Active antennas
 

I am considering buying a Icom r75 and would like to get an active antenna
to go with it. my question is this Are the active antennas worth the money
or should I stick with a wire antenna? Thanks for any input Steve

Active antennas
 

On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:45:06 -0500, "Stephen Drummonds"
wrote:

I am considering buying a Icom r75 and would like to get an active antenna
to go with it. my question is this Are the active antennas worth the money
or should I stick with a wire antenna? Thanks for any input Steve


Where are you?

Shortwave Listening (SWL) : Active Antenna ? -or- Wire Antenna ?
 

SD,

For Shortwave Listening (SWL) what you would spend on an
Active Antenna; you could buy a good 'passive' Wire Antenna.
* Your Location {Region} and Weather can be a Factor in
your choice of Antennas.
* The RF Environment {Noise} of your Location {Neighborhood}
also can be a Factor in your choice of Antennas.

1 - Two Major Determining Factors would be :
* The Size-of-the-Area {Space} that you have to put the
Wire Antenna up in; and the relative noise of your location.
- - - - - vice - - - - -
* The Distance-Away-from the Home and other Sources
of Noise that you could Locate the Active Antenna.

2 - Here are a few Good "Out-Side" 'passive' Wire Antennas
for the Shortwave Listener (SWL) : {Sized - Big to Small}
* Alpha Delta DX-Ultra Antenna
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/3377.html
* Antenna Supermarket Eavesdropper SWL Sloper Antenna
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/0013.html
* * Par Electronics EF-SWL Antenna - Rigged as a
15 Foot Vertical by 30 Foot Horizontal Inverted "L"
{Low Noise} Antenna with Coax Cable feed-in-line.
http://www.grove-ent.com/ANT8.html
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/2205.html
* RF Systems Mini-Windom Antenna
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/3575.html

3 - Here are a few Good "Out-Side" Active Antennas for
the Shortwave Listener (SWL) : {Priced - High to Moderate}
* Dressler ARA60S Active Antenna
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/4061.html
* RF Systems DX-10 Professional Active Antenna
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/2868.html
* * McKay Dymek DA-100E Active Antenna
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/0328.html
* LF Engineering H-800 Skymatch Active Antenna
http://www.grove-ent.com/ANT15.html
* MFJ-1024 Active Antenna
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant/1132.html

Most of these are considered to offer Full Spectrum Coverage of
both the Medium-Wave and Shortwave Bands : 500 kHz - 30 MHz.

FWIW - As time goes on you may wish to have both an
Out-Side Wire Antenna and an Active Antenna as a "Pair"
of Antennas to Choose from for a variety of Shortwave
Listening (SWL) needs.


iane ~ RHF

Active antennas
 

While an external antenna, such as an Eavesdropper, would be the best
solution for you, an internal active antenna such as the Radio Shack
amplified shortwave antenna is good too!

"Stephen Drummonds" wrote in message
...
I am considering buying a Icom r75 and would like to get an active antenna
to go with it. my question is this Are the active antennas worth the money
or should I stick with a wire antenna? Thanks for any input Steve

Active antennas
 

Stephen Drummonds wrote:
I am considering buying a Icom r75 and would like to get an active antenna
to go with it. my question is this Are the active antennas worth the money
or should I stick with a wire antenna? Thanks for any input Steve

Wellbrook loop.

Active antennas
 

wrote in message
ups.com...

Stephen Drummonds wrote:
I am considering buying a Icom r75 and would like to get an active
antenna
to go with it. my question is this Are the active antennas worth
the money
or should I stick with a wire antenna? Thanks for any input
Steve

Wellbrook loop.

If he wants to spend the dollars, the Wellbrook loop
will do well, especially if he has local noise to deal
with.

--Mike L.

Active antennas
 

Stephen Drummonds wrote:
I am considering buying a Icom r75 and would like to get an active antenna
to go with it. my question is this Are the active antennas worth the money
or should I stick with a wire antenna? Thanks for any input Steve

Active antennas can be reasonably good, but there is one tiny hitch:
You need to isolate it from all the electrical and computer hash you'll
generate in your house. Do not buy a cheap active antenna or you'll be
sorry.

It's actually easier to erect a random wire antenna and use it instead
of an active antenna. That said, a well isolated loop antenna with an
external power supply, isolated from the rest of the house, might be
just what the doctor ordered for a small suburban lot. Loop antennas
have the advantage of being able to null out local groundwave signals.

However, if you have more than fifty feet of distance available to you,
I suggest you look in to the random wire first. It's cheaper, and it
just plain works...

DE AB3A

Active antennas (Thanks for info!)
 

Thanks to all who wrote and gave me some very good answers to my question.
I think I will go with the wire antenna for now also to the gentleman that
asked what area I am from Im located in Alabama Thanks to all who
responded!! Steve







"Jake Brodsky" wrote in message
...
Stephen Drummonds wrote:
I am considering buying a Icom r75 and would like to get an active
antenna to go with it. my question is this Are the active antennas worth
the money or should I stick with a wire antenna? Thanks for any input
Steve

Active antennas can be reasonably good, but there is one tiny hitch: You
need to isolate it from all the electrical and computer hash you'll
generate in your house. Do not buy a cheap active antenna or you'll be
sorry.

It's actually easier to erect a random wire antenna and use it instead of
an active antenna. That said, a well isolated loop antenna with an
external power supply, isolated from the rest of the house, might be just
what the doctor ordered for a small suburban lot. Loop antennas have the
advantage of being able to null out local groundwave signals.

However, if you have more than fifty feet of distance available to you, I
suggest you look in to the random wire first. It's cheaper, and it just
plain works...

DE AB3A

Active antennas
 

Stephen Drummonds wrote:
I am considering buying a Icom r75 and would like to get an active antenna
to go with it. my question is this Are the active antennas worth the money
or should I stick with a wire antenna? Thanks for any input Steve

Steve:

IF you live in a Very , low noise environment;

- Or can move the active antenna out away from your home, Into a low
noise environment, then I suggest messing around with this.

Putting up an active antenna in a noisy environment will just ..
Amplify the ambient noise as well as Shortwave Signals

Suggest Just use a regular random wire, with a co-ax feed.

Congratulations on th R-75

Shortwave Listening (SWL) : Active Antenna ? -or- Wire Antenna ?
 

On 28 Jul 2006 13:02:14 -0700, "RHF"
wrote:

SD,

For Shortwave Listening (SWL) what you would spend on an
Active Antenna; you could buy a good 'passive' Wire Antenna.
* Your Location {Region} and Weather can be a Factor in
your choice of Antennas.
It depends on your location and what you want to listen to. A 50'
random wire is OK for SWL but it has nulls and is somewhat weak for
MW. A coax matcher and cable complicates the installation.

I'm away from any strong local signals and get really good service out
of an MFJ-1024 on my bedroom radio. I can hear KOMO 1,000 very
reliably every night and I'm 3 states away.