Basic Antenna Question
 

On using a long wire of about 50' stretched between two poles with the
ends directly north and south, will I get the signal from the sides(W
and E) or from the ends?
--

Basic Antenna Question
 

"Count Floyd" wrote in message
news:BJ4mQCBKg9HM-pn2-Hkg2uw1s6Ddj@localhost...
On using a long wire of about 50' stretched between two poles with the
ends directly north and south, will I get the signal from the sides(W
and E) or from the ends?
--

We need more information.
1. Frequency the antenna will be used on. The antenna's electrical length,
and therefore the pattern changes with frequency.
2. Height above ground. If the antenna is less than 1/2 wavelength at a
given frequency, the pattern is pretty much omnidirectional.

Dale W4OP

Basic Antenna Question
 

On Aug 14, 9:48*am, "Count Floyd"
wrote:

- On using a long wire of about 50' stretched between
- two poles with the ends directly north and south,
- will I get the signal from the sides (W and E) or from
- the ends?
- --

Is the 'Long Wire' connected to anything ? {Feed-in-Line}
* How is the 'Long Wire' connected ? {to the feed-in-line}
* What are you using for a feed-in-line ?
* How long is your feed-in-line ?
* At which "End" [N -or- S] is the 'Long Wire' connected ?

Remember - Practically speaking, it ain't an Antenna . . .
until it is connected to something. - iane ~ RHF

Basic Antenna Question
 

On Aug 14, 10:07*am, "Dale Parfitt" wrote:
"Count Floyd" wrote in message

news:BJ4mQCBKg9HM-pn2-Hkg2uw1s6Ddj@localhost... On using a long wire of about 50' stretched between two poles with the
ends directly north and south, will I get the signal from the sides(W
and E) or from the ends?
--

We need *more information.
1. Frequency the antenna will be used on. The antenna's electrical length,
and therefore the pattern changes with frequency.
2. Height above ground. If the antenna is less than 1/2 wavelength at a
given frequency, the pattern is pretty much omnidirectional.

Dale W4OP


Roughly speaking a Fifty Foot {50 Ft.} 'Long Wire' Antenna
is a Wave Length at 20 MHz; a Half-Wave Length at 10 MHz;
and a Quarter-Wave Length at 5 MHz; plus a odd Quarter-Wave
Length at 15 MHz.

A Fifty Foot {50 Ft.} 'Long Wire' Antenna functioning as a
Half-Wave Length Antenna at 10 MHz; would have to be
{in 'theory'} Fifty Foot {50 Ft.} above the Ground to 'be' a
Half-Wave Length above the Ground.

Basic Antenna Question
 

On Thu, 14 Aug 2008 18:13:40 UTC, wrote:

On Aug 14, 6:48ÿpm, "Count Floyd"
wrote:
On using a long wire of about 50' stretched between two poles with the
ends directly north and south, will I get the signal from the sides(W
and E) or from the ends?
--

Bob, don't let them get all testicle on you. 50 ft of wire is very
omnidirectional and will get plenty signal off the sides.

The only thing I would do though to maximise performance is get it up
high as possible and terminate it into a 9:1 matching transformer if
your radio hasn't got a hi-z or 500 Ohm terminal. Most tabletops have
50 Ohm input and that requires a matching transformer to optimise
reception. If you are talking about a portable then the terminating
value can be anything and it's not all that critical, so don't worry
about it.

Even 500 ft longwires are surprisingly omnidirectional. They only
become quite directional if they are 1000 ft long, especially when
they are terminated at the end into a resistor to ground.

A simple 50 ft antenna strung along two poles is not rocket science -
just have fun experimenting and enjoy your radio's.

John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 32 s, East 20 d 07 m 32 s
Icom IC-7700, Icom IC-756 PRO III with MW mods
ERGO software
Drake SW8. Sangean 803A
Sony 7600D, GE SRIII, Redsun RP2100
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro Mk II, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop.
http://www.dxing.info/about/dxers/plimmer.dx
Thanks John,
I have it hooked up to the Hammalund HQ-145 or another one of my
"vintage" receivers. I envy your beverages and your Wellbrook loop!
Bob

Basic Antenna Question
 

I will answer his question, since no one else has answered it accurately and
succintly.

In broad, general terms, that longwire will receive best from the sides
(from the West and East).

It will also pick up signals from the ends, but not as strong as from the
sides.


Yes, total wire length and height above ground changes this broad principle,
but the broad principle remains the same. The long wire will receive at
least somewhat better off the sides (in your case, West, and East).

James

Basic Antenna Question
 

James wrote:

I will answer his question, since no one else has answered it accurately and
succintly.

In broad, general terms, that longwire will receive best from the sides
(from the West and East).

It will also pick up signals from the ends, but not as strong as from the
sides.

Yes, total wire length and height above ground changes this broad principle,
but the broad principle remains the same.

But, if you get a real long wire, it will begin to get more directional
characteristics off the ends, rather than the sides, and then the broad
principle is out the window :-)

The long wire will receive at
least somewhat better off the sides (in your case, West, and East).

James

Basic Antenna Question
 

dxAce wrote:

James wrote:

I will answer his question, since no one else has answered it accurately and
succintly.

In broad, general terms, that longwire will receive best from the sides
(from the West and East).

It will also pick up signals from the ends, but not as strong as from the
sides.

Yes, total wire length and height above ground changes this broad principle,
but the broad principle remains the same.

But, if you get a real long wire, it will begin to get more directional
characteristics off the ends, rather than the sides, and then the broad
principle is out the window :-)

The long wire will receive at
least somewhat better off the sides (in your case, West, and East).

James

And if it has a long-enough single wire uplead (inverted-l) it can be
more like a top loaded vertical, tending toward an omni pattern.

Basic Antenna Question
 

Dave wrote:

dxAce wrote:

James wrote:

I will answer his question, since no one else has answered it accurately and
succintly.

In broad, general terms, that longwire will receive best from the sides
(from the West and East).

It will also pick up signals from the ends, but not as strong as from the
sides.

Yes, total wire length and height above ground changes this broad principle,
but the broad principle remains the same.

But, if you get a real long wire, it will begin to get more directional
characteristics off the ends, rather than the sides, and then the broad
principle is out the window :-)

The long wire will receive at
least somewhat better off the sides (in your case, West, and East).

James

And if it has a long-enough single wire uplead (inverted-l) it can be
more like a top loaded vertical, tending toward an omni pattern.

Better go study that code!

Basic Antenna Question
 

In article ,
"James" no wrote:

I will answer his question, since no one else has answered it accurately and
succintly.

In broad, general terms, that longwire will receive best from the sides
(from the West and East).

It will also pick up signals from the ends, but not as strong as from the
sides.


Yes, total wire length and height above ground changes this broad principle,
but the broad principle remains the same. The long wire will receive at
least somewhat better off the sides (in your case, West, and East).

The OP's post is not on my news server. You did not reference his post
or quote it so I'll just comment and what you wrote.

The problem here is how long is "long" and how high is "high". My best
answer is "long" is around a wavelength or less at the low end of the SW
spectrum and that "high" is less than a wavelength. Based on these
assumptions the antenna will have lobs that look up and so for that
reason the wire will look fairly nondirectional.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California