[600MRG] Preliminary Earth Loop Results

[John Molnar]

All,
Several days ago I experienced a wind gust that knocked my tripod mounted
10' diameter shielded magnetic loop to the ground, it landed flat still
pointed NE -SW.
Interestingly enough, I still had multiple WSPR spots from John WG2XIQ all
night. (2395 KM path).  Originally the bottom (preamp end) of the loop is
about 6' above ground level.  The grass was soaked from the storm.

Obviously curious, I duplicated the "experiment".
I constructed an identical 10' loop (RG-6) and built an identical
preamplifier and bias Tee.  This was setup on the grass, about 30' from the
vertical loop.  I used two identical laptops running WSPR 2.0.  Identical
receivers,
FT-857 and FT-897 (same guts) were used. AGC off.  There is no common
component shared by the two receive systems.  They are totally independent.

The test commenced last evening.  XIQ was the only WSPR station
transmitting in the USA, I stayed RX only.  The vertical loop reported as
WG2XKA, the grass mounted earty loop reported as WA3ETD.

As XIQ reported, the earth loop drew "first blood".  Over the course of the
evening both loops reported, the best spot of XIQ was -22, reported by both
loop stations.  In several cases, the earth loop indicated a better spot by
several dB.  The ground here is currently wet and the night dew was very
heavy.  Very weak (-29, -30) were also reported by both loops.

I have yet to quantify all the data, but results are encouraging and the
tests will continue.

For anyone interested, the data can be recovered on WSPRNET, entering the
appropriate "reporter" calls listed above.

John WG2XKA / WA3ETD