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Old March 20th 07, 02:30 AM posted to rec.radio.shortwave
David David is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 837
Default Lowbrow antenna question

On Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:35:21 -0700, Don Del Grande
wrote:

Sorry for yet still even another "how do I make an antenna that..."
question, but I have no room for an outside antenna. Somebody
suggested the following: take about 40 feet of 16-18 gauge wire, wrap
it in a loop near the ceiling of the room with the radio, then connect
the ends, attach the now single end to an exposed end of a coax cable,
and connect the other end to the antenna jack (I have an Eton E1XM, so
the "other end" is an F-type plug connected to a Radio Shack F-to-PAL
adapters).
However, I seem to recall reading that tying the two ends together
doesn't work very well, and what I should be doing is connecting one
end to the coax wire while the other end is connected to the coax's
shielding so it can be grounded.

Do either of these sound like they would work reasonably well, or is
there something fundamentally wrong with the idea, and I should be
trying something more along the lines of "get as much wire as you can
run along as many walls of your house as you can and connect one end
to (choose one: the antenna jack, the radio's whip antenna)?

-- Don

Use the jack if it has one. I'd try an ''L'' along the two longest
adjacent walls (up by the ceiling) first, before worrying about loops
and such. Loops are great antennas but they need to be vari-tuned.

All dimmers and halogen torchierres must be off. TVs and computers
don't help either. An active antenna in the window or outside would
work pretty well.