Waiting for the parts to arrive has taken some time, mainly I suppose because Christmas got in the way, but at last all the bits have arrived and I am able to continue the build with the Delta Loop.
Assembling all the parts on the main lawn also took some time but this was due to the weather, I wasn't going to rush when it's pouring with rain. Finally after a bit of patience we got there and the poles were fitted, the element wire pulled through and the ladder line measured and fitted and finally placed on a short piece of scaffold pole and up she went.
Just put up before dusk!
I must admit I wasn't expecting anything terrific first time, I hadn't tuned, played or tweaked in any way. But I tested on the FT1000 just to see if I could receive and get out. Well blow me, I got a result straight away. Measuring against the Hustler it was very quiet I almost thought it wasn't working at first it was so quiet!
A little closer
Using the Hustler I found a reasonably loud CW station then switched over to the Delta Loop. First impression was the background noise from a vertical like the Hustler was gone, although it was down an S point most probably due to it being so low off the ground. I hadn't tuned or played with it in any way, so I could probably tweak it for better results plus I'd been using the auto tuner from the FT1000, not the manual Tokyo 400L.
For a quick home brew job I was pretty impressed.
The next thing is to raise it a bit to give it some height, see if that improves it being down a S point to the Hustler.
Now I'll let you in to a little secret, a few days ago sitting talking to my Brother in Law over a glass of wine about delta loop antennas, we were mulling over M0PLK design and whether it was as good as everybody says. So in the spur of the slightly tipsy moment and after looking on the web at some Polish website
I decided to buy an original M0PLK Delta Loop! The only place I could find one was at this website in Poland, well, M0PLK is polish! No other retail shop in Europe had them, Is that a good or bad sign?
£188 for the original M0PLK design, actually not a bad price, plus they have good reviews on Eham. So I'm expecting this in the New Year and I will compare notes with the homebrew to see how it performs. If its as quiet as this homebrew I shall be well impressed!
This delta Loop is going to be slightly different as it's based on the M0PLK design which is the vertical triangle but with the 4:1 Balun at the base and is fed by a 450/600 ohm ladder feeder, the wire element is held in place by two fibre glass poles in a V position.
This is a multiband antenna that should cover 30 meters through to 10m. Trolling the internet I've been trying to find a replacement antenna that will not cause too many problems when its situated in my paddock. If you have read earlier posts, you will see I have had the local Council informing what I can and cannot put up!
This delta Loop should be camouflaged in front of some trees, does not need to be that high and is a quiet antenna that puts out a reasonable performance. Well that's what other users say on Eham, so I shall put it to the test and build one.
So far I have bought the two fibre glass poles at 7 metres in length although I suspect 5 metres will suffice. I've measured and cut the wire (17 meters) and ordered and received the main aluminium plate 350mm x 400mm, 8mm thick, which I have trimmed and drilled the holes for fixing the fibreglass poles. the idea being to make it reasonably close to the picture below of an original M0PLK Delta Loop.
The balun is fed with a 400/600 ohm ladder line and I have decided as a bit of fun to build my own 600 ohm ladder line. I had a commercial 450 ohm feeder but thought as I'd never constructed a ladder line before I would give it a go, so if the 600 fails I can always fall back on the 450 ohm!
The main plate is made of 8mm solid aluminium 350mm x 400mm. I wanted something reasonably strong so I may have gone over the top but as far as I'm concerned the stronger the better.
You can see I've drilled the holes to hold the fibre glass poles these will be standard plastic brackets. The Balun is a small 200 watt 4:1 I had as a spare to show you where it will sit, but I have ordered a larger 1K version. The picture below shows the poles (not extended) in place together with the 16 gauge wire, just at the top of the picture is the home brew ladder line.
In the middle of the plate rising through the centre, a 5 metre two inch mast will be used for the plate to attach to, as you don't require any great height for this antenna, but obviously its the old story of any higher will be better, but I'm limited thanks to my Council!
