Guy is so right about the joys of DXing in a very low noise environment,
such as the Pacific coast Grayland site. I takes a lot of research and
running around to find an "ideal" low noise DX site and on our crowded
planet they become harder and harder to find.

I found such a site in a remote part of our Atlantic coast,Seefontein, miles
from the nearest town and miles from the nearest powerline. It's just bliss
to have that phenomena that Guy describes: when the noise on the antenna's
is so low you start checking to see if in fact they are connected. It is
such a joy to hear stations thousand's of miles away waft in over the
airwaves as clear as a bell, yet the signal strength is so low it doesn't
even move your "S" meter. What a thrill!

That's why some of us serious DXer's travel long distances with considerable
effort in time and money to enjoy these most favourable DX conditions.

Try it = you'll love it..............
--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
RX Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
Drake SW8 & ERGO software
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
BW XCR 30, Sangean 803A.
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop, POARDT Roelof mini-whip
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx

"Guy Atkins" wrote in message
. ..

Yes, it's very quiet here in the Pacific NW, with the fewest "thunderstorm
days" of any place in the continental USA. In mid-winter, with a Western
Beverage antenna at dawn, aimed out over the Pacific Ocean, you'd swear
your receiver was defective, or the antenna broken. In these conditions,
extremely faint tropical band and foreign (TP) mediumwave signals have a
fighting chance to be heard (assuming a top-notch, low noise receiver like
a AR7030 or my current fave, the SDR-1000.

It was under these mid-winter, dawn enhancement conditions that I heard
tantalizing faint signals around 3174 kHz (variable) in the late 1990s,
which had all the clues of Indonesian "amatir" stations. Think: Indo
college kids back home on holiday or weekend breaks, playing non-stop Indo
rock music with flea-powered transmitters, no IDs, often distorted audio,
no official "RRI" news at the top of the hour, etc. I've heard enough of
the real RRI and RPD Indonesian stations to recognize the Indo amatir
(pirate) station. Similarly, I've logged very low power Australian x-band
stations such as Radio Brisvaani, the Hindi station on 1701 kHz (Brisbane,
Queensland). I'd never have a chance to hear this sort of DX, however, at
home in the suburban RF jungle near Seattle-Tacoma. These catches were on
coastal DXpeditions, under ideal conditions.

I do have pretty low noise levels of the RFI, hash-and-buzz sort at home,
due to the underground AC mains. The main problem are the dozen or so MW
stations registering S-9+40 to S-9+60 dB on the SDR's (calibrated) signal
meter. My local 1 kw'er, 1450 KSUH in Puyallup, is a bit over 1 mile from
home. When I had a 700 ft. Beverage antenna aimed at my Asian targets, the
antenna unfortunately was oriented right at KSUH, too. The signal on 1450
from that antenna registered -13 dBm, which is, I believe, around S-9+65
dB. This is an example of what the trans-Pacific MW stations need to fight
through to be heard in a suburban location like this. So far, I'm finding
the Wellbrook ALA 100 on a rotator does just fine for snagging the foreign
MW DX that makes it through the RF jungle; a Beverage is no advantage.

73,

Guy Atkins
Puyallup, WA
www.sdr-1000.blogspot.com

John Plimmer wrote:
It's just bliss
to have that phenomena that Guy describes: when the noise on the antenna's
is so low you start checking to see if in fact they are connected. It is
such a joy to hear stations thousand's of miles away waft in over the
airwaves as clear as a bell, yet the signal strength is so low it doesn't
even move your "S" meter. What a thrill!


It's a pity these sorts of locations are so few and far between. In
most locations, atmospheric noise is significant *all by itself*.

I think it was Seein-I-Dawg who commented about the Wellbrook ALA-1530
being shielded....

As far as I can tell, having looked at their site several times,
Wellbrook makes no such claims and points to the loop configuration as
the reason why it rejects some near field RFI. This is also born out
by the fact that they also sell an Indoor version of the antenna which
is packaged in a sort of plastic hula hoop, rather than in Aluminum
tubing. Wellbrook does make a very nice preamp and I suspect that the
ALA-100 WILL outperform the ALA-1530 and the ALA-330s with 50 feet of
wire on it. (I currently have an ALA-1530 and hope to have an ALA-100
shortly so I'll let you know.)

Rob


Steve wrote:
John Plimmer wrote:
It's just bliss
to have that phenomena that Guy describes: when the noise on the antenna's
is so low you start checking to see if in fact they are connected. It is
such a joy to hear stations thousand's of miles away waft in over the
airwaves as clear as a bell, yet the signal strength is so low it doesn't
even move your "S" meter. What a thrill!


It's a pity these sorts of locations are so few and far between. In
most locations, atmospheric noise is significant *all by itself*.

Rob wrote:
I think it was Seein-I-Dawg who commented about the Wellbrook ALA-1530
being shielded....

As far as I can tell, having looked at their site several times,
Wellbrook makes no such claims and points to the loop configuration as
the reason why it rejects some near field RFI. This is also born out
by the fact that they also sell an Indoor version of the antenna which
is packaged in a sort of plastic hula hoop, rather than in Aluminum
tubing. Wellbrook does make a very nice preamp and I suspect that the
ALA-100 WILL outperform the ALA-1530 and the ALA-330s with 50 feet of
wire on it. (I currently have an ALA-1530 and hope to have an ALA-100
shortly so I'll let you know.)

Rob


Steve wrote:
John Plimmer wrote:
It's just bliss
to have that phenomena that Guy describes: when the noise on the antenna's
is so low you start checking to see if in fact they are connected. It is
such a joy to hear stations thousand's of miles away waft in over the
airwaves as clear as a bell, yet the signal strength is so low it doesn't
even move your "S" meter. What a thrill!


It's a pity these sorts of locations are so few and far between. In
most locations, atmospheric noise is significant *all by itself*.

The Wellbrook loops are not shielded. The exposed metal is the loop.

The 1530+ high bandwidth version looks ineresting. You could justify
the cost if you use it for FM broadcast. Otherwise, get the ALA 100 and
roll your own loop.

Well, judging from my ALA1530, which I have partially disassembled,
there is wire running inside the Aluminum so the aluminum is not the
loop. The indoor version doesn't have any aluminum on it either as far
as I can tell, just a plastic outer covering.

Rob


wrote:
The Wellbrook loops are not shielded. The exposed metal is the loop.

The 1530+ high bandwidth version looks ineresting. You could justify
the cost if you use it for FM broadcast. Otherwise, get the ALA 100 and
roll your own loop.

In article . com,
"Rob" wrote:

Steve wrote:
John Plimmer wrote:
It's just bliss to have that phenomena that Guy describes: when
the noise on the antenna's is so low you start checking to see if
in fact they are connected. It is such a joy to hear stations
thousand's of miles away waft in over the airwaves as clear as a
bell, yet the signal strength is so low it doesn't even move your
"S" meter. What a thrill!


It's a pity these sorts of locations are so few and far between. In
most locations, atmospheric noise is significant *all by itself*.

I think it was Seein-I-Dawg who commented about the Wellbrook ALA-1530
being shielded....

That was a mistake. That Troll usually posts off topic political crap.

As far as I can tell, having looked at their site several times,
Wellbrook makes no such claims and points to the loop configuration
as the reason why it rejects some near field RFI.

The loop configuration is a reason that the antenna design will be
helpful in reducing local interference.

This is also born out by the fact that they also sell an Indoor
version of the antenna which is packaged in a sort of plastic hula
hoop, rather than in Aluminum tubing.

You and I both do not know what is inside the plastic tubing. It might
be shielded or it may not.

Wellbrook does make a very nice preamp and I suspect that the ALA-100
WILL outperform the ALA-1530 and the ALA-330s with 50 feet of wire on
it. (I currently have an ALA-1530 and hope to have an ALA-100
shortly so I'll let you know.)

Externally the antenna design is good way to go but it would depend on
how it was executed.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

"Telamon" wrote

As far as I can tell, having looked at their site several times,
Wellbrook makes no such claims and points to the loop configuration
as the reason why it rejects some near field RFI.

The loop configuration is a reason that the antenna design will be
helpful in reducing local interference.


Why don't you explain the theory, Mr. Einstein.

Actually,

I do know what is inside the plastic loop. If you search on Wellbrook
and look at some of the past topics about it, there is one where
someone was asking the shortwave shop (their distributor) about the
indoor plastic loop, and the guy from the shortwave shop replied that
it was flexible and just had wire inside of it, so it could be squished
through narrow openings to the attic, I assume.

Rob


Telamon wrote:
In article . com,
"Rob" wrote:

Steve wrote:
John Plimmer wrote:
It's just bliss to have that phenomena that Guy describes: when
the noise on the antenna's is so low you start checking to see if
in fact they are connected. It is such a joy to hear stations
thousand's of miles away waft in over the airwaves as clear as a
bell, yet the signal strength is so low it doesn't even move your
"S" meter. What a thrill!


It's a pity these sorts of locations are so few and far between. In
most locations, atmospheric noise is significant *all by itself*.

I think it was Seein-I-Dawg who commented about the Wellbrook ALA-1530
being shielded....

That was a mistake. That Troll usually posts off topic political crap.

As far as I can tell, having looked at their site several times,
Wellbrook makes no such claims and points to the loop configuration
as the reason why it rejects some near field RFI.

The loop configuration is a reason that the antenna design will be
helpful in reducing local interference.

This is also born out by the fact that they also sell an Indoor
version of the antenna which is packaged in a sort of plastic hula
hoop, rather than in Aluminum tubing.

You and I both do not know what is inside the plastic tubing. It might
be shielded or it may not.

Wellbrook does make a very nice preamp and I suspect that the ALA-100
WILL outperform the ALA-1530 and the ALA-330s with 50 feet of wire on
it. (I currently have an ALA-1530 and hope to have an ALA-100
shortly so I'll let you know.)

Externally the antenna design is good way to go but it would depend on
how it was executed.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

Rob wrote:
Actually,

I do know what is inside the plastic loop. If you search on Wellbrook
and look at some of the past topics about it, there is one where
someone was asking the shortwave shop (their distributor) about the
indoor plastic loop, and the guy from the shortwave shop replied that
it was flexible and just had wire inside of it, so it could be squished
through narrow openings to the attic, I assume.

Rob

This question keeps popping up on this newsgroup. Wellbrooks are not
shielded.

I still like the ALA100 because you can roll your own antenna.



Telamon wrote:
In article . com,
"Rob" wrote:

Steve wrote:
John Plimmer wrote:
It's just bliss to have that phenomena that Guy describes: when
the noise on the antenna's is so low you start checking to see if
in fact they are connected. It is such a joy to hear stations
thousand's of miles away waft in over the airwaves as clear as a
bell, yet the signal strength is so low it doesn't even move your
"S" meter. What a thrill!


It's a pity these sorts of locations are so few and far between. In
most locations, atmospheric noise is significant *all by itself*.

I think it was Seein-I-Dawg who commented about the Wellbrook ALA-1530
being shielded....

That was a mistake. That Troll usually posts off topic political crap.

As far as I can tell, having looked at their site several times,
Wellbrook makes no such claims and points to the loop configuration
as the reason why it rejects some near field RFI.

The loop configuration is a reason that the antenna design will be
helpful in reducing local interference.

This is also born out by the fact that they also sell an Indoor
version of the antenna which is packaged in a sort of plastic hula
hoop, rather than in Aluminum tubing.

You and I both do not know what is inside the plastic tubing. It might
be shielded or it may not.

Wellbrook does make a very nice preamp and I suspect that the ALA-100
WILL outperform the ALA-1530 and the ALA-330s with 50 feet of wire on
it. (I currently have an ALA-1530 and hope to have an ALA-100
shortly so I'll let you know.)

Externally the antenna design is good way to go but it would depend on
how it was executed.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

wrote

This question keeps popping up on this newsgroup. Wellbrooks are not
shielded.


Invisable aluminum.