On Apr 18, 5:59 pm, "SWL-2010" wrote:
I live in an apartment with no balcony, so reception can be a challenge.

A few years ago, I used a 32" telescoping whip I had in my spare parts box,
and wrapped the entire length in a very tight coil of small guage copper
wire. I left about 10" on the end, and screwed a large alligator clip on
it.

(I does not look like much, but in the window, it's almost invisible).

Then I take it, and I place in in the window frame between the screen and
the glass, so even if it's cold, I can still close the window almost all the
way.

I use 25 feet of small guage speaker wire with alligator clips on each end
for my end fed feedline. I can then clip it to anything. It works well
with portables of benchtop receivers. I can clip it to the antenna on top
of my old Drake SSR and make it come alive. I can clip it to the back of my
Kenwood R-300 and get the same result.

On portables, I generally do not get overload. If I do, I just hook it to my
MFJ-959B, and then I can play around with, or antennuate the signals.

It was fun, it was cheap, and it works great.

Mini-BroomStick Shortwave Listening (SWL) Antenna - In-the-Window
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortw.../message/12978

SWL-2010,

Glad that you are enjoying your Home-Brewed In-the-Window
Shortwave Listening (SWL) Antenna.

But in general if you simply wrap Wire around a Metal Object
and then use that Coiled Wire as an Antenna : You have
simply increased the Diameter of the Metal Object by placing
the Wire around it -and- the Electro-Mechanical properties of
the Metal Object make the Wire Coil a slightly larger version
of the original Metal Object. - - - Example : A 1/4" by 36"
Brass Tube becomes a 3/8" by 36" Copper Wire Tube.

Most of the time when a "Form" {Foundation} is used to Wrap
Wire-On it is non-metalic. So often a Wood Dowel or a Plastic
Tube. -Tip- White PVC Pipe works OK as a Form.
1 - Measure the Diagonal of a Window and Cut the Form
to that Length.
2 - Drill a Hole through the Form close to both Ends.
3 - Use Stranded Hook-Up Wire for the Antenna Element
4 - Place one-end of the Wire in one of the Holes and
tie a Knot in the Short piece of Wire coming out leaving
3"-6" inches to work with.
5 - Use a 12-18" piece of Thicker # 14 AWG Solid Copper
Wire and Wrap it around the Form with the Antenna Wire
about 3-4 Turns. The Thicker Solid Copper Wire becomes
your Wire Spacing {Gap} Form to Wrap the Coil around
the Form. Snake it {slowly and carefully} around the Form
as you Wind your Antenna Wire Coil around the Length of
the Form.
6 - When you get to the other-end of the cut the Wire so
that you have about 3-6" to work with; and place the end of
the Wire in the Hole at that end; and Tie a Knot in the Short
piece of Wire coming out; and trim off the excess Wire.

FWIW - On a 3/4" by 36" piece of PVC Pipe you will have
about 5-6 Turns of Wire per Liner-Inch of Pipe. That would
Add-Up-To about 180-216 Turns along the Length of the Pipe.
The Length of Wire in One-Turn would be about 2.4" : So the
Length of the Antenna Wire Element would be about 432-518"
or about 36-43 Feet long.

USE TIPS :
* Generally with most In-the-Window Antennas having the
Radio next to the Window {Very Close} is the better placement
of the Antenna and Radio.
* Clip a 'short' Lead-in-Wire from the Antenna to the Collapsed
Whip Antenna of the Radio or the HI-Z Terminal of the Receiver.
Sometimes you may find that using a Banana Plug pushed into
the Center Pin of the LO-Z SO239 Plug works better.
* Grounding the Radio may or may-not help.
* -IF- You have an old 6.5" to 8" AM/MW Radio Ferrite Rod
Core laying around : You can try sliding it In-and-Out of the
Pipe to see what effect it has on AM/MW Reception.
[IMHO] The-Better-Way
* For Shortwave Receivers - Take a 3-8 Feet Piece of Coax
Cable with a PL-359 Plug on One-End and only an Alligator
Clip to the Center Conductor on the other-end can work well
as a feed-in-line to reduce some of the "In-Side-Noise" -and-
Again try this with the Receiver Grounded and Ungrounded.
* For 'portable' AM/FM Shortwave Radios - Take a 3-8 Feet
Piece of "Audio" {1/8"} Coax Cable with a 1/8" Mono Plug on
One-End and only an Alligator Clip to the Center Conductor
on the other-end can work well as a feed-in-line to reduce
some of the "In-Side-Noise" -and- Again try this with the Radio
Grounded and Ungrounded.

Basically what you end up building is a shortened version of the
so-called "BroomStick" {BroomStik} Antenna placed In-the-Window.

READ - About - The Broomstick Antenna
[Was: (repost) BroomStick Antenna Success ?
http://www.google.com/group/rec.radi...95c243a57e7d1c
* Short STACKED Vertical {Tri-Band} BroomStick Antenna
http://www.google.com/group/rec.radi...c7e2e6a6bb395c
* Arnie Coro 'BroomStick' Antenna - Getting Any Results?
http://www.google.com/group/rec.radi...7afe4778718066
* One-More-Time - Arnie Coros' BroomStick Antenna
- - - The "BS's" Secret's Revealed . . .
http://www.google.com/group/rec.radi...abeec559035337


How to Ride the Radio Waves on a BroomStick ! - iane ~ RHF {pomkia}
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