Arthur Harris schrieb:

"Diverd4777" wrote:
I have found Longer is always better for antennas;

Until the natural noise floor is higher than the receiver's
sensitivity... Modern receivers can squeeze out even short antennas
pretty well - my AR7030 not only has a switchable +10dB preamp, but also
offers an impedance inverter (whatever that is) intended for telescopic
antennas but also useful for short wires.

True in general. But some portables can't handle that much signal. I think
the original poster is in Europe (based the words "aerial" and "centre").
Europeans seem to have more problems with overload due to the abundance of
nearby transmitters.

In fact, I've even experienced IM products when using the 7600G on the
whip alone. A few meters of extra wire like the AN-71 can be used, but
this has to be done carefully and with some antenna tuning /
preselection device, something also to be recommend when using the radio
on the whip alone (antenna tuning out of the box doesn't seem too great
in some ranges). (If an antenna is connected via a properly inserted
3.5mm plug, the maximum length will be higher since the receiver enables
some kind of attenuation then.) That's not an issue with the AOR, of
course, this should handle even nice big antennas (like, say, a 40 m
Delta Loop) well.

The OP, BTW, obviously seems to be from South Africa. Signal levels
should be a whole lot less critical there (unless one happens to live
next to a xmtr station, that is) - well, of course, everything is less
critical then Central Europe. As always, some experimenting will be
needed to figure out the optimum antenna length.

Stephan
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