On Oct 4, 4:15*am, Wimpie wrote:
On 2 oct, wrote:

I'd like to try an external antenna, but one was not included with my
G5. What type ofwireshould I get (stranded, solid, gauge,
insulated...), and do I just solder it to the pos or neg lead of a
miniplug to go into the ext antenna receptacle?

Thanks....

Jim

Hello Jim,

Every type of metalwirewill work for you situation (solid, stranded,
plasticized galvanized washing line, etc).

Most modern SW receivers with internal antennas are very sensitive,
but cannot handle strong signals, so longer will not always be
better.

To reduce the interference from electronic equipment close to your SW
receiver, you may put a coaxial cable between the actual antenna and
the receiver. You can use any type of 75, 90 or 50 Ohms cable. The
center conductor goes to the center pin of the mini plug and the bread
goes to the ground of the mini plug.

The antenna side of the cable needs some clarification. The antennawiregoes to the center conductor of the cable, the braid should be
connected to ground outside your house (or at least far away from
where you expect or have interference).

What is "ground"? *When you live in an apartment, it can be the metal
fence or railing of the balcony. *You can use a ground rod or any
other large metallic structure outside your house. Connect the braid
of the cable directly to the ground structure. Do not insert a long
run ofwirebetween the metal structure and the braid of the coaxial
cable.

For some form of static / impulse protection you may add a 1… 3 uH
inductor between the center conductor and the braid. Note that this
inductor will attenuate AM broadcast band reception.

As others said, you have to experiment with the orientation of thewireto get best signal/noise ratio. When you are very limited in
space for thewire, you may use some 5..10 feet of chicken mesh as
reception antenna or use more wires in a fan shape.

Best regards,

Wim
PA3DJSwww.tetech.nl
please remove abc when using PM.

Hi Wim,

I've been reading the linnks kindly provided in this thread. Am I
correct that a wire antenna can actually damage my radio? Does using
an inductive coil around the whip completely eliminate this
possibility?

I'd like to take advantage of the antenna out on the G5. Is there not
safe way?

Also, if I connect the shield braid of a coax to the ground without
intervening run of wire, then there will need to be a run of wire from
the center coax lead to the radio. Is this OK?

Thanks all.