I would try half, 6 turns. Or, at least, rebuild with 12 turns as suggested by manual, but as a neat coil and connected as close as possible to active element. Scrambled winding improves electrostatic coupling, which is undesired.
"Loop" is the latest fad in antennas. Most don't know why they want a loop, they just like how it looks or the bragging rights. Style and fashion is important for antenna ads. Next, we will probably see a ham antenna fad in which antennas are anodized with red color for "the hottest signal on the band". They used to make multi-color yagi TV antennas in the mid-1960s and early-1970s when color television first became popular. Remember that? The yagi in the video doesn't have any loop, though. Whoops. It is not really a "Loop Fed Yagi". It just tries to capitalize on the market for the loop fad. It is simply a yagi with an old-fashioned folded dipole driven element. Too bad they couldn't put a real ferrite balun on it, instead of the fake balun (coil of coax). Even a couple of ferrite clamps around the coax would be better than that coax coil. Red antennas are popular in Asia, especially China. Here's a picture of a yagi that is both "loop" and "red hot signal".
Also, its got an equally faddish multi-element reflector. Reminiscent of the Boomer "Trigon" of yore. Except its only two, so is it a "Duo-gon" ? Endeavoring to be a sensitive, new age, well mannered OM, I will make no comment about any smart YL's style and fashion opinion, or option, on the affect of coloring any thing RED - 73 de John - WØPV
At high VHF and up, Yagi's days are numbered. Doing my bit to purge the 'lawn chairs in the sky'. No more butt--ugly, BIG, point to point aluminum, as above. Yagi -Uda antennas are a subclass of a much large class of parasitic directional arrays. Info made public at an Ivy League based conference on Tuesday. First patent issues at 10AM by USPTO.... Been sitting on this in 'hibervation' for 10 years, waiting for the USPTO and the market to move... If China, which decimated the US antenna industry, wants to now differentiate by pretty colors, well... good luck! 'Buh-bye!' Sawfish antennas!
The trouble with red or hot-colored antennas is that antenna wax melts off them as soon as it is applied! Having a hot receiver with a cool antenna is far better (not having to use costly antenna wax anymore has saved me a bundle).
WHAT???? Why all the negativity? Bragging rights.? Style? Not really a loop? Etc, etc, etc... It just so happens this antenna is a very good performer with it's long boom, good F/B ratio and no matching required. Regarding the balun - "they" don't put any balun on the antenna, that's up to the user. I'm thinking the YOU don't know why people like this antenna design. Maybe YOU should educate yourself before you start flaming the people (like myself) who happen to have this style of antenna.
Please don't resort to accusations of sexism to win a debate/discussion. You started the flaming. I'm surprised and engineer, scientist and Silicon Valley exec doesn't know the difference between a full wave loop and an "old fashioned folded dipole" - to quote your own words.
I personally agree that the balun "As designed" should be "Solenoid wound" & not "Scramble wound". This series of antenna is designed to be low noise, a bit better gain or F/B ratio & direct 50 ohm feed. You can read up on the basics of it here: http://www.g0ksc.co.uk/intro-lfa.html As for selling through MFJ, the designer has done custom designs for years, gratis. To "Sell out" to MFJ is a wise decision, as he will get paid for his work. I found the "Innovantenna" price of 133 pounds on their website for the above 4 element LFA LN (Low Noise) antenna. That comes out to $170 US dollars MSRP. As, the MSRP of the A50-3S (3 element Cushcraft yagi is $139.95 and the A50-5S sells for $199.95, I think the pricing is fair. When you consider that there is NO gamma match & better performance, it's a fair price. The A50 series antenna is an old (Albeit working) design from (As a guess) the late 60s or early 70s & the LFA is a newer computer modeled design, you are getting an (As claimed) lower noise signature antenna with better gain and/or better F/B ratio. Please follow the link I provided & check for yourself. Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with, nor do I own one of these antennas. In fact, I have an old A50-5S (CC 5 element 6 meter yagi. Ed
Your attempt at sarcasm isn't appreciated especially when you're wrong. You can model it and prove to yourself you are wrong. You HAVE done that haven't you? I have, specifically to examine whether there was any basis for assertions like yours, and to see for myself if there was anything to them. Carrying on the experiment from the theoretical to the actual I went ahead and built one or 2. You HAVE done that haven't you? To examine whether what you believe is true or false, you know, experimentation like a "scientist" should do? While it may hold true that some LFA loops may be small enough (L/W) to exhibit characteristics of folded dipoles, it is not the case for all LFA loops. The LFA loop impedance is generally different than a "folded dipole" and the pattern is also different than a "folded dipole". This is easily seen in modeling. Disclaimer: I have no connection to LFA's other than having experimented with them to satisfy my own curiosity.
