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Old December 17th 10, 03:40 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna
Sébastien MEDARD Sébastien MEDARD is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Dec 2010
Posts: 21
Default SWL for Newbies (was: Balcony Antenna for Shortwave Listening)

Hello,

On Thu, 16 Dec 2010 05:33:58 -0800, nm5k wrote:

Yes for both. The cap is down at the bottom corner, and I use a separate
coupling loop because I'm feeding coax to the radio.


I saw a lot of photos where I saw the cap on the top and the coax feeded
to the coupling loop on the bottom. Is doing the other way OK?

The 42 inch per
side loop uses 5 turns on the main loop. The coupling loop is on the
inside, and maybe 36 or so inches out from center. Sounds like you are
in good shape for caps. That 500-500 would be good.


Great.

I'd put a small mini
switch between the two gangs to be able to cut or add the second gang.


Definitively a good idea.

That's what I do on mine anyway. I solder the switches right to the tabs
on the cap.


Good advice.

I also have a handful of fixed caps to add if I want to drop
further down into longwave. I don't use them that often so I just clip
them on if needed.


Planned.

The thing that can be done is to use the same base board on the different
loops to be used. Tell me your thoughts.... I was planning to put
everything on a wood board...

I think my 16 inch round loop has about 12 turns if I
remember right.. It also uses a inner coupling loop. For me, those loops
are mainly for AM-BC,


It seems the size of the loop (I didn't play with loop software yet) is
not critical, but is it possible to say that the lower band you want to
listen, the taller loop you should use?

but I do wander down and listen to the air beacons
from time to time. And the big one covers 160 meters, so I use it for
that sometimes.


Well... Sorry for the newbie question.... But what do you mean by beacons?

Sebastien.