On 2/22/11 13:28 , Joe from Kokomo wrote:

On 2/22/11 07:55 , Joe from Kokomo wrote:

On 2/21/11 15:11 , Joe from Kokomo wrote:

On 2/22/2011 2:41 AM, D Peter Maus wrote:

{stipulated}...



Just out of idle curiosity, what kind of antenna system do you use?

Just an idle answer...

I have a 130 foot long, 25-30 foot high, bent dipole between two
trees, fed with ladder line, used on 80-10 (including WARC bands)
with a Johnson KW Matchbox balanced tuner. On 160 meters, I
reconfigure the antenna to what is essentially a top loaded
vertical, using a T-match tuner.

Obviously not as good as a tower and beam, but I work lots o' DX
with it, for example the VK0IR (Heard Island) dx'pedition and North
Korea. (If you are not a ham, trust me, these are nice catches).
Needless to say, it also works nicely for SWL'ing with my vintage
receivers.

A tower would be nice, but not worth the hassle of dealing with the
(overly) strict city and subdivision restrictions.

On 2/22/2011 9:06 AM, D. Peter Maus wrote:

I was speaking with a ham buddy of mine, over the weekend, and he
recommended such an antenna for low noise and great digging in
crowded
bands. And particularly for MW Dx. I'm tempted to do it here.

Well, it won't hurt to try it...

Your buddy says it is a quiet antenna. Compared to what? It is
commonly acknowledged that noise is more vertically polarized and
thus a vertical antenna is a bit noisier than a horizontal antenna
like a dipole. I really don't think the dipole I described is any
quieter than any other dipole AFAIK.


It may be more a matter of it being a good antenna than what he
was previously using. A lot of random cuts, a Windom, and some
twinlead dipoles have been on his property in the past.



The reason I used the antenna was mostly because of its benefits
when transmitting. With the tuner and the ladder line feed, it will
operate on many bands with relatively low line loss. For SWL'ing,
I'm not sure if it would have any particular benefit.

Which vintage receivers are you using?

I've had many over the years, from an R-390 on down, but now that I
am at the Gateway to Geezerdom, I've been trying to thin out the
herd. The current fleet:

1912 Loose Coupler crystal set

circa 1921 Westinghouse Aeriola Jr. (crystal set, first mass
produced radio?)

circa early 30s National SW-3 Thrill Box (regen)

two Hallicrafters SX-28s--just in case owning one doesn't stretch
your arms enough-- 80 pounds each.

Drake T-4XB and R-4B


I still have and use my grandfather's Hammarlund BC-794 Super
Pro. Got your SX-28 beat by a 39 lb power supply.

I've always wanted an SX-28. Never found one that hadn't been cut
to shards by a previous owner.

Nice stable.