Huisbesoek: ZS6UT Ed Willers
Ed Willers ZS6UT
The background is as follows: You will read about the noise (QRN QRM) at my QTH, and my attempts to reduce it to lesser levels. I’ve tried just about everything. I’ve been offered a “noise cancelling speaker” by OM Sam ZS6___ who runs Radio Accessories and is a good friend. I’ve put tons of ferrite beads on every wire in and around the shack. I’ve made good earths. Everything helps a little but, but nothing makes a huge improvement.
Except the literature on Small Magnetic Loop Antennas keeps on popping up. Everybody seems to say that they are small (about the size of a bicycle wheel) but that – for their size – they perform quite well under noisy conditions. And in true ham fashion I start phoning around. Not too long and OM Hans Kappetijn ZS6KR gives me the number of Ed ZS6UT, who was keen to show me what he had done.
So I popped in for a quick visit. Ed runs a very nice shack and while he is in a temporary QTH he hasn’t installed his magloop. Instead he depends on a multiband vertical and a 80m horizontal loop. He jokingly shows me how he used his fishing rod and a car spark plug to get some fishing line into a bluegum tree. I was surprised by how quiet the loop is in comparison to the vertical. He has a vacuum cap that he is going to use on his small magnetic loop as soon as he can put it up. Awesome item. After Ed’s advice I now know exactly what I should be looking for.
Thanks for the hospitality Ed. We’re going to cook the bands with our loops.
