LuG (Loop under Ground) Antenna

Last post, I wrote that I would be doing a lot of antenna work during the next few weeks. A few days later, my lawn mower ate another Loop on Ground (LoG) antenna! That is two springs in a row that I lost a LoG to the mower, so I decided that I would not put down another LoG unless I could find a workaround for my hungry lawn mower.

I decided to bury the antenna just deep enough to avoid the mower, but not too deep as to affect reception. I bought some new RG6 coax, heavier gauge enameled copper wire, Channel Master balun and a saw-tooth border edger to slice open 120 feet of lawn.

It took about an hour to slice the lawn and another hour to put down the copper wire generously using lawn staples to keep the wire below ground level. By the way, the stainless steel lawn staples seem to have no effect on the operation of the antenna. Another by the way, I turned the new antenna about 30° counter-clockwise compared to the old LoGs so that its axes now lie 0°/180° and 90°/270°.

After connecting the balun and coax and running the coax up to the shack, I anxiously turned on the IC-R8600 and I was very disappointed. All signals were weak. There were no signals on frequencies that I normally hear signals and 1600 to 1710 kHz was totally dead. [There is a Department of Transportation Travelers Information Station (DOT TIS) 3 miles away on 1670 that blasts in here normally and there was nothing to hear on 1670 with the new antenna.]

I thought maybe the antenna being sunk in the ground was the cause even though at the most, the antenna was only a half-inch below the surface. So I went out and lifted the whole antenna out of the ground and returned to the radio, but it did not make any difference.

My next guess was that the new balun might be the culprit, so I swapped it for the old balun and 1600 to 1710 kHz came back to life, but all the signals were still weak or non-existent. That left the coax and the copper wire as culprits. Except for a break in the enameled copper wire, I could not figure out how the wire could be bad. That left the coax, so I replaced the new RG6 coax with the old RG59 and that solved the problem. Bad RG6!

I pushed the copper back down into the ground and the signal levels were exactly the same with the antenna on top of the lawn and with the antenna underground by 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch depth.

Next day, I cut the lawn and the antenna survived.

May Day

Two things: new radio and new logging.

I purchased a new radio, an ICOM IC-7300 transceiver. And with it, I logged a new station, WEZR relaying ’80s oldies station WIGY on 780 kHz transmitting 18 watts from Rumford, Maine, 234 miles to the north-northeast. Antenna was the 128-foot Loop-on-Ground.

Next few weeks, I will be doing a lot of antenna work.

The Night of Elevens

Tuesday evening, I tuned the ICOM IC-R8600 to 92.1 MHz to listen to my favorite oldies radio station, WLNG, and I was surprised to hear people conversing in a foreign language. WLNG usually pounds in here via the ICOM AH-7000 discone antenna on the roof, so I assumed what I was hearing was more local than WLNG on Long Island. 

On the shelf above the IC-R8600 is my Grundig Satellit 750 receiver, so I tuned it to 92.1 and WLNG was loud and clear. (I was using the 750’s telescoping antenna.) There was no sign of the foreigners on the 750, but they were still loud and clear on the IC-R8600! It was a Twilight Zone moment!

I listened to the mystery station for awhile and successfully heard and recorded their station identification, but I could not make sense of it except for one word, “nacional.”

Last night, I tuned to 92.1 again and they were louder than Tuesday evening, but occasionally, there were fades and I could hear WLNG. By now, I assumed they were speaking in Portuguese and after doing some research on the Internet, I concluded that the station was W221CQ-FM transmitting 125 watts in Naugatuck, Connecticut, 11 miles to the south-southwest. 

I actually have heard them before on the car radio when it was tuned to WLNG and was driving in a southerly direction. They would momentarily swamp WLNG, but the language barrier and brevity of the signal dissuaded me from trying to figure out who they were. Now they are in the log. 

Wednesday night, I also logged WAMA on 1550 kHz transmitting 133 watts from Tampa, Florida, nearly 11 hundred miles to the south-southeast. The IC-R8600 and 128-foot Loop on Ground antenna captured that one. 

Two New This Week

Night time conditions have been interesting – hearing lots of DX from the south, like a very strong CMBR from Havana on 530 kHz, but nothing new to add to the log. I had better luck listening for the hour before sunset and logged two new stations this week.

WGFP on 940 kHz transmitting 1 kW from Webster, Massachusetts, 64 miles to the east-northeast.

WENU on 1410 kHz transmitting 1 kW from South Glen Falls, New York, 123 miles to the north-northwest.

Heard with my ICOM IC-R8600 receiver and 128-foot Loop on Ground antenna (WGFP) and 80-meters dipole (WENU).

Four New Loggings

Since my last post, I added four stations to the log.

February 17 at 2140Z, “Classic Country Radio" station WVTL on 1570 kHz in Amsterdam, New York, transmitting 1,000 watts, 110 miles to the north-northwest, 

February 26 at 0420Z, navigational beacon LC on 376 kHz in Columbus (Pickerington), Ohio, transmitting 25 watts, 531 miles to the west-southwest

March 13 at 0458Z, WENR on 1090 kHz in Englewood, Tennessee, transmitting 1,000 watts, 757 miles to the southwest running a DX test for radio hobbyists

March 13 at 0458Z, religious station WILD on 1090 kHz in Boston, Massachusetts, transmitting 1,900 watts, 110 miles to the east-northeast

All stations were heard on my ICOM IC-8600 receiver and 128-ft Loop on Ground (LoG) antenna.