After the dismal results with my loop antenna, I decided to go Ferrite. As could have been expected but contrary to all hope, the results are not any better.
To build the antennas, I used the discussion in this forum started by Mike. Unfortunately in my case, the method of starting on both ends to squeeze the rods together didn't work. The shrink hose stretched when hot and every time I ended up with at least 1 considerable gap of at least 2...3 mm between elements. My way was to shrink vertically, start at the bottom end and shrink just to about the middle of the next element; then let everything completely cool down. Certainly slower but at least I got what I wanted.
Now I have to probably shield the antennas. Does anybody have experience or thoughts about using conducting paint for that purpose?
In order to move the antenna / amplifier around to find a good place I need more cable. Amazon has a number of shielded cat 7 cables that are cheaper than cat 5e or cat 7 cables. Any thoughts on using cat 7?
Last some pictures of my antenna / amplifier unit. If I add a fitting for the Ethernet cable, the whole thing should be waterproof and ready for outside installation.
