I would like to buy a portable shortwave radio with a whip antenna but I've
been holding back because I live in an area that gets mediocre reception on
my Sony reciever's FM tuner from stations 20 miles away; so I'm really
paranoid about buying a portable shortwave radio. My homeowners association
doesn't permit outside antennas. Here are several questions:

1. Can someone recommend a portable shortwave radio for under $200US that
works well.?
2. Can I attach an indoor antenna to improve reception? What brand of
antenna?
3. I've tried several indoor antennas from Radio Shack to improve my FM
reception and none did anything. Can someone recommend a really powerful FM
indoor antenna?

Thanks in advance.
Frank

Frank103 wrote:

I would like to buy a portable shortwave radio with a whip antenna but
I've been holding back because I live in an area that gets mediocre
reception on my Sony reciever's FM tuner from stations 20 miles away; so
I'm really paranoid about buying a portable shortwave radio. My homeowners
association doesn't permit outside antennas. Here are several questions:

1. Can someone recommend a portable shortwave radio for under $200US that
works well.?

Sony 7600GR. Try,
http://www.jr.com/JRProductPage.process?Product=1627439

2. Can I attach an indoor antenna to improve reception? What brand of
antenna?

Yes, for shortwave a 10-20 foot piece of wire can be used. You do not need
to spend a lot of money to get started. If noise is an issue, google
for 'shielded loop antenna'. You can also buy more expensive antennas. Try,
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant.html


3. I've tried several indoor antennas from Radio Shack to improve my FM
reception and none did anything. Can someone recommend a really powerful
FM indoor antenna?


I doubt anyone really can recommend one that works. However, if the stations
of interest are all in the same direction, you could consider mounting a 5
element yagi antenna for FM in your attic. (If your roof is metal this
probably won't work.) Google for 'fm yagi antenna'.


Thanks in advance.
Frank

Yes, for shortwave a 10-20 foot piece of wire can be used. You do not need
to spend a lot of money to get started. If noise is an issue, google
for 'shielded loop antenna'. You can also buy more expensive antennas.
Try,
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant.html


Why would a shielded loop receive less noise than, say, a classic wire turn
loop?

Dale W4OP

Dale Parfitt wrote:


Yes, for shortwave a 10-20 foot piece of wire can be used. You do not
need to spend a lot of money to get started. If noise is an issue, google
for 'shielded loop antenna'. You can also buy more expensive antennas.
Try,
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant.html


Why would a shielded loop receive less noise than, say, a classic wire
turn loop?

Dale W4OP

Dale,

I made no shielded loop vs. unshielded loop comparisons. My intent was to
give the beginner the idea that there are different types of antennas, and
by suggesting google, allow the OP to do some research on his own.

That being said, building a shielded loop implies the OP has shielded wire
which can also be used for the connection between the radio and the
antenna. This is probably better then building an unshielded loop out of
speaker wire and using the same wire to connect the antenna to the radio.

Again, I gave the OP the opportunity to do some research.

On the other hand, I used a shielded loop in a previous home as a random
wire antenna was not an option.

craigm

On Dec 5, 7:13 am, craigm wrote:
Dale Parfitt wrote:

Yes, for shortwave a 10-20 foot piece of wire can be used. You do not
need to spend a lot of money to get started. If noise is an issue, google
for 'shielded loop antenna'. You can also buy more expensive antennas.
Try,
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant.html

Why would a shielded loop receive less noise than, say, a classic wire
turn loop?

Dale W4OP

Dale,

I made no shielded loop vs. unshielded loop comparisons. My intent was to
give the beginner the idea that there are different types of antennas, and
by suggesting google, allow the OP to do some research on his own.

That being said, building a shielded loop implies the OP has shielded wire
which can also be used for the connection between the radio and the
antenna.

- This is probably better then building an unshielded loop
- out of speaker wire and using the same wire to connect
- the antenna to the radio.


Again, I gave the OP the opportunity to do some research.

On the other hand, I used a shielded loop in a previous
home as a random wire antenna was not an option.

craigm

Craig M.,

Actually Loop {Balance} Antenna make from Speaker-Wire and
using the same Speaker-Wire {Balanced} as a feed-in-line
is a fairly simple and practical Loop Antenna set-up.

Just like a "Split" Speaker-Wire Dipole Antenna using the
same Speaker-Wire {Balanced} as a feed-in-line is a
fairly simple and practical Dipole Antenna set-up.

Both can be very low cost and effective Shortwave Listening
(SWL) Antennas not requiring a Ground to give relatively
Good Signal Levels and Low Noise.

RadioShack - Recoton (SW-1850) 50Feet 18 AWG Speaker Wire
http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...ductId=2428008

iane ~ RHF

In article KCy5j.2781$md.534@trnddc06,
"Dale Parfitt" wrote:


Yes, for shortwave a 10-20 foot piece of wire can be used. You do not need
to spend a lot of money to get started. If noise is an issue, google
for 'shielded loop antenna'. You can also buy more expensive antennas.
Try,
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant.html


Why would a shielded loop receive less noise than, say, a classic wire turn
loop?

Dale W4OP

Shielded loops are less sensitive to local inductive E fields.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article KCy5j.2781$md.534@trnddc06,
"Dale Parfitt" wrote:


Yes, for shortwave a 10-20 foot piece of wire can be used. You do not
need
to spend a lot of money to get started. If noise is an issue, google
for 'shielded loop antenna'. You can also buy more expensive antennas.
Try,
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant.html


Why would a shielded loop receive less noise than, say, a classic wire
turn
loop?

Dale W4OP

Shielded loops are less sensitive to local inductive E fields.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

I thought there was enough math/data out there that no one any longer
believed this.

From the W8JI page- http://www.w8ji.com/magnetic_receiving_loops.htm
"Folklore claims a small "shielded" loop antenna behaves like a sieve,
sorting "good magnetic signals" from "bad electrical noise".
Nothing is further from the truth! At relatively small distances a small
magnetic loop is more sensitive to electric fields than a small electric
field probe.



W4OP

In article EBJ5j.5593$gi7.4456@trnddc04,
"Dale Parfitt" wrote:

"Telamon" wrote in message
...
In article KCy5j.2781$md.534@trnddc06,
"Dale Parfitt" wrote:


Yes, for shortwave a 10-20 foot piece of wire can be used. You
do not need to spend a lot of money to get started. If noise is
an issue, google for 'shielded loop antenna'. You can also buy
more expensive antennas. Try,
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant.html


Why would a shielded loop receive less noise than, say, a classic
wire turn loop?


Shielded loops are less sensitive to local inductive E fields.


I thought there was enough math/data out there that no one any longer
believed this.

From the W8JI page- http://www.w8ji.com/magnetic_receiving_loops.htm
"Folklore claims a small "shielded" loop antenna behaves like a
sieve, sorting "good magnetic signals" from "bad electrical noise".
Nothing is further from the truth! At relatively small distances a
small magnetic loop is more sensitive to electric fields than a small
electric field probe.


I would not be quoting some ham¹s web site as an authority on
electromagnetic theory or folklore.

There is a lot of bad information on the net. The areas of electronics
and electromagnetism are easy to misunderstand. Part of the problem is
that it is also easy to leave questions more open ended than intended
and so the answers tend to be ambiguous.

So now, I'll be more specific. Maybe it will help.

Small loops that have a shield that is split half way around are only
sensitive to magnetic fields. The split half way around ensures the E
field is canceled for far field and it works pretty well for near
inductive fields. I have used this type of probe along with small E
field probes in EMI and RFI work so I know they operate as they were
designed or I would not have been able to solve problems.

Another situation occurs when the shield is not split evenly around the
loop and grounded on one end. Here the outer shield picks up the E
field and the shielded wire picks up the M field and this configuration
will generate about two times the signal the center split shielded loop
will generate.

So it depends on a number of parameters not least of which is physical
size and electrical size for the application.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

On Dec 4, 3:36 pm, "Frank103" wrote:
I would like to buy a portable shortwave radio with a whip antenna but I've
been holding back because I live in an area that gets mediocre reception on
my Sony reciever's FM tuner from stations 20 miles away; so I'm really
paranoid about buying a portable shortwave radio. My homeowners association
doesn't permit outside antennas. Here are several questions:

1. Can someone recommend a portable shortwave radio for under $200US that
works well.?
2. Can I attach an indoor antenna to improve reception? What brand of
antenna?
3. I've tried several indoor antennas from Radio Shack to improve my FM
reception and none did anything. Can someone recommend a really powerful FM
indoor antenna?

Thanks in advance.
Frank

You didn't tell us what model Sony receiver you are using, and what
type of antenna it has. That can make a big difference in what I
would recommend. Without knowing what you already have, you might
consider the CCRadio-SW, or the equivalent under another brand name.
I have it and have found the FM sensitivity to be outstanding. It
actually gets outstanding reception of stations that come in poorly on
the CCRadio and other radios I have. It is also excellent on MW and
SW. If an analog tuner is okay with you, I don't believe you will be
able to top the CCRadio-SW.

Gary, the Sony receiver is model GX700 ES and the antenna is the standard FM
antenna that came with the receiver. It's probably about 10 years old by
now and still sounds good. It picks up about half of the FM stations that
are available in my area - Las Vegas. Here's what I don't understand. There
are 2 stations. 88.9 and 89.7. Both are NPR with HD. The first one is news
and the second one is classical music. I can get the news station fine. But
what I really want is the music station which is nothing but static. Being
in a county with 2 million people one would think that there would be more
than one classical music station but there is only one and all I get from it
is static. A Radio Shack amplified antenna was not help at all.
Frank
wrote in message
...
On Dec 4, 3:36 pm, "Frank103" wrote:
I would like to buy a portable shortwave radio with a whip antenna but
I've
been holding back because I live in an area that gets mediocre reception
on
my Sony reciever's FM tuner from stations 20 miles away; so I'm really
paranoid about buying a portable shortwave radio. My homeowners
association
doesn't permit outside antennas. Here are several questions:

1. Can someone recommend a portable shortwave radio for under $200US that
works well.?
2. Can I attach an indoor antenna to improve reception? What brand of
antenna?
3. I've tried several indoor antennas from Radio Shack to improve my FM
reception and none did anything. Can someone recommend a really powerful
FM
indoor antenna?

Thanks in advance.
Frank

You didn't tell us what model Sony receiver you are using, and what
type of antenna it has. That can make a big difference in what I
would recommend. Without knowing what you already have, you might
consider the CCRadio-SW, or the equivalent under another brand name.
I have it and have found the FM sensitivity to be outstanding. It
actually gets outstanding reception of stations that come in poorly on
the CCRadio and other radios I have. It is also excellent on MW and
SW. If an analog tuner is okay with you, I don't believe you will be
able to top the CCRadio-SW.