Hi "B.,"

I'll take a stab at responding to your questions. See below...

"Robert11" wrote in message
. ..
Hello:

Really new at this, and not really savy on antennas at all.
Trying to learn, but sure is a complicated subject.

Do sw listening only, just about anywhere below 30 MHz. No preferred
direction. No transmitting.

Presently have a "random length" horiz. wire running around the inside
of my attic. Live in a typical New England colonial.
Goes around the 4 walls, and is stapled every few feet to a wooden roof
support joist. Probably about 40' x 25' x40' x 25' approximately.

Not connected at the end, so I guess can't be considered a true loop.

Questions:

a. Does stapling to the wood degrade performance ? (wire is insulated)

No, the staples shouldn't hurt.

b. Does the roof degrade performance ? How about when wet ?

A wet roof is somewhat lossy, so it certainly won't help.
But an attic antenna can still work for you, as it has for others.

c. Would you expect considerably better performance if this exact
same configuration was outdoors, at the same height ?

Yes, outdoors should be somewhat better. It might also allow a
better configuration.

d. Would it be better if it were soldered back at the beginning, thus
making a true horiz loop (with about a 10 foot vertical run to the
receiver? Why ?

If you're talking about creating a circular monopole, no that would
not be a good idea. It would probably have much the same effect
as cutting off the far half of your wire.

And I guess i should ask: For a single straight random length wire,
is the most sensitivity perpendicular to the wire direction ?
(assuming20 feet off theground, and perhaps 60 feet in length)

It's more complicated than that, and depends on frequency.
Don't worry about directionality unless you plan to build a
sophisticated directional antenna.

Would you expect this to be much better than the indoor configuration
I now have ? Why ?

It's not clear what "this" refers to.

Is there a good pix on the web showing the lobes for this configuration;
looked, but couldn't find a simple enough one for me to really understand.

Again, it's not clear what "this" is.

Much thanks; appreciate the help,
B.