Delta loop antenna designer

Design a delta-loop antenna for a single amateur HF band, which requires one single central support only, radiates vertically polarized waves at low elevation angles, and offers a high signal-to-noise ratio. These attributes make the delta-loop antenna an attractive proposition for single-band DX work.  Read more...

Get started  » » »

  1. Use the controls on the left-hand side to configure your antenna - set the design frequency, antenna element lengths and angles, wire diameter, wire insulation if required, support height, etc.
  2. When you are happy with your configuration, press the "Show antenna" button to display your antenna in interactive 3D graphics mode in the area on the right-hand side. Each time you change your configuration, you should press the "Show antenna" button to register the changes to the app.
  3. After you have configured your antenna, you can then use the controls further down in the page to generate charts and diagrams to evaluate the antenna's performance - you will need to to access these controls.
    You can choose to view any combination of the available charts and diagrams: these include four radiation pattern types: azimuth, elevation, 3D and polarization patterns; other options include VSWR charts, an antenna currents diagram, and a Smith chart.

Set antenna color:    
Principal band
Band:
Frequency: kHz    ?
Nom. length : m     Corrected length:   m
Antenna wire
Wire core: mm  diameter
Insulation: thickness    ?
Ins. type:   Corr. factor:
Antenna foot height
Foot height: m
Antenna apex height above foot, as fraction of wavelength
Apex height: λ m
Antenna apex angle  (calculated)
Apex angle: degrees
Antenna feed-point impedance  (estimated)
Impedance: Ω  ?
Antenna overview
Antenna sections lengths Foot height Full height Est. F-P
impedance
#1 #2 #3 #4
 
 Delta loop antenna designer
  1. Use the controls on the left-hand side to configure your antenna.
  2. When you are happy with your configuration, press the "Show antenna" button to display your antenna in interactive 3D graphics mode in this area.
  3. After you have configured your antenna, you can then use the controls further down in the page to generate charts and diagrams to evaluate the antenna's performance ...
Antenna feed-point: ⬥
 

Antenna performance

Here you can generate plots of radiation patterns, VSWR chart, antenna currents diagram and Smith chart for your antenna over a choice of ground types. By changing the physical dimensions of the antenna, and refreshing these plots, you can learn a lot about how such antennas will perform in the field.
Please note that radiation patterns are here modelled over flat ground - generally speaking, when an antenna is erected on a hill-top or mountain summit, surrounding sloping ground will often cause angles in the elevation radiation pattern to be lowered in the direction of the slope.
This effect is less evident with the delta-loop antenna, since the vertically-polarized waves radiated by the antenna are emitted at low elevation angles, such that reflections from the ground will be minimal, with the resulting elevation radiation pattern being only slightly affected by downward-sloping ground.

Choose ground type of
land in the vicinity
of the antenna: 		   Conductivity: S/m    Dielectric const.: F/m
View radiation patterns:    Set elevation angle for azimuth plot:     ?
  Set azimuth angle for elevation plot:     ?

?
View VSWR chart:
Impedance curves scales:   
View currents diagram:
View Smith chart:
Antenna gains
at 0° elevation:
Antenna impedance:
Frequency range: