I have been using the Sony ICF SW-77 receiver either with the whip antenna
or a variety of indoor antennae for the last several years. In all of these
configurations, I did not have an earth ground available to use with the
antennae (I was an apartment dweller).

Now my circumstances have changed and my wife and I find ourselves moving
into a suburban house with a sizable back yard, apparently ready made for
setting up a permanent longwire antenna with a good earth ground. My guess
is that the antenna that I can put up will be 100 to 135 ft long. I plan to
bring the signal in to my radio on 50 ohm coax, and I am planning to use a
grounding block (gas discharge?) similar to those used for CATV
installations.

My question is, will I notice a significant improvement with this system? I
am mindful of the possibilities for signal overload, but I plan to run the
gain control in its "MEDIUM" or "LOW" settings unless I am interested in
listening to difficult stations. I am particularly interested in hearing
tropical band stations in Africa, Central/South America, and the Pacific.