OK so maybe some are still skeptical about my light pole antenna tests on 160m. I won't say much here as a video is coming soon but they also work really well as a receiving antenna on the AM broadcast band. How do I know? I used it with a crystal set and got great volume into unamplified headphones.
The proviso is that impedance matching must be excellent. You can't just hook the 20m perimeter loop to the crystal set's antenna and earth terminals and expect good results. I used my loop antenna coupler. Tuning is a bit finnicky with its controls also selecting the station in conjunction with the crystal set's tuning capacitor but it does make a big difference. My coupler only goes down to about 1100 or 1200 kHz but the strongest station on 1377 kHz comes in well as do some others.
Anyway the results were excellent so look out for the video.
PS: Many other antenna topics are covered in Hand-carried QRP Antennas. Available in electronic and paperback form (some countries) this well-reviewed book is a popular read amongst hams who go portable.
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