Hello,

Enjoy sw listening, but frankly not all that sharp re antennas.

Over the past few months, I have seen several ads for those handheld sw
receivers and transceivers. From different mfgs.
About the size of the typical hand-held scanner receiver.

They all seem to cover up to at least 30 MHz, and most beyond.

Got to thinking about this a bit.
What do they use for an antenna for 30 MHz and below ?

I have a long end fed antenna for my listening.
Obviously they have a shosrt "something".

How effective is a short "something" around 5 to 10 MHz, e.g. ?

How can it work down there at all ?

Or, do they expect you to hook up something "decent" to it, even though
it is supposed to
be portable, and is very small ?

Any technical explanation on this would be mosgt appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

Bob wrote:
Hello,

Enjoy sw listening, but frankly not all that sharp re antennas.

Over the past few months, I have seen several ads for those handheld sw
receivers and transceivers. From different mfgs.
About the size of the typical hand-held scanner receiver.

They all seem to cover up to at least 30 MHz, and most beyond.

Got to thinking about this a bit.
What do they use for an antenna for 30 MHz and below ?

I have a long end fed antenna for my listening.
Obviously they have a shosrt "something".

How effective is a short "something" around 5 to 10 MHz, e.g. ?

How can it work down there at all ?

Or, do they expect you to hook up something "decent" to it, even though
it is supposed to
be portable, and is very small ?

Any technical explanation on this would be mosgt appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob

It's an active antenna. A rod less than a quarter wave long at the
highest frequency of interest (including any lead) connected to an FET
impedance converter/First RF amp. See superheterodyne receiver.

On Jul 3, 11:25*am, Bob wrote:
Hello,

Enjoy sw listening, but frankly not all that sharp re antennas.

Over the past few months, I have seen several ads for those handheld sw
receivers and transceivers. *From different mfgs.
About the size of the typical hand-held scanner receiver.

They all seem to cover up to at least 30 MHz, and most beyond.


If you're thinking about buying one, be warned that most wide-coverage
hand-helds suck below 30 mhz.

On 7/3/10 10:25 , Bob wrote:
Hello,

Enjoy sw listening, but frankly not all that sharp re antennas.

Over the past few months, I have seen several ads for those handheld sw
receivers and transceivers. From different mfgs.
About the size of the typical hand-held scanner receiver.

They all seem to cover up to at least 30 MHz, and most beyond.

Got to thinking about this a bit.
What do they use for an antenna for 30 MHz and below ?

I have a long end fed antenna for my listening.
Obviously they have a shosrt "something".

How effective is a short "something" around 5 to 10 MHz, e.g. ?

How can it work down there at all ?

Or, do they expect you to hook up something "decent" to it, even though
it is supposed to
be portable, and is very small ?

Any technical explanation on this would be mosgt appreciated.

Thanks,
Bob


Many SW portables do have adequate sensitivity to perform well
below 30 Mhz with the built-in whip, or a fairly short length of
wire. More than 20 feet on many can lead to overload issues on some
rigs.

But for handheld widebands, an longer antenna is needed. There
are many options available. I've seen and used whips of a meter or
more in length for HF on my R-10. A bit cumbersome, but not bad
performance. An external antenna that connects to the BNC mount on
the rig is useful for mobile monitoring. And some fixed base
operations.

For a while, Grove made a rubber ducky with an amplifier for HF
that works quite well on better handheld widebands, like those by
ICOM and AOR, Yupiteru and others. I have one and it's a nice
performer down to MW. No longer made, but the circuit is fairly
simple. It can easily be replicated.

D. Peter Maus wrote:

Many SW portables do have adequate sensitivity to perform well below
30 Mhz with the built-in whip, or a fairly short length of wire. More
than 20 feet on many can lead to overload issues on some rigs.

But for handheld widebands, an longer antenna is needed. There are
many options available. I've seen and used whips of a meter or more in
length for HF on my R-10. A bit cumbersome, but not bad performance. An
external antenna that connects to the BNC mount on the rig is useful for
mobile monitoring. And some fixed base operations.

For a while, Grove made a rubber ducky with an amplifier for HF that
works quite well on better handheld widebands, like those by ICOM and
AOR, Yupiteru and others. I have one and it's a nice performer down to
MW. No longer made, but the circuit is fairly simple. It can easily be
replicated.


I've read that many of those so called 'DC to Daylight' portables
aren't that hot on shortwave. Have you heard of anything in that
respect? It would be nice to have it computer controlled, for the ease
of a frequency database.



mike

On 7/3/10 23:27 , m II wrote:
D. Peter Maus wrote:

Many SW portables do have adequate sensitivity to perform well below
30 Mhz with the built-in whip, or a fairly short length of wire. More
than 20 feet on many can lead to overload issues on some rigs.

But for handheld widebands, an longer antenna is needed. There are
many options available. I've seen and used whips of a meter or more in
length for HF on my R-10. A bit cumbersome, but not bad performance. An
external antenna that connects to the BNC mount on the rig is useful for
mobile monitoring. And some fixed base operations.

For a while, Grove made a rubber ducky with an amplifier for HF that
works quite well on better handheld widebands, like those by ICOM and
AOR, Yupiteru and others. I have one and it's a nice performer down to
MW. No longer made, but the circuit is fairly simple. It can easily be
replicated.


I've read that many of those so called 'DC to Daylight' portables
aren't that hot on shortwave. Have you heard of anything in that
respect? It would be nice to have it computer controlled, for the ease
of a frequency database.



mike




As I said, the antenna is usually too short. Sensitivity is
actually quite good, though. Comparable to a decent desktop. But
antenna capture area is insufficient. So, SW performance out of the
box is pretty lame. My R-10 was worthless on SW until I began using
a larger antenna.

That said, all but the Yupiteru are too wide for SW. Sometimes as
much as 12Khz on AM. SSB, though the IF bandwidth is usually
acceptable.

For highly portable SW, I'll slip my HF-150 into my camera bag,
with a whip, and tote it out into the woods.

On Jul 3, 8:25*am, Bob wrote:
Hello,

Enjoy sw listening, but frankly not all that sharp re antennas.

Over the past few months,

- I have seen several ads for those handheld sw
- receivers and transceivers.

? So what are you interested in ?

1 - A Handheld "Transceiver" that will cover the
Shortwave (SW) Radio Bands ?
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/ht/1596.html
These are mainly Amateur [Ham] 2m & 440 Mhz
VHF & UHF Transceivers that do not cover the
Shortwave [HF] Bands.

1A - Technically Handheld CB Transceivers are
in the Shortwave [HF] Bands. [10m & 11m]
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...adio/4295.html

2 - A 'portable' Scanner Receiver {Hand Size Scanner}
that will cover Shortwave (SW) Radio Bands ?
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ners/4195.html
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ners/2206.html
* If the Receiver has a BNC Connector for the Antenna
then use a external and Scanner type of Antenna :
Mag Mount Whip on the top of a Car.
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ants/2616.html
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...ants/1190.html

3 - A 'portable' AM/FM Shortwave (SW) Radio
{Hand Size Radio} that will cover Shortwave
(SW) Radio Bands ?
http://www.universal-radio.com/catal...able/3300.html
* Simply Wrap 5~10 Turns of the end of a 10 Foot
piece of Insulated Wire around the Whip Antenna
and stretch-out the Wire as your Shortwave Antenna.

hope this helps - iane ~ RHF

D. Peter Maus wrote:

As I said, the antenna is usually too short. Sensitivity is actually
quite good, though. Comparable to a decent desktop. But antenna capture
area is insufficient. So, SW performance out of the box is pretty lame.
My R-10 was worthless on SW until I began using a larger antenna.

That said, all but the Yupiteru are too wide for SW. Sometimes as much
as 12Khz on AM. SSB, though the IF bandwidth is usually acceptable.

For highly portable SW, I'll slip my HF-150 into my camera bag, with a
whip, and tote it out into the woods.


Back when I bought it, the Yupiteru MVT7100 was reputed to be the best
portable wideband for SW, but while it has narrower filters, the shape
factor isn't so great. You can still end up listening to 2 stations at
once.

That's why I ended up installing my 7030+ in a cabinet with a couple of
NIMH battery packs and a rapid charger for "portable" use. With the
Racal crystal filters I installed, that radio is incredibly nice for
camping trips, but it fills most of a briefcase.

On 7/6/10 10:05 , Mark S. Holden wrote:
D. Peter Maus wrote:

As I said, the antenna is usually too short. Sensitivity is actually
quite good, though. Comparable to a decent desktop. But antenna
capture area is insufficient. So, SW performance out of the box is
pretty lame. My R-10 was worthless on SW until I began using a larger
antenna.

That said, all but the Yupiteru are too wide for SW. Sometimes as much
as 12Khz on AM. SSB, though the IF bandwidth is usually acceptable.

For highly portable SW, I'll slip my HF-150 into my camera bag, with a
whip, and tote it out into the woods.


Back when I bought it, the Yupiteru MVT7100 was reputed to be the best
portable wideband for SW, but while it has narrower filters, the shape
factor isn't so great. You can still end up listening to 2 stations at
once.


Really. That's disappointing.



That's why I ended up installing my 7030+ in a cabinet with a couple of
NIMH battery packs and a rapid charger for "portable" use. With the
Racal crystal filters I installed, that radio is incredibly nice for
camping trips, but it fills most of a briefcase.


I've never thought about taking my 7030+ into the woods. But the
HF-150 is a good performer there. '

That is, when I'm not dragging the SW-8 with me.

In article ,
says...
On 7/6/10 10:05 , Mark S. Holden wrote:
D. Peter Maus wrote:

As I said, the antenna is usually too short. Sensitivity is actually
quite good, though. Comparable to a decent desktop. But antenna
capture area is insufficient. So, SW performance out of the box is
pretty lame. My R-10 was worthless on SW until I began using a larger
antenna.

That said, all but the Yupiteru are too wide for SW. Sometimes as much
as 12Khz on AM. SSB, though the IF bandwidth is usually acceptable.

For highly portable SW, I'll slip my HF-150 into my camera bag, with a
whip, and tote it out into the woods.


Back when I bought it, the Yupiteru MVT7100 was reputed to be the best
portable wideband for SW, but while it has narrower filters, the shape
factor isn't so great. You can still end up listening to 2 stations at
once.


Really. That's disappointing.

I had a Yupi 9000, and while it was ok filter wise, not great, it's main
problems were CPU hash, and it overloaded with anything more than a 20
foot wire on it.




That's why I ended up installing my 7030+ in a cabinet with a couple of
NIMH battery packs and a rapid charger for "portable" use. With the
Racal crystal filters I installed, that radio is incredibly nice for
camping trips, but it fills most of a briefcase.


I've never thought about taking my 7030+ into the woods. But the
HF-150 is a good performer there.

I took the Icom 735 I had up to a friend's cabin in the winter once,
running it on a big battery on a huge longwire and an attenuator I made
to control the input level, and it was great. It was so quiet..'

That is, when I'm not dragging the SW-8 with me.

I fished a large foam padded case out of the dumpster at work and
replaced the foam with new foam that I cut to fit the 735, a speaker,
the power cord, a very lightweight longwire, and the attenuator. It
wasn't too bad to lug around. Probably 20 pounds.

--
BDK, non-jew leader of the non-existant paid jew shills!