DP wrote

There "was" and adf in my plane before I bought it, and received
the adf in a box when I bought it. The tray was still installed
in the avionics stack, and I had a kr85 reveiver, KI225 head,
and 42 loop antenna in the box. I put the receiver back in, and
had my mechanic put the loop antenna back on the plane during
annual.
Isn't the needle supposed to point "toward" the NDB?
the head was acting more like a VOR head in the from position.
I know an NDB doesn't have radials, so why would my needle be
pointing toward the tail of the plane as I approach the beacon,
and then swing toward the prop as I pass over?

You haven't mentioned anything about the "sense antenna" which
is responsible for determining the "to-from" in an ADF receiver.
The KA-42B has a built-in sense antenna, but the KA-42 does not.

Bob Moore