160 Meter Loop?

[JoeDirt]

So last year I started installing a 160m loop about 50 feet off the ground. Since I dont have my license for the amateur bands yet, I was wanting the loop to be somewhat resonate on 11meters. I marked my wire at specific points so I could tap different points to change the length of the wire. Well that was last year and I do not remember what my marks represented and half the antenna is in the air.

Is there a way to check the resonance of this antenna without having to take the antenna down and remeasure the length?

How much would it affect the tuning if im off by 10 feet?

I have 450 ohm ladder line with a Heathkit 2K tuner.

 

[Justme]

Depending on the wire used, bare or with isolation a 160 meter loop is about 166 meters long...or roughly 500+ feet.
A 11 meter loop should be around 11 meters length of wire in a loop, a bit different as the 160 meter loop.

A 160 meter loop would show a disturbed pattern on 11 meters with lots of nulls and peaks it will be able to tune it for 11 meters though.
For a scouting group i build a 160 meter loop fed with 450 Ohm window line and the last section of feed line was a 1:4 balun and 1:1 balun to coax for the last 3 feet to the tuner.

Worked fine on the low frequencies low noise reception and went out very well, even on 20 and the higher bands, though there the nulls eliminated some directions compared to a 70 feet high OCF antenna, some directions were better where the loop had a peak.

If you have 1/2 of the 160 meter loop up, it will be for 80 and higher.
Building a loop double the size as the intended working frequency will give some extra gain, and the radiation pattern will not degrade.

So, back to your Q, a few feet off for a 11 meter loop will effect resonance, a few feet off for a 160 meter loop will not be so much of a problem, feeding it with ladder line can be directly to your tuner and you can tune the loop without problems.
If you need coax, go the last feet to a balun and coax, keep the ladder line as long as possible to your balun.
Worked for me and the JOTA group, in the bottom of the solar cycle 5 years back i could make world wide qso's where other antenna's failed like the OCF at 70 feet above ground.

Try the 11 meter length loop or the double size 22 meters for 11 meters, feed it with ladder line and the tuner will have not much of a problem tuning it flat.

Good luck.
Cor