Russ,

Does your receiver have a coax connector?

Here's what I did. I went to the attic and strung a wire as high in the
rafters as I could, from one end of the house to the other. About 55 feet I
suppose. I used 16 gauge stranded, insulated wire from radio shack. I
think 100 ft spool is about $6 or so.

I stripped the insulation for a piece nearest my listening room. About 1
inch or so of insulation was removed.

I then stripped the end of another piece of wire and wrapped it around the
bare section of my antenna wire. I soldered mine at this point, but if you
can wrap enough around the bare wire and then do a good job of black taping
it, it may hold. Solder is the best way though if you ask me.

So then I took the other end of the wire I just soldered, and ran it to my
radio. I installed an alligator clip on the end and just clipped it to my
recievers telescoping antenna.

This worked just fine (although not optimum) and was a lot better than just
the telescoping antenna it had built in.

I later got a DX440 radio and it had an RCA connector for an external
antenn. I put the RCA connector on my antenna wire and just plugged it in
directly. Worked about the same as the alligator clip.

Even later I added a ground wire from the "ring" of the RCA jack to the
ground screw on my electrical outlet. That did seem to improve sigs just a
bit.

Keep in mind, none of the above is the "optimium" way to do a proper SWL
antenna....but frankly, just get some wire up there and hook it to the
antenna of your receiver....you'll see a increase in reception performance.

73




"Russell" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Can anyone give me an idea of how to make a basic shortwave antenna. I
have some coax running into my attic an need to know how to fandangle an
antenna up there.
-What is a good length of wire to use? (no antenna tuner)
-How do I hook it up to the horizontal wire running accross my attic?
-I have extra coax up there can I use that or does it have to be bare
wire and thicker?
Any help would be greatly appreciated, I have a radio shcak close by for
any parts etc.
I have heard of a few antennas that work excellent but I don't have $100
for an antenna!Is there a good website anywhere?...
Please e-mail me at
Thanks-Russ

This N.G. is a great place for a resource..thanks to all who have helped
me in the past!