is there any signifigant diffrence between litz and magnet wire

[hfflunki]

hi I have a hombreww loop I put magnet wire on that I use pairing it to a port radio with ferrite bar it works verywell on mw or tropical if I connect it as a hf antenna directly to a receiver I just wonderd if litz wire would boost it some more or just leave it alone

thanks,
Dan

 

[chrissim]

According to Joe Carr, an antenna authority, you could use electric fence wire and it wouldn't make a difference. In other words, you'll gain no benefit using anything other than what you're currently using.

 

[hfflunki]

thanks wasent sure but I was thinking the same thing cause copper is copper is copper

 

[majoco]

Yes, there is a BIG difference - but only in price! Litz wire has many wires all with insulation so they are electrically separate and utilise the principle of 'skin effect' - high frequencies tend to conduct better along the surface of a conductor rather than in the centre - so with many skinny wires effectively all in parallel you should get lower impedance to the received radio wave - but in practice the difference is so small that you won't notice any improvement.

Another problem is that they are a PITA to solder as you have to get every wire connected!

 

[hfflunki]

ya that's what my dad told me he used to build crystal radios he said its a scam him and his friends used to use uninsulated copper back in the 60's

 

[nanZor]

Well, that's not really a scam but a misapplication of the wire since the benefits are only noticeable below 500khz. VLF dx loops use them, but how many hardcore vlf dxer's are there these days?

 

[k9rzz]

I think there's plenty. DX BEACON LOGGER!

I used Litz wire when I built one of my AM BCB LC antenna phasers. The Q of each coil was TOO high ... I could phase out one sideband of a station, but the other sideband was hardly affected. Those coils did make for a great passive antenna tuner however, no problem with any overloading from strong stations that the circuit wasn't tuned to.