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Gregg also wrote me this email when I first met him describing the superloop antenna.

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Hello, my name is Gregg Howe....better known over the airwaves as KI6IUJ. Some people call me milliwatt-man as I routinely work QRP 25 mw or less on both HF & VHF.

Here's a small yet powerful quad-type antenna I developed out of necessity a few years ago. My problem like so many other hams was local laws concerning antenna restrictions. I needed one 2-meter antenna that could do everything. Vertical polarization for working repeaters and FM simplex, horizontal polarization for the long-haul 144.200 weak-signal SSB work.

Design Philosophy: Create a compact, yet hi-performance antenna system allowing antenna challenged hams to stretch the limits of VHF communications. Starting with a blank sheet of paper, cost being no object I put my 40 years of antenna experience to work (drop me an email for more about my electronics credentials). Most hams working weak-signal ssb require two VHF antenna's, one for sideband, one for FM due to bandwidth and polarization issues. This was not acceptable. Simply put, I wanted one antenna that would do everything well. After tinkering with a few prototypes, I knew I was on to something. Early field test yielded long-range contacts thought to only be possible on much larger antenna arrays.

Obsessive in nature, I suspected there was still room for improvement. Over 1200 hours and almost 5 years later, success! The SuperLoop design (provisional patent filing is under way) has fulfilled all of the important design parameters. Excellent forward gain (12.5+ dBi on the 5-element), very clean lobe pattern, good bandwidth, dual-polarity capabilities and most of all....compact size.

The composite design utilizes hi dielectric strength RF insulating materials to support the all copper elements, creating an unequaled free-space lobe pattern and radiation efficiency approaching 100%. Add the optional motor-drive for the driven element you now have multi-polarity single feedline antenna providing outstanding vertical / horizontal separation with no parasitic distortion or drains common to other dual polarity antenna's.

Look at the other performance enhancing benefits the SuperLoop design offers:

1 - No lossy matching networks. They reduce an antenna's efficiency, hurting weak-signal receiving capacity, often distorting the lobe pattern, reducing bandwidth and can reduce radiated power.

2 - The traditional quad loops have impedance issues created from the 90 degree corners used to form the square shape, the SuperLoop design does not.

3 - Better signal to noise ratio than Yagi type antenna's (especially important in windy or rainy conditions).

4 - It is a well know fact, that Yagi type antenna's need to be almost double the size of quad-type antenna's to yield comparable performance. Even larger to equal a SuperLoop!

5 - Extensive long-range field testing (over 100 miles) also indicates a vast improvement with QSB (signal fading). The full-wave loops simply put...have twice the wave-capture when compared to similar sized Yagi designs. Bigger signals, both transmit and receive with greater immunity to signal fading.

6 - No corona effects issues as found on Yagi's at high power-levels.

After hundreds of hours of computer modeling, tinkering in the shop, antenna analyzation and real world on-air testing...success! The lobe pattern is great, feedpoint impedance on target and the antenna is broadbanded enough to work the entire 2-meter spectrum. With a 12.5+ dBi forward gain on a 5 1/2 ft boom, optional light-absorbing paint minimizing detection, this antenna should satisfy just about any urban operator while keeping piece in the neighborhood.

The 8-element version on a 12 ft boom is close to completion. Another couple of weeks of testing and optimization should make it one of the most dominate forces known to VHF operators. It is already on par with very large stacked Yagi arrays.
73 - Gregg KI6IUJ