
I have been transmitting with a homemade magnetic loop with a 92% efficiency installed inside the garage on the floor! Transmitter was the W5OLF WSPR VCXO-AXE 30m transmitter with 1W. This transmitter has been built last January. I always wanted to have a independent beacon transmitter which doesn't use the mains net and doesn't use my home base antennas. So I powered the transmitter with solar power. The result is amazing considering the setup. Best DX was ZL1RS with a distance of 17750km.
The magnetic loop has been made with 22mm copper tube which was left by the previous home owner. I found a nice "trombone" idea for the capacitor on the internet, it works very well. At first I contructed the pick up loop with copper wire and had not enough capacitance so I constructed a extra cap on top. PE1BVQ Hans suggested I really should use thick coax cable for pick up loop construction and it works very well. SWR on 10.140 is 1:1 and exactly 50 Ohm.
The transmitter finally at the place it was ment for. The only problem is I can activate it only 99 times a time slot of 2 minutes. After that I have to press a button again for another 99 times. I have programmed a 6 minute break for the experiment to get as many spots as possible. I'll probabely experiment with other time settings in the future.
I really didn't expect it would work this well with a antenna inside a building and on the floor.
