The shape has nothing to do with it. An equivalent length of wire would be
comparable. That preamp does have a lot to do with it.
"RHF" wrote in message
m...
DeWayne,

I have a Mobile/Emergency PL-259 Plug & 72" Whip Antenna Set-Up; that
I have use with my Kenwood R-5000 and Icom R75.

I would rate the three radios using the Whip Antennas:

* Icom R75 & Pre-Amp plus the Mobile/Emergency Whip Antenna

* Grundig Satellit 800M using it's built-in Whip Antenna and Pre-Amp

* Kenwood R-5000 using the Mobile/Emergency Whip Antenna

The GS800M's Whip Antenna is a design for an earlier age of radio when
whip antennas were designed and engineered to be real signal
gatherers: Large and Long and Thick at the base and tapering to the
tip. The majority of today's portable radios have short and thin
whip antennas; which provide minimum signal gathering. The GS800M's
Whip Antenna is MEGA Sized when compared to the average whip antenna
on most of today's smaller portable radios. Plus with the GS800M you
have the built-in Whip Antenna Pre-Amplifier for add signal strength.

IMHO: The Size and Shape of the GS800M's Whip Antenna is about the
signal gathering equivalent of one of those 23 Ft Role-Up Antennas
that are required by most other portable radios to get the same
signals that the GS800M provides.


iane ~ RHF
.
.
= = = "DeWayne"
= = = wrote in message
. ..
"Ross Archer" wrote in message
...
mike wrote:

Hey group,

I own a Sony ICF-SW7600GR and have been very happy with it.

Thinking I am ready to graduate to a tabletop model such as a
grundig
Satellite. I want the most bang for the buck.

Will the move be worth my money?
Will I be able to pull in more stations?

Should I buy a Winradio instead?

Your comments apreciated,

mike

If you want the Grundig, I'm not about to tell you not to.
But *best* bang for the buck? -- probably not nearly.

If you now have a high quality portable as you do, and you
aren't already using some sort of outdoor antenna, in my
opinion your best "bang-for-the-buck" for improving
performance is first to add an appropriately-sized outdoor
antenna (or indoor loop such as Sony makes) to your
portable. Try perhaps 20-75 feet. Start long and trim back
if you experience spurious signals and overloading. You
don't *need* to use transformers or coax to start with, but
if you like the improvements, you may get sucked into the
world of trying to improve your antenna all the time.

Ironically, while a portable might work well with just its
short whip, as you go up the $$$ scale these high-buck
radios often require better antennas to function well. I
know the Satellite 800 has a whip and a whip amp, so it's
possible that with limited antenna, you will get more
readable signals -- but probably not more than $2 worth of
wire could do for you without the Sat 800.

Still, the Sat 800 sounds great, and a lot of people have
sworn by it (and at it!) in this NG. Check google groups
for rec.radio.shortwave and find zillions of opinions on it.

I was very dissappointed in the SAT 800's sensitivity using just the
whip
antenna!
DeWayne



-- Ross