Highly Effective HF Band Antenna in a Square Loop Configuration for Military Vehicle

High-frequency (HF) vehicular antennas play a crucial role in secure and reliable military communication, where satellite-based systems often face limitations such as dependence on third-party infrastructure and data vulnerability. This paper displays design, fabrication, and validation of a compact square loop antenna optimized for HF band operation between 3–30 MHz, with a focus on 25 MHz resonance. The antenna was simulated using FEKO, fabricated using copper wire, and experimentally validated with a Vector Network Analyzer (VNA). Results demonstrate a measured resonant frequency of 25.2 MHz with a return loss of − 16.5 dB, a VSWR of 1.35, or bandwidth of 1.1 MHz, showing close agreement with simulated values. Comparative analysis with existing HF vehicular antennas highlights the advantages of proposed design in terms of simplicity of construction. It makes antenna a promising solution for robust voice, data, image and video transmission in military environments in HF Band.