-designs-a-horizontal-room-loop-to-cope-with-reception-issues\/","url_meta":{"origin":61402,"position":1},"title":"Jock designs a Horizontal Room Loop to cope with reception issues","author":"Thomas","date":"June 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jock Elliott, who shares the following guest post: Got reception issues? An idea worth considering: the \u201cHorizontal Room Loop.\u201d by Jock Elliott (KB2GOM) When my radio room was in the front of the house (on the east side), it was easy to run a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Jock-Elliott-Horizontal-Room-Loop-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Jock-Elliott-Horizontal-Room-Loop-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Jock-Elliott-Horizontal-Room-Loop-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Jock-Elliott-Horizontal-Room-Loop-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Jock-Elliott-Horizontal-Room-Loop-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61431,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/a-file-worth-having-bobs-guide-to-building-an-electrically-small-resonant-loop-antenna-for-mediumwave-reception\/","url_meta":{"origin":61402,"position":2},"title":"A File Worth Having: Bob’s guide to building an Electrically Small Resonant Loop Antenna for Mediumwave Reception","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"December 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is short and sweet. If you click here--Electrically Small Resonant Loop Antenna for Mediumwave Reception (PDF)--you can download a copy of Bob Colegrove's excellent paper on the Electrically Small Resonant Loop Antenna for Mediumwave Reception. He has actually built this antenna; it works; and he uses it often.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bob-Homemade-Loop-antenna-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bob-Homemade-Loop-antenna-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bob-Homemade-Loop-antenna-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bob-Homemade-Loop-antenna-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Bob-Homemade-Loop-antenna-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64272,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/a-huge-difference\/","url_meta":{"origin":61402,"position":3},"title":"A HUGE difference . . .","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"October 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM It was a remark from Sebastian Schl\u00fcter in response to this post \u2013 https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/some-really-inexpensive-ways-to-perhaps-improve-your-shortwave-listening -- that sparked today\u2019s post. He said: If your RFI is really high, your best weapon is a magnetic loop antenna aka small receive loop. At home, my RFI is so high\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Loop-antenna-002-001-1024x669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Loop-antenna-002-001-1024x669.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Loop-antenna-002-001-1024x669.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55249,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/a-little-daytime-medium-wave-dxing\/","url_meta":{"origin":61402,"position":4},"title":"A little daytime Medium Wave DXing . . .","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"January 8, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM Let\u2019s get one thing clear from the start: it\u2019s all Ken Reitz\u2019s fault. When the search for the guilty begins, the finger should point squarely at Mr. Reitz. Who is Ken Reitz? He is the Managing Editor and Publisher of The Spectrum Monitor. \u00a0 The Spectrum\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photos-for-SWLing-blog-002-001-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photos-for-SWLing-blog-002-001-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photos-for-SWLing-blog-002-001-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55526,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/01\/saturday-morning-fun-fat-mw-dxing-with-the-mfj-1886\/","url_meta":{"origin":61402,"position":5},"title":"Saturday morning fun: \u201cfat\u201d MW DXing with the MFJ-1886","author":"Jock Elliott","date":"January 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM It was a reader, Mario Filippi, who set me on this path. He posted a comment that said, in part: \u201cAn interesting place to DX would be the segment between 1500 \u2013 1590 kc\u2019s where there are a number of news stations, one being federal news\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photos-for-SWLing-blog-002-001-1-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photos-for-SWLing-blog-002-001-1-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/photos-for-SWLing-blog-002-001-1-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61402"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61415,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61402\/revisions\/61415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}