HOA caught me! Any users using a AOR LA390 loop?

[MAKO36]

Ok...think I came up with a good idea. Please correct me if I am wrong. I plan on laying about 150 feet of 14 gauge wire in the shape of a square on my roof.  That's right...just going to lay it on there. The starting end I will solder to the center core of the coax. The tail end I will solder to the shield of the coax, making it a true closed end loop antenna. Since it will be just for receiving for my Icom R75 I think it'll receive just fine for 2-30 mhz. After all most of the time I listen to aeronautical radio and ham. Listening to South American music would be a waste since all I have to do is just turn my portable radio on. That or I'll just drop my Par wire from the pvc supports where it was and lay her on the roof, saving me money from having to buy wire. Just hope by laying my Par End Fed on the roof will get me reception, as I am currently going through withdrawals of no SW as of late.

[RENTON481]

Why not go for both?  Use the wire you've got now, put it on your roof, and see if it works.  My guess is it should -- provided you don't have a lot of household RFI.  On the roof your present antenna would still be elevated from the ground so it should work.

Then go on with the 150 ft. loop as a later project.

I have read nothing but good reports from guys using large horizontal loops.

[K1DA]

I'd use a balun on the loop for noise reduction. 

[KB0RDL]

Interesting that nobody really answered his question about the LA-390!

[K1ZJH]

Put a screwdriver antenna on your car.  Park it close to the end of a stealthy piece of coax that runs to the radio. Use a phono jack connector/plug to connect the coax to the antenna for easy connect/disconnect.

I don't live in an HOA home, just thinking what I might do if I did.

Some HOAs do not allow parking cars in the driveway or on the street... they must be in the garage, and the garage door closed.

An active SW antenna might be your best bet.

Pete

[KB0RDL]

It is interesting that nobody answered the question about the loop antenna.  I posted one about the AOR LA400 and only had one response and he said it wasn't any good.  Yet, people who have outside loops swear by them.  I suspect that it's just very hard to overcome indoors RF and that nothing really works very well. 

I had a 23 foot Grove SWL wire antenna in my attic and it worked well.  Then I tried to double it and it failed completely.  I have the same antenna on my deck and it's very marginal but occasionally brings in some decent signals, especially at 20 meters.

I use an ICOM R-75 to receive HF and apparently have in intermittent problem with the audio.  When I turn it on it will be nice and loud and after five minutes I drops way down.  Sometimes I can shake it and the loudness will come back but not for long.  Anyone have an idea what may be loose or most likely to be loose?  I took it to Associated Radio a few years ago and it worked fine!

In the meantime for RF noise I have a "Hear It" speaker that helps a lot.  I've been thinking of getting the West Mountain digital speaker but I'm not sure it will do better.  Any advice out there?

[RENTON481]

Maybe nobody answered the question about that particular loop antenna because no one here tried one or liked it if they did.

I hope the OP was able to work out his antenna situation.

[WA2ISE]

I may be wrong,  but I think HOAs can't forbid satellite dish antennas.  If true, then you could get a dead dish, connect a run of coax to it, and use the outer shield of the coax as your antenna.  Aim the dish to make it look like it is pointed the same way any neighbors' dishes are pointed, or if none, to the southwest at about where the Sun is located around 3PM in October.  Roughly where the satellites are. 

[KD8IIC]

  First off, the Ic-R75 series are very sensitive receivers to start with, There are two antenna inputs to use with either coaxial or twisted pair lead in.
 I have had very good results using both a random wire vert against ground for above 10mhz and a Pixel Active Loop for LW to 14mhz with directional capabilities. Also like the Mini-Whip which is an active "Pill Box" antenna. Very potenet for indoors as in attic and window sill.  73

[KI5WW]

Try to use your Par SWL. I have one. Best SWL ant ive ever had. Yer going to be disapointed in anything else. Put it in the attic if all else fails, cuz yer guna miss it

[N7RST]

If you can get into your attic, you might try a dipole..have spoke to lots of folks using indoor attic dipoles...

[AA4HA]

Wire is cheap. Since you are receiving only you can even use magnet wire.

A slingshot with a steel washer, magnet wire attached to the washer. Shoot it out of your window every evening so it loops over a tree branch. Listen all night long. When someone gets fidgety about the invisible magnet wire just give it a tug and it breaks off the steel washer.

The next night you shoot another washer and wire up into a tree, go back to listening.

Once a week take a big magnet and pick up your steel washers to reuse for the next week.

A few thousand foot spool of magnet wire will cost you $10 and last you a year or more.

[K1FPV]

For a number of years, I lived in an HOA community before retiring at age 59 in 2005. Most of my nearly 40 year career I spent as an Design EE as well as a Broadcast Engineer. In my Senior of College, I worked in an AM radio Station as I got my 1st. Class Radiotelephone License which was needed to be a Broadcasting Engineer back then. To deceive the HOA, I ran about a 75 foot length of # 18, end fed wire to my storage shed in back of the house. It couldn't be seen by neighbors or from the street. I had a home built FET tuned preamp between the receivers and the antenna. I switched it to a ham antenna tuner and used it to transmit on too. I had it connected to a ground which went to a number of buried radials fanned out from the house...most around 65' long as a counterpoise. I had no RF issues, though I kept my power to around 50 watts or less. This worked well!

Now, I own over an acre of which part is covered with trees. I use verticals, a tri-band beam, and when on the 160, 80, or 60 meter band use a Pixel RF PRO-1A loop to receive. I mounted mine at the 7' level though I initially tried it inside the house and it worked favorably compared to various wire outdoor antennas for receiving. The loop is a bit pricey, but works well, can be place inside an attic, or some place inside and it works great. I use it for VLF BC listening. While being able to rotate it, I can null out noise, and actually receive better reception on VLF compared to my wire receiving antennas including my 200' long wire.

Good Luck,
Bill
K1FPV

[KD0REQ]

what's with all this heavy gauge stuff?  use whatever stays in the air, 30 gauge or smaller, and nobody will see it.  the thinner, the better, so it breaks like a spiderweb if anybody runs into it.  they won't think twice about it..