Villard noise cancelling shortwave antenna loop demo – Don't quit SWL over excessive static

This video demonstrates a simple, cheap, easy to build antenna that may encourage you to continue the shortwave radio listening hobby despite having only a small portable radio, and annoying man-made static common to suburban and urban areas. It may offer more improvement than any makeshift outdoor wire antenna, or a “better” receiver.

There’s no voodoo, no hocus pocus, no hype, and no expertise needed. It really works. Success depends on the frequency and size of the loop. The loop illustrated in this video is optimized for approx. 10,000 kHz, the 31 meter international broadcast band.

All you need is some aluminum foil, tape, a backing board, a strip of plain paper or newspaper, and a book. This video won’t cover assembly instructions. For that, see the excellent illustrated PDF here: http://www.tsf-radio.org/forum/im/145279k3mt_-_villard_anti-jamming_antenna.pdf

As a travel antenna, it’s nearly perfect. Don’t bother packing it. Just buy the materials wherever you are, enjoy it during your stay, then toss it. At a hotel you might even be able to scrounge some aluminum foil from the restaurant.

I first learned about Mike Villard’s clever, cheap homebrewed loop antenna from Joe Carr’s excellent Receiving Antenna Handbook in the mid-1990s. But without a diagram or incentive, I never bothered to try it. Back then RFI/EMI were relatively low, even in suburban apartment complexes. This was before cheap Chinese electronics flooded the market, ignoring FCC regulations regarding noise suppression and interference. By the mid-2000s the typical urban/suburban area was overwhelmed with noise-spewing electronics, and with the shift toward internet and mobile devices for news/information content and entertainment, there was little incentive for the FCC or local authorities to enforce regulations.

After moving from a quiet rural home in the mid-2000s, a simple random wire antenna strung through the trees was no longer good enough. I rigged up my own homebrewed shielded magnetic loop from coaxial cable, a simplified version of the popular KR1ST loop, which worked well with my Palstar R30C receiver. But I still wanted better reception with my portables.

I searched online and found detailed instructions and diagrams for the Villard noise/jamming cancelling horizontal loop antenna. I threw it together using some foam core posterboard I’d already assembled as a backing for my watercolor painting sessions. And I already had the other ingredients: aluminum foil; tape, strips of plain paper, and a book to make the simple sliding tuning capacitor work.

It worked perfectly with my small Panasonic RF-B65 portable. The loop not only helps null out local interference from RFI/EMI sources, but can also peak the signal within its optimal range. And no amplifier is needed. Most portables made since the 1980s have plenty of gain and don’t really need an amplified antenna – all they need is a clean signal.

It didn’t work well with my larger Sony ICF-2010 and Magnavox D2935 portables. I’m not sure whether the size or radio shell materials mattered – the Panasonic has quite a bit of aluminum in the shell; the Sony and Magnavox have all plastic shells.

It also didn’t work with my Palstar R30C using the pickup loop, but I plan to try that again using a larger loop. Perhaps an impedance transformer with the feedline may help too.

My next project is to build a larger version optimized for the 40m band and 6800-7000 kHz range popular with U.S. and some European shortwave free/pirate radio stations. That version may be built on a platform with styrofoam beanbag to assist getting the right angle.

The Villard loop isn’t the ultimate solution. It’s a kludge, bulky and awkward, requiring plenty of space on a bed, the floor, a table or outdoors on the ground. But it’s cheap and easy to make. If it whets your appetite, you might feel encouraged to move on to a better loop. There are many intended for vertical orientation, indoors and outdoors.

For a discussion, see: http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php?topic=22127.msg80072#new