Want To Build a Directional, Amplified Medium Wave Receiving Antenna - Where To Start?
 

Hi all,

I'm not an amateur radio operator, but I do have the 1997 ARRL handbook, I am capable of understanding most of what it says, and this is definitely a question for a ham operator.

I live out in the country where the internet barely reaches and little radio stations are weak. My wife has recently taken to needing to listen to the ghost hunters show at 10 to midnight Sunday nights on KLBP which seems to me to be 5kW. It comes in acceptably during the day, but at night it's extremely weak and seems to be interfered with by another station. Maybe KLBP has to reduce their power at night. I don't know.

Now, instead of listening to the show Sunday night I can download the pod-cast Monday at work and give that to her. But if you're going to listen the the ghost hunting show, it seems much better to do it live, late at night, on an AM radio. Besides, that raises the possibility of calling in sometime.

A huge loop seems like overkill and not directional anyway. I don't think I have room for a dipole (is that 318 ft?). What I'm inventing in my own head is a loop with lots of turns. I think they used them in the old days. They were like a coil of wire mounted on a 2 ft by 3 ft board. Would (1005/1.47 = 684) feet of wire in a 3 ft diameter coil form some kind of ghost show antenna (for KLBP)?

I'm quite capable of reading parts of the ARRL handbook, ordering stuff from Digi-Key, and soldering. Where should I start? What about making it amplified?

BTW, here's my crystal radio that currently doesn't do anything because it doesn't have an antenna. http://www.visi.com/~dwinker/ddd_xtal_radio/ (It is finished now. I gotta get a final picture up now that I've posted this). It'd be cool if I could make that work again. I wouldn't feel to bad if it took an amplified antenna to make it work.

Thanks,
Dan

Want To Build a Directional, Amplified Medium Wave Receiving Antenna - Where To Start?
 

Dan Winker wrote:
Hi all,

I'm not an amateur radio operator, but I do have the 1997 ARRL handbook, I am capable of understanding most of what it says, and this is definitely a question for a ham operator.

I live out in the country where the internet barely reaches and little radio stations are weak. My wife has recently taken to needing to listen to the ghost hunters show at 10 to midnight Sunday nights on KLBP which seems to me to be 5kW. It comes in acceptably during the day, but at night it's extremely weak and seems to be interfered with by another station. Maybe KLBP has to reduce their power at night. I don't know.

Now, instead of listening to the show Sunday night I can download the pod-cast Monday at work and give that to her. But if you're going to listen the the ghost hunting show, it seems much better to do it live, late at night, on an AM radio. Besides, that raises the possibility of calling in sometime.

A huge loop seems like overkill and not directional anyway. I don't think I have room for a dipole (is that 318 ft?). What I'm inventing in my own head is a loop with lots of turns. I think they used them in the old days. They were like a coil of wire mounted on a 2 ft by 3 ft board. Would (1005/1.47 = 684) feet of wire in a 3 ft diameter coil form some kind of ghost show antenna (for KLBP)?

I'm quite capable of reading parts of the ARRL handbook, ordering stuff from Digi-Key, and soldering. Where should I start? What about making it amplified?

BTW, here's my crystal radio that currently doesn't do anything because it doesn't have an antenna. http://www.visi.com/~dwinker/ddd_xtal_radio/ (It is finished now. I gotta get a final picture up now that I've posted this). It'd be cool if I could make that work again. I wouldn't feel to bad if it took an amplified antenna to make it work.

Thanks,
Dan

Dan,

There's a ton of great antenna building ideas, thoughts, comments,
articles, etc. to be found on this site. Definitely worth a look...
http://www.cebik.com/radio.html

Want To Build a Directional, Amplified Medium Wave Receiving Antenna - Where To Start?
 

Dan:

If you want to buy something, take a look at
http://www.ccrane.com/antennas/am-an...m-antenna.aspx
.. This is a ferrite loop antenna which would seem to fill your bill. If you
want something fancier, try Radios Plus at http://dxtools.com/ .

If you want to do it all yourself, my suggestion would be to check out the
AM band clubs: the National Radio Club and the International Radio Club of
America. Both have articles about constructing loop antennas of various
styles.


Chuck

Want To Build a Directional, Amplified Medium Wave Receiving Antenna - Where To Start?
 

Dan Winker wrote:
A huge loop seems like overkill and not directional anyway. I don't think I have room for a dipole (is that 318 ft?). What I'm inventing in my own head is a loop with lots of turns. I think they used them in the old days. They were like a coil of wire mounted on a 2 ft by 3 ft board. Would (1005/1.47 = 684) feet of wire in a 3 ft diameter coil form some kind of ghost show antenna (for KLBP)?

I'm quite capable of reading parts of the ARRL handbook, ordering stuff from Digi-Key, and soldering. Where should I start? What about making it amplified?

BTW, here's my crystal radio that currently doesn't do anything because it doesn't have an antenna. http://www.visi.com/~dwinker/ddd_xtal_radio/ (It is finished now. I gotta get a final picture up now that I've posted this). It'd be cool if I could make that work again. I wouldn't feel to bad if it took an amplified antenna to make it work.

Dan,

You might read this area of my website:

http://www.w8ji.com/receiving.htm

If you have a weak staion with a strong co-channel staion causing
problems, you need a directional antenna with a fairly wide and stable
null. You won't find that in a single loop. You won't get much useful
directivity or gain from any single element antenna, and a loop will be
the same with 10 turns or one turn as long as you resonante it. It is
the SIZE and balance that mainly affects sensitivity, pattern, or
directivity.

Still, we can sometimes find a small antenna that just seems to work
better than we might expect so experimenting doesn't hurt. But as a
general rule you might have to use two elements phased to get a useful
pattern

73 Tom

Want To Build a Directional, Amplified Medium Wave Receiving Antenna - Where To Start?
 

Dan Winker wrote:

Would (1005/1.47 = 684) feet of wire in a 3 ft diameter coil form
some kind of ghost show antenna (for KLBP)?

Wavelength of the wire is almost meaningless Dan.

684 feet of wire wound in a 3 foot diameter coil is still just a three
foot diameter loop antenna.

It will have about the same pattern and same sensitivity as a single
turn, assuming you can match and resonate each of them.

So you are really asking if a 3 foot diameter loop will work, and the
only reliable answer is "maybe".

73 Tom

Want To Build a Directional, Amplified Medium Wave Receiving Antenna - Where To Start?
 

Thanks All! Tomorrow I try my luck at making a loop. I found a good website about it at http://www.mindspring.com/~loop_antenna/ . The guy says it has a good null, so I'm hoping that can be used to block the offending station that's interfering. Looks like I have to take one of my variable caps off my crystal radio though. The things I'm willing to do for my wife! (Ha! like I'm not really going to enjoy this).

If that doesn't work I'm workin' her to be able to get this $200 antenna. http://dxtools.com/QX.htm

Again,
Thanks All!
Dan

Want To Build a Directional, Amplified Medium Wave Receiving Antenna - Where To Start?
 

"Dan Winker" wrote in message
...
Thanks All! Tomorrow I try my luck at making a loop. I found a good
website about it at http://www.mindspring.com/~loop_antenna/ . The guy says
it has a good null, so I'm hoping that can be used to block the offending
station that's interfering. Looks like I have to take one of my variable
caps off my crystal radio though. The things I'm willing to do for my wife!
(Ha! like I'm not really going to enjoy this).

If that doesn't work I'm workin' her to be able to get this $200 antenna.
http://dxtools.com/QX.htm


Make sure to get a money back guarntee if it does not work for your
application. If you are to the east or west of the station you may be
fighting a loosing battle. The station may be shifting the antenna patern
north and south at night.

Want To Build a Directional, Amplified Medium Wave Receiving Antenna - Where To Start?
 

On Fri, 02 Jun 2006 20:29:10 -0000, Dan Winker wrote:

I live out in the country where the internet barely reaches and little radio stations are weak. My wife has recently taken to needing to listen to the ghost hunters show at 10 to midnight Sunday nights on KLBP which seems to me to be 5kW. It comes in acceptably during the day, but at night it's extremely weak and seems to be interfered with by another station. Maybe KLBP has to reduce their power at night. I don't know.

Nobody mentioned propagation. It's probably day/night changes in the
atmosphere that are making the main difference in reception. A station
fairly close that you recieve ok in the day can be less strong at night.
Also strong stations far away that you would never hear during the day
can come in really strong at night due to bouncing.

A directional antenna may help some, but there is no guarantee that you
can solve your reception problem.