I'm thinking of dusting off my shortwave receiver and putting an
antenna in my attic. I have about 29' of horisontal space to play with
(in the most convenient direction, which runs more or less NE-SW, in
Massachusetts), or about 40' if I want to put more work into it.
Verically I have about 8', more in some places. I'm considering a T2FD
antenna, as I expect to listen across a lot of bands and I don't have
lots of space. Mostly I'm after BBC (which I guess is now a distance
station, mutter), time signals, and whatever news broadcasts and music
aren't All American All The Time. No real interest in DXing. No
interest in transmitting.

Since I don't want to spend the next month tacking up and taking down
the antenna, I'd kind of like to get it more or less right the first
time. So I have some questions about T2FD's.

1. My receiver is a Sangean portable (I think the 800a), with an odd
(RCA-style) external antenna jack. I understand that the antenna
impedience should match the receiver's. Will 300 ohm TV wire soldered
to an RCA jack work? Should I be looking at 75 or 50 ohm cable? (The
300 ohm TV cable has the advantage of being already in the wall).

2. T2FDs apparently like to be tilted (hence the name) about 20-40
degrees. I'll be lucky to get a 15 degree angle in my attic, and less
if I go out to 40'. How critical is the angle? What happens if the
wires are basically horisontal?

3. With 29' of space to use, what frequencies am I just not going to
get?

4. Am I better off with a 40' (total length of both wires) dipole
instead of the extra fuss of the T2FD? Or do I really need to get a
long wire outside to get anything (which I don't want to do, as even
insulated copper seems to rot quickly if exposed to rain around here.)

5. If I mostly want Europe, should I do the extra fuss needed to fight
for a N-S orientation of my wire?

Thanks for any help. Email appreciated but I'll be looking here as
well.

Scott