On Dec 27, 12:53*pm, RHF wrote:


"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.

Well, sure, but what does transmitting have to do with
anything? We are not talking about transmitting.
We are talking about receiving, "or at least I am", and
the rules do not change when you vary the frequency a
few mhz.
And there are more than one ways to skin a cat with a
given piece of wire. If I had a portable that normally used
a whip antenna for SW, I would be much more likely to
take that zip cord and split it totally apart to make a
single 100 ft wire. I would simply clip it onto the whip.
I bet my version would be the better performer of the
two, low bands for sure. But this has nothing to do
with what I'm listening to. If I'm listening on a ham rig,
and I'm not transmitting, I'm a SWL the same as anyone
else. :/
And most certainly so if I'm listening to a broadcast band
like 31m, or whatever. Do you think I play by different
rules than you if we are both listening to 31m at the same
time?
I hope not... :/
Sure, you can make a quite decent and usable SWL
antenna from nothing but a piece of wire, or zip cord.
But that is not a requirement to be a ®real SWL.
How would you like to try listening to 19m DX on my
tri-band yagi, which is still close enough to 20m, to
give pretty danged good performance and some F/B?

With that, why would I want to use a zip cord antenna?
It boggles the mind... :/
And I'm talking receive, not transmit. We'll pretend the
mike and keyer have been superglued to a tango-
uniform status.
But I guess being I'd rather use my full size yagi and
have a bit of F/B ratio, which improves S/N ratio, which
is the whole purpose of this topic, I'm not a ®real SWL..
Chortle.. :/
You two guys kill me... You really do.


50-Ft. 24-Gauge Clear 2-Conductor Speaker Wire
RadioShack Catalog # 278-1301http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2102499

Uh.. I know where to buy wire.. :/


"n" - practically speaking {in practice} there is a
difference between between hams and swls ~ RHF

No, there isn't. Not when it comes to receiving.
To propose otherwise is just ludicrous.
I listen to all the same bands you do at some
time or another. I was a rabid SWL when I was in
jr. high school. That was nearly 40 years ago.
I started DXing AM-BC when I was 8 years old
and got my first mighty six transister radio for my
birthday.
It's the main reason I'm a ham now. Just a natural
progression... In other words, I might have been
born yesterday, but not last night. :/