Hi Steve,

Thanks for your interesting question about combining ferrite rods together,
to make more sensitive loopsticks.

Back in the early days of the Ultralight radio boom, I was fascinated by
the challenge of making a tiny analog Ultralight radio (the Sony SRF-39FP
"Prison Radio," a member of the SRF-59 family of CXA1129N chip-based radios)
as sensitive on AM as the Sony ICF-2010 model. The detailed experimentation
involved taping ferrite bars together to make longer composite loopsticks,
then rewinding the coils to match the inductances of the stock loopstick.
The experimentation used salvaged ferrite bars from old vintage radio
loopsticks, and was very successful in boosting the sensitivity of the SRF-39FP
past that of the ICF-2010 , as described in the article posted at
_http://www.mediafire.com/?zmenm1zdmmw_ (http://www.mediafire.com/?zmenm1zdmmw) .

The newer ferrite bars (such as the type 61 7.5" models sold by Amidon)
typically are too expensive to be practical in making composite loopsticks
this way, but fellow Puyallup, WA resident Guy Atkins has had excellent
results using the larger and longer ferrite bars sold by Stormwise, which would
probably outperform any long composite loopstick. Guy recently made an 18"
loopstick PL-380, which is an outstanding DX performer:
_http://www.mediafire.com/file/imykf4ndnnj/pl-380_18inch_front[1].jpg_
(http://www.mediafire.com/file/imykf4ndnnj/pl-380_18inch_front[1].jpg) .

73, Gary DeBock (in Puyallup, WA, USA)




In a message dated 5/20/2010 3:43:39 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
cbyjeqjd@... writes:




Hi folks...

I've done some makeshift improvements with a few radios over the years but
I've always wondered, does gluing 2 or more rods together by the ends
deteriorate their capability compared to 1 long one of equal length? Buying
longer ones apparently increases the price significantly compared to shorter
ones, if they could be glued together.

Steve