Magnetic Loop Antenna Selfmade Tubby indoor HB9ISP

Info: Homebrew rectangular loop made of thick copper tubing with vacuum capacitors, 10 m to 160 m.
Conductor: Copper tube 100mm
Capacitor: Vacuum Capacitor
Environment: Placed in an upstairs room of a timber-frame house, 0.8 m above the floor.

Antenna Efficiency Overview

Band 160m 80m 60m 40m 30m 20m 15m 12m 10m
Frequency f MHz 1.840 3.573 5.357 7.074 10.136 14.074 21.074 24.915 28.074
Intrinsic bandwidth Bint kHz 3.7 5.7 11.9 17.0 40.0 87.0 231.0 359.0 645.0
Source of Bint SWR = 2.62
Loop diameter D m 1.006
Conductor diameter d m 0.100
Loop count n 1 1
Inductance L H 1.51e-06
Capacitance C pF 4955 1314 585 335 163 84.7 37.8 27 21.3
Unloaded Q0 1 497 627 450 416 253 162 91 69 44
Damping resistance RT Ohm 0.0351 0.0541 0.113 0.161 0.380 0.825 2.192 3.406 6.120
Radiation resistance RR Ohm 0.000028 0.000398 0.00201 0.00613 0.0259 0.0968 0.493 0.973 1.583
Loss resistance RLoss Ohm 0.0351 0.0537 0.111 0.155 0.354 0.729 1.698 2.433 4.537
Power to antenna Pfwd W 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
swr_min 1 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00
etaSWR_ant % 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Power antenna load Pload W 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Antenna efficiency η % 0.080 0.736 1.78 3.80 6.83 11.7 22.5 28.6 25.9
Loop current I rms A 53.37 43.00 29.76 24.90 16.23 11.01 6.75 5.42 4.04
Loop voltage Uloop rms V 932 1458 1513 1671 1561 1470 1351 1281 1077
Magnetic dipole moment m A m² 42.448 34.199 23.669 19.803 12.910 8.754 5.372 4.309 3.215
Link to calculator calculator calculator calculator calculator calculator calculator calculator calculator calculator

Environment

Indoor antenna setup.

The antenna was suspended from the ceiling on the upper floor, about 0.8 m above the floor. Several indoor positions were tested; the position shown gave comparatively low damping. The house is built in timber-frame construction. Additional features include a green roof with moist soil, a nearby PV system, aluminum-coated underfloor heating, stainless steel canopies, and aluminum window frames. Together, these factors still make for a challenging indoor RF environment.

Upper-floor floor plan. Red: antenna positions.
Perspective view of the house. Antenna in the room below point M.

A detailed description is available here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.10828


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2026 Peter Märki (HB9ISP). This project is created in my free time and has no commercial background. Provided without warranty of any kind. Feedback is welcome.