help designing direction finding antenna

[robismyname]

I am looking to hunt for rf energy at 63.7MHz. I'm looking to learn how to build an antenna for my application, I referenced several sights on the web but I found nothing for my frequency range.....should I do yagi, wire loop, loop stick? any pointers on how to get this started. Please no ambiguous comments or suggestions.....I am a beginner.....

 

[hoser147]

Check the Wiki there is a homebrew section that gets into different antenna builds........hoser

 

[k8mcn]

you could take any six meter design and plug in your own measurements for the frequency spectrum you desire----60.??? is close enough to 50.125 that it should not be too much of a design challenge,all though the antenna itself will be smaller than the 6 meter design.
just thought this may be your best route, as there are a gazillion 6 meter antenna plans out there, but home brewed designs probably a little scarce for the band you are wanting====good luck

 

[robismyname]

I am considering using a ferrite rod/loopstick antenna. I am reading in the ARRL antenna book that the type of core material is dependent on frequency range of the loop. So my question is:

1) What will be the material of my ferrite rod in 60.xx?
2) What will be the material of the ferrite rod for a 6 meter design ferrite rod/loopstick antenna?
2) Where can I buy this ferrite from (online source)?
3) How many wire turns will i need for 60.xx?

 

[prcguy]

A simple directional DF antenna will null the signal in the direction of the source because the null is very sharp and the main lobe will be very wide and peaking for the highest signal is almost useless. There are several military hand held DF antennas that cover the frequency you want and I have one like shown in this link:
http://www.american-milspec.com/p-43-at-1082prc-direction-finding-antenna.aspx
It's tunable from at least 30 to 76MHz and will probably do what you want.
prcguy

 

[zz0468]

I am considering using a ferrite rod/loopstick antenna. I am reading in the ARRL antenna book that the type of core material is dependent on frequency range of the loop. So my question is:

1) What will be the material of my ferrite rod in 60.xx?
2) What will be the material of the ferrite rod for a 6 meter design ferrite rod/loopstick antenna?
2) Where can I buy this ferrite from (online source)?
3) How many wire turns will i need for 60.xx?

60 MHz is probably too high to want to use a ferrite rod. The ARRL books used to show a 10 meter design that used about 18" of coax for the loop. That tells me that a 60 MHz loop would be easily done using that technique.

A yagi might be a bit cumbersome at that frequency, but a loop would be fairly small.