On Dec 27, 10:05*am, wrote:
On Dec 26, 9:12 pm, RHF wrote:
Please don't cross post to rec.radio.amateur.antenna. Normally it would
be the right thing to do but that amateur group has a real collection of
idiots in it and this news group already has its share of that type.
But if you insist on cross posting there I can guarantee you there will
be more of what you don't like to see here.
--
Telamon
Ventura, California
PJ - Telamon Is Right 
)
No he's not. He's a bigger horses ass than nearly
anyone on rraa.. * :/
And that's a fact. Only "John Smith" might give him
a run for his money in that dept. * :/
But I'm not a whiner like Telamon, and try to tell
people what groups to use, or avoid.
They have horses asses of some kind on all the
groups. I just ignore *them*. Not the whole group.
It's like "John Smith". I think he's a horses ass,
but I don't try to tell him where to go, or others to
avoid him. I just lets the chips fall where they may.
Most people don't need me to help them decide
who is a horses ass, and who is not.
It becomes fairly obvious with the passage of time.
:/
i am a trolling idiot and i approve of his post ;-} ~ RHF
{sa-prez : trolling idiots-r-us}
I won't argue...
*.
IMHO the Rec.Radio.Amateur.Antenna people are
good people -but- They 'focus' on two disciplines :
Power Output Handling -and- Ability To Hear
[Cause They Both Transmit and Listen]
-while- The Shortwave Radio Listeners (SWL) is also
'focus' on two disciplines : Improved Signal plus Noise
Reduction -aka- Better Signal-to-Noise (S/N) Ratio
[Cause They "Only' Listen and Do Not Transmit]
This is purely cheap ground luncheon loaf... IE: bologna
Radio reception is radio reception. It does not matter
if one is a ham, or SWL, or whatever. The rules do not
change due to the type of service being received.
I almost never worry about power handling. Most of
my antennas will take way more power than I would
ever use. It's rarely even a consideration.
What is "ability to hear"? *It's basically the same thing
as S/N ratio. In this regard, there is no difference
what type of service is received, S/N ratio is equally
important.
Read these Posts here on Rec.Radio.Shortwave about
the Low Noise Shortwave Radio Antenna Concepts that
were 'popularized;
*.
Here are the Three Key Posts :
*.
# 1 - SWL Longwire -by- John Doty
* Actually, a fixed matching transformer can dramatically
reduce the wild swings in antenna efficiency that a coax
fed wire antenna exhibits.
But! that will rarely effect the S/N ratio on the shortwave
bands. Like Roy said, if you can disconnect the antenna,
and the background noise noticeably drops , you have
plenty of signal. Adding a better match will rarely
increase the S/N ratio on HF, because the desired signal
and the undesired noise increase at an equal level.
You have pumped up the S meter readings, but you
have not improved the actual S/N ratio.
When I use my large multi band dipoles for SW reception
on 49 meters, do you think I bother with a tuner?
Nope.. Total waste of time being I already have way
more signal than I would ever need even if looking into
a large mismatch.
*.
# 2 - Low Noise Antenna Connection -by- J
* The difference between a mediocre antenna system and
a great antenna system isn't the antenna itself: it's
the way you feed signals from the antenna to the receiver.
* The real trick with a shortwave receiving antenna system
is to keep your receiver from picking up noise from all
the electrical and electronic gadgets you and your
neighbors have.
I can't argue with this. But trust me, hams are no different
than SWL's when it comes to trying to reduce local noise
pickup. This is just common sense, and not a practice
only used by SWL's. * :/
*.
# 3 - Grounding Is Key To Good Reception
Now, this part here is just plain ole horse manure.
Grounding is not a "key" to good reception, unless you
are using an antenna that requires a ground connection
in order to complete the antenna.
Or the grounding is to further decouple the feed line
from the antenna. *But you don't require a ground
to decouple a feed line. It's just one method commonly
used with random length antennas fed with a coax
feed line.
None of my wire antennas require a ground connection
as they are complete antennas unto themselves.
Ground can actually be a source of noise in many
cases.
To sum, some make a mountain out of a molehill. :/
Richard Clarks simple solution of just adding more wire
to the whip on the radio is likely to work just as well
as anything proposed so far. If local noise is a
problem, then he might consider feeding an outside
wire with a decoupled feedline.
Anything further than that is likely S meter pumping
overkill.
"N",
Don't know too many 'Hams' would would take 50 Feet
of common Speaker Wire and tie-a-knot at 30 Feet and
then split the two Wires in the remaining 20 Feet and
use the thing as a "Stealth" Dipole Antenna with their
Transmitter -but- a Shortwave Radio Listener (SWL)
can do that and have a very practical SWL Antenna
to use with many 'portable' AM&FM Shortwave Radios.
50-Ft. 24-Gauge Clear 2-Conductor Speaker Wire
RadioShack Catalog # 278-1301
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2102499
"n" - practically speaking {in practice} there is a
difference between between hams and swls ~ RHF