Seeing-I-dawg wrote:
You pretty much nailed it. No antenna is ideal. The fun is finding one,
two, three... that work respectably with your gear, your particular RF
environment, and your listening goals. That could be anything from a
beverage to a rubber duck :-)

IM - yech! Outboard filter(s) to knock down the offending station(s)
perhaps?

Regarding longwires; Why? It will have peaks and valleys in reception
across the RF spectrum. Join the ends to make a horizontal loop and that
will disappear - linear response.

I respect Guy Atkins remarks regarding his dissappointment with the
Wellbrook 1530. I have never owned a loop of that size and type and have
always been apprehensive about trying it. Noise isn't a huge problem here.
If I can replace my 450 ohm ladder-line feed to my horizontal loop with coax
(using the ALA100 amp) I may be able to eliminate most of the remaining
noise and pick up a db or two (except I can no longer transmit into it).

I no longer am a DYI with electronics. I just don't have the time or
patience to gather the parts, solder the board and cross my fingers. If
someone sells an assembled Dallas amplifier I may bite.

I am really getting excited about the software defined radio Guy Atkins
uses. After listening to his sound bites on his SDR-1000 blog I have to
lock up the credit cards. I would really enjoy attending one of his
DXpeditions.

EOM

Guy Atkins is very lucky to live in what must be one of the quitest RF
environments
around. My home RF level isn't as bad as I had thought, I know see what
real
bad RFI is, but at that there is very little I can hear on a AOR7030+,
R8B, or a R2000.
The first 2 recivers do a much beter job in very crowded band
conditions with very strong
signlas next to weak ones that I am intereted in.

On a "remote" mountain top in eastern KY I enjoyed pushing the AOR to
the limits.
That quite location showed the difference between a great receiver and
a much more
modest (R2000) receiver.

Perversly better locations deserve better recveivers. Since the local
noise floor sets
the limit to our reception it makes sense but it does feel odd. I have
been busy trying
to eliminate, or at least reduce, any unwanted RF noise. Sadly while I
have had great
success at eliminating the RF noise emitted by/within our home. We got
rid of our
desk top PCs, tossed the TV and similar steps have reduced my noise
floor as much
as I can. Too bad I can;t convine my nieghbors to limit thier RFI. I
had hoped the
Wellbrook ALA 1530 would reduce noise from nearby homes, but either
the whole
lopp concept is flawed, which I believe, or my in location all the
noise is "far field" and
a loop won't help.

Terry