"Freddie" wrote in message hlink.net...
I have a 1/2 wave 40m dipole in my attic. I use a antenna tuner with it for
amateur radio on HF. It works GREAT for transmitting on 15m, 20m, 30m, and
40m...with the tuner.

Thats what I use. Was a perfect fit across the attic. I ran it up on
the peaks of the rafters and ran it through the 1x4's to support it.
Fed it with about 20 ft of 300 ohm twin lead to a 989c tuner.
It works fairly well. It's my backup antenna when there is too much
lightning to risk being on the outside antennas. Many for listening,
although it will transmit 40-10. Even it's a risk due to surge if I
took a close strike...I unhook if lightning is in the area..I use it
many times after the lightning has cleared the area, but I expect more
later, or am too lazy to connect the normal antennas. :/
I also have a 2m ground plane hung from the highest point in the
attic. It's also for bad wx use when I'm too paranoid to be on the
outside beam. It's ok for listening anywhere in the VHF/UHF spectrum.


I know if I put a preamp on it for my SWL rigs, I'd blow the front end outta
the things...I think.

Should be no need for a preamp on any decent or even semi-decent radio
thats connected to at least 50 ft of wire. Many need less than that...

I read somewhere about a 44' or 88' dipole being real useful for SWLing.

Any dipole is good for SWL use. No need to worry about mismatch unless
it's very severe. Twin lead or coax fed. I never bother using the
tuner for casual HF receiving on a coax fed dipole. No need. I do have
to use it on the attic antenna because the needed balun is in the
tuner, and the use of the tuner makes the system pretty high Q. You
need to get it vaguely in the ballpark. The only time the average HF
center fed dipole will be a problem will be on very low MW or LW
freq's.
In that case, just feed only one leg of the feedline, ala inv L, or
jumper both conductors together and feed the antenna as a T vertical.
It will work fine for most lowband stuff if you do that. No tuner
should be needed usually. Feed as normal for the higher bands. The
tuner will help block out of band crud if you do use it. But most ham
tuners won't cover MW or below. MK