Judah Smith wrote:

THE REVIEW OF THE AGES FOR THE DX-160 -

snipped it all

Hi Judah

If your radio has a 50 or 75 ohm input you can probably improve the performance of your antenna by adding a 9:1 impedance matching transformer. You can buy them for about $50 or you can wind your own in a few minutes for about $10 if you have to buy the
parts.

Here's a link to a website with instructions for making one.

http://www.kc7nod.20m.com

I doubt the rabbit ears add to the signal strength. If you don't have a solid connection it'll add noise when you have a breeze.

Otherwise, getting your antenna away from the house will help with lowering your noise level.

Your description of tuning in hams with the DX-160 reminds me a bit of my first radio. I forget the actual brand, but it was an 11 band portable, and I knew it as the "Driftmaster". The tuning skills I learned on that radio came in handy when they
invented video games.

Regards,

Mark