Radiohead wrote:

I am a relative newbie to the world of SW.

I've just taken possession of a second-hand Kenwood R5000 comms receiver. It
looks like a very nice piece of kit. It's not really practical for me to rig
an outside antenna system at the moment, but I have heard that you can get
SW antennas designed for indoor use. Can anyone recommend any? I am in the
UK.

And if anyone has any thoughts on the R5000, feel free.


I used one for some time in an antenna restricted area and had very good
results with both DATONG AD-370 and DRESSLER ARA-30 active antennas
mounted in the attic.

There are some terrible junk gadgets sold as active antennas but these
have been so good to me that they are now mounted outdoors and are
coming up on 20years continuous service.

The DATONG is a dipole configuration and DATONG makes some really good
stuff but appear to have moved to the professional surveillance field so
I don't know if their antennas are still available at a good price. They
are a UK company so you might look around.

The DRESSLER is a short fireglas whip and a quick check shows DRESSLER
active antennas at www.hamradio.co.uk and several other sites; although
the ARA-30 is probably not available any more, the ARA-40 and ARA-60
appear to be more modern versions.

I have had many years of enjoyment with my R-5000 and those antennas.

Good luck
Dave