You're right Joe... I would tell anybody to not cut corners on an antenna. I
wouldn't see anything wrong with buying a $130 Sony 7600 and a $230
Wellbrook antenna. If you wanted a little more elaborate receiver you could
look at used ham gear and get something pretty decent for just a little bit
more. I paid $390 for an Icom 703 brand new here a few months back. I think
you can also get an Icom 718 with DSP for about $500 now. I don't think it's
a whole lot different than an Icom R75 plus you get a transmitter on the 718
which will require a license. If you are a serious shortwave person (and I
am not) $230 for an antenna is not a lot to spend. If I had more space, I
would put up some really nice wire antennas which are really cheap to make.

As far as making a loop, if I wanted to do it on the cheap then I could make
one that would do pretty well. I might even be tempted just to buy the Sony
7600 and the Sony AN-1 Loop. You could do that whole shootin' match for less
than $240 and still have a pretty decent (and portable) setup. That's about
the cost of the Wellbrook. Yeah that sounds like a nice setup and you might
even put up a wire antenna for $5 dollars more and have two different
antenna setups. That sounds like the way to go for someone looking for
something nice and affordable. Something even cheaper might be that
Degen/Kaito radio everybody is so hot about right now. I think it's about
$80 off of Ebay. Throw in 20 feet of light guage wire and a $1 alligator
clip and you would have something decent and really cheap. If it has an
external antenna output, add another $2 for the plug.

Man is shortwave great or what?

Sorry about rambling on...



P.S. Joe... Again thanks for your earlier input and I will post more when I
get the Welbrook.


"Joe Analssandrini" wrote in message
oups.com...
Dear Mike,

I can empathise with you and your thought that you could make one
yourself.

Unfortunately, thus far, many have tried to duplicate the Wellbrook
antennas and all have failed.

Yes the antenna is costly, but when you consider what you spend on a
good receiver, and noting that the antenna is more important than the
receiver in terms of reception, its price looks to be more reasonable.
Also remember that you may buy many receivers over the years, but
you'll buy a Wellbrook only once!

Best,

Joe