Shortwave Antenna
 

Would an antenna like the one in the link be any good? I am looking for a
decent shortwave antenna. I mainly listen to 11.175 USB and 5-9mhz USB.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=278%2D1374

Any advice would be helpful.

thanks,

Paul

Radio Shack offers a very useful antenna kit for shortwave listeners.
Otherwise, buy 100 feet of hookup wire and rig it East-West and end-feed it
to your receiver via any tuners, preamps , matchers or preseleectors and you
should be alright. It won't hurt anything if you can only hang 50 to 75
feet, and if you don't have any of the aforementioned equipment, don't sweat
it .

The higher you can get it, the better. If it slants down, that is beneficial
for reducing noise.

If you find your receiver is over loading, reduce the length of the antenna.
Be sure your receiver is connected to a good ground as that improves
reception.

Reception has been poor recently. No amount of wire is going to improve
that, except to say, that a longer length of wire will receive more energy.
Some of that energy is going to be flourescent lights, power lines etc., so
keep that in mind.

I don't know where you are located geographically, but just go with the
flow. I got up at 1:30 AM PDT this morning and heard Australia from 2.310
pretty well, but other frequencies varied - I heard several Ecuadoreans and
Papua New Guinea, but the BBC Relay broadcast from Solomon Islands was
marred by interference from something I could not identify, and other
australian stations from Tennant Creek and Katherine did not fare so well,
but Papua New Guinea from Port Moresby did fine; I heard WLO very clearly as
well, giving weather synopses. It is all a gift, so enjoy what you can hear
S.

radio Shack, hardware store etc s. Other days recently, reception has not
been so good lately.

Hi Paul:

It's a nice looking gadget, but
50 - 150 feet of wire stretched e/w & far away from electrical appliances /
lines will do much better.

I find the 18 - 22 Gage Radio Shack Stranded insulated wire easiest to deal
with.
You can either hook the antenna up directly to you r whip antenna , or tape it
down 1/4 - 2 inches away from the whip if you get " Overload";

- Also disconnect the wire before a thunderstorm , etc..

Look hre for more info on Antennas & DX'ing


http://www.hard-core-dx.com/

http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=antennas

Dan

In article , "Paul"
writes:


Would an antenna like the one in the link be any good? I am looking for a
decent shortwave antenna. I mainly listen to 11.175 USB and 5-9mhz USB.


http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...ategory%5Fname
=CTLG%5F008%5F009%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=278%2D1 374

Any advice would be helpful.

thanks,

Paul

Paul

- Better link for shortwave antenna info......

http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/antenna/wire/


In article , "Paul"
writes:

Mon, 25 Aug 2003 16:54:13 -0500

Would an antenna like the one in the link be any good? I am looking for a
decent shortwave antenna. I mainly listen to 11.175 USB and 5-9mhz USB.


http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...ategory%5Fname
=CTLG%5F008%5F009%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=278%2D1 374

Any advice would be helpful.

thanks,

Paul

On Mon, 25 Aug 2003 22:14:42 GMT, "Warpcore" wrote:

Radio Shack offers a very useful antenna kit for shortwave listeners.
Otherwise, buy 100 feet of hookup wire and rig it East-West and end-feed it
to your receiver via any tuners, preamps , matchers or preseleectors and you
should be alright. It won't hurt anything if you can only hang 50 to 75
feet, and if you don't have any of the aforementioned equipment, don't sweat
it .

The higher you can get it, the better. If it slants down, that is beneficial
for reducing noise.

If you find your receiver is over loading, reduce the length of the antenna.
Be sure your receiver is connected to a good ground as that improves
reception.

Reception has been poor recently. No amount of wire is going to improve
that, except to say, that a longer length of wire will receive more energy.
Some of that energy is going to be flourescent lights, power lines etc., so
keep that in mind.

I don't know where you are located geographically, but just go with the
flow. I got up at 1:30 AM PDT this morning and heard Australia from 2.310
pretty well, but other frequencies varied - I heard several Ecuadoreans and
Papua New Guinea, but the BBC Relay broadcast from Solomon Islands was
marred by interference from something I could not identify, and other
australian stations from Tennant Creek and Katherine did not fare so well,
but Papua New Guinea from Port Moresby did fine; I heard WLO very clearly as
well, giving weather synopses. It is all a gift, so enjoy what you can hear
S.



Last night I spent a couple of hours trying to get Radio Cairo. Very bad
reception on a;; freq. Gave up and went to bed.

==========
"Being diabetic is alot like having an un-invited
guest at a picnic, who keeps pointing out the potato
salad may have gone bad."--W.B. Willis

"Destiny has a strange sense of humor..." K. Honeycutt
----------
http://www.geocities.com/swl_yb400pe
http://www.geocities.com/swl_yb400pe/psychedelic.htm
http://www.geocities.com/swl_yb400pe/slinkypage.html

"He not busy being born is busy dying..." B. Dylan


=======================

Warpcore wrote:

If it slants down, that is beneficial
for reducing noise.


Can you explain why this is?

Dale W4OP

"Paul" wrote in
:

Would an antenna like the one in the link be any good? I am looking
for a decent shortwave antenna. I mainly listen to 11.175 USB and
5-9mhz USB.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...&category%5Fna
me=CTLG%5F008%5F009%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=278%2 D1374

Any advice would be helpful.

thanks,

Paul




I have a few of these portable antennas I use with my portable Sangean
shortwaves,for listening, while watching my kids play at the park etc.
All they are is a wind-up long wire antenna. I have built lots of
differrent antennas over the years, and always fall back on the trusty
ole dipole antenna. Now that I have built all my antenna farms and have
tired of maintaining/building them, the simple ole dipole is it. After
you have learned to build it, install it, you can forget it. Spend your
time enjoying your radio and other, as the dipole is all you need. Still
listening after 20 years. Drake R8, Sangean 808, Sangean 803A, Sangean
606, Grove TUN-4, ......and down to one last 100' dipole 75' in the air,
may it last the rest of my life, I'm tired of erecting antennas! LOL!

Kruppt

Well I can imagine after all that! Well that seems to be the majority, the
dipole
"Kruppt" wrote in message
01...
"Paul" wrote in
:

Would an antenna like the one in the link be any good? I am looking
for a decent shortwave antenna. I mainly listen to 11.175 USB and
5-9mhz USB.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...&category%5Fna
me=CTLG%5F008%5F009%5F002%5F000&product%5Fid=278%2 D1374

Any advice would be helpful.

thanks,

Paul




I have a few of these portable antennas I use with my portable Sangean
shortwaves,for listening, while watching my kids play at the park etc.
All they are is a wind-up long wire antenna. I have built lots of
differrent antennas over the years, and always fall back on the trusty
ole dipole antenna. Now that I have built all my antenna farms and have
tired of maintaining/building them, the simple ole dipole is it. After
you have learned to build it, install it, you can forget it. Spend your
time enjoying your radio and other, as the dipole is all you need. Still
listening after 20 years. Drake R8, Sangean 808, Sangean 803A, Sangean
606, Grove TUN-4, ......and down to one last 100' dipole 75' in the air,
may it last the rest of my life, I'm tired of erecting antennas! LOL!

Kruppt

Paul,

ON-POINT: For your USB 11.175 MHz a Half Wave Dipole (HWD) is a good
antenna but requires a specific length and height for a small band of
frequencies and for those frequencies is very directional.
* These facts limit the HWD's application as a good overall for the
other group of frequencies 5-9 MHz (USB).
* You could construct a Dual-Band HWD or Tri-Band HWD Antennas to try
and cover these three SW bands.
* Usually Multi-Band HWD Antennas are 'cut' for the lowest frequency
(longest/largest size).
* A type of HWD that uses a single center support with two slopping
legs is call the Inverted "V".
NOTE: The commercial antenna that goes by the Brand Name of "Alpha
Delta" Model "DX Ultra" (80Ft Long / 20-30Ft Center / 5-10Ft Ends) is
a Tri-Band Inverted "V" Antenna.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...=Google+Search


FWIW: You may wish to consider the a simple basic antenna that
incorporates the Low Noise Antenna Design Concepts a la John Doty.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SWL-AM...enna/message/2

The best shape antenna that lends itself to the Low Noise Antenna
Design is the Inverted "L" Antenna.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SWL-AM...nna/message/10

The Inverted "L" Antenna can be erected at any average Height 15-45
Feet and for any reasonable Length 30-135 Feet to fit your land and
space limitations. When constructed well using a matching transformer
and ground; they can give good omni-directional coverage across the
LW, AM/MW, and SW Bands.


~ RHF
..
..
= = = "Paul"
= = = wrote in message ...
Would an antenna like the one in the link be any good? I am looking for a
decent shortwave antenna. I mainly listen to 11.175 USB and 5-9mhz USB.

http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=278%2D1374

Any advice would be helpful.

thanks,

Paul