"ME" wrote in message
news
Tiny Tenna... is this a good antenna for a portable SW receiver?

The T-T is OK if your travelling and do your listening
from the Motel room in-between those service
calls and trade shows. If your in an apartment
however, just toss 10 feet of insulated wire out the
window and alligator-clip the end to the rod antenna
of the radio, and you will be amazed at the improvement
in reception.

"wisccheese" wrote in message
...

"ME" wrote in message
news
Tiny Tenna... is this a good antenna for a portable SW receiver?

The T-T is OK if your travelling and do your listening
from the Motel room in-between those service
calls and trade shows. If your in an apartment
however, just toss 10 feet of insulated wire out the
window and alligator-clip the end to the rod antenna
of the radio, and you will be amazed at the improvement
in reception.

Any particular gauge of wire?

unidyne wrote:

"wisccheese" wrote in message
...

"ME" wrote in message
news
Tiny Tenna... is this a good antenna for a portable SW receiver?

The T-T is OK if your travelling and do your listening
from the Motel room in-between those service
calls and trade shows. If your in an apartment
however, just toss 10 feet of insulated wire out the
window and alligator-clip the end to the rod antenna
of the radio, and you will be amazed at the improvement
in reception.

Any particular gauge of wire?

The gauge of wire doesn't really matter, although I wouldn't go for the very thin magnet wire because it's not as easy to work with. Garden variety bell wire is fine.

Just connect one end to the radio's whip antenna and stick the other end into
the big, round ground pin of a wall socket. Loop the bared end so it will stay
in the socket and make good contact, too.

That ground pin is at DC ground but way above RF ground. Too, the ground wire
will couple off signals from those long hot wires. Be prepared, though, for
overloading from nearby MW stations.

A more elegant way would be to put an alligator clip on the radio end of the
wire and a banana pin on the socket end.

Note: This suggestion is only for U.S. and similar three-prong AC outlets.

Bill, K5BY

WShoots1 wrote:

Just connect one end to the radio's whip antenna and stick the other end into
the big, round ground pin of a wall socket. Loop the bared end so it will stay
in the socket and make good contact, too.

That ground pin is at DC ground but way above RF ground. Too, the ground wire
will couple off signals from those long hot wires. Be prepared, though, for
overloading from nearby MW stations.

A more elegant way would be to put an alligator clip on the radio end of the
wire and a banana pin on the socket end.

Note: This suggestion is only for U.S. and similar three-prong AC outlets.

Bill, K5BY


Hello, Bill:


I need to be sure I am understanding you correctly (I'm not a whiz at
the fine points of electronics involved in this). I could very well
have been carrying erroneous information around in my head for years,
but I remember
(I think!) hearing when I was a kid that crossing antenna and ground -
which it sounds like you are doing here - is a presrciption for
disaster. If I'm all wet, please tell me so - I'd be happy to have
correct info on this!

Thanks,

Tony


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What he is describing would work (though I hesitate to recommend it). The
reason that it works is that the wire in your electrical ground is so long
that it is effectively not grounded at HF frequencies and will not ground
out the signal.


"Tony Meloche" wrote in message
...
(I think!) hearing when I was a kid that crossing antenna and ground -
which it sounds like you are doing here - is a presrciption for
disaster. If I'm all wet, please tell me so - I'd be happy to have
correct info on this!

Thanks,

Tony


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News==----
http://www.newsfeed.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! 100,000
Newsgroups
---= 19 East/West-Coast Specialized Servers - Total Privacy via Encryption
=---

CW: What he is describing would work (though I hesitate to recommend it).
The reason that it works is that the wire in your electrical ground is so long
that it is effectively not grounded at HF frequencies and will not ground out
the signal.

I can't disagree with any of that. :-)

I'm sure signals picked up by the hot lines would inductively couple to the
proximal ground wire.

I do recommend disconnecting from the socket ground when there is a
thunderstorm in the area. A good jolt could also come in on that ground.

Too, I'm assuming the ground terminal is properly wired. Normally, that's
pretty hard for any one to get screwed up. I have seen, though, polarized
two-pin sockets wired in reverse. Of course, today's the hot and neutral pins
of today's three-pin socket is polarized. That could still be wired in reverse,
especially if the socket is controlled by a switch.

To put it in perspective, though, for the carrier current operation that I did
during WWII, the transmitter and receiver were capacity coupled to the hot and
neutral wires. LOL

Bill, K5BY