Newbie just got first sw radio receiver
 

My wife gave me a Grundig S350 radio tonight for my 50th birthday. I tried
it out in my brick faced apt. bldg. All I could get was alot of static and a
couple of Montreal ,Canada and the voa out of DC. I saw that it has an
antenna and ground connection on the back. Being new to this I need to know
how to improve my reception without trashing my apartment building. I can't
hang any antennas off anything as it's brick exterior. I also have sliding
windows. What can I do? I remember my dad used to have a Zenith
Transoceanic radio that would pull in about everything. This little Grundig
doesn't seem that great. Thanks Hp in Seabrook,NH USA

Evening,
It will be a great radio for you and it will work great as soon as you
get some freq.'s. I'm sure some of the guys that live up there will send
you a list of stations that are easy to get started with tomorrow as
most of them have gone to bed tonight.
I have four Grundigs and they are great radio. As to antennas there are
a lot of antennas you can use in your apartment and or your window. I'm
sure they will give you a list of the loaded antennas tomorrow also.

Happy Birthday Youngster!

Burr

Hp wrote:
My wife gave me a Grundig S350 radio tonight for my 50th birthday. I tried
it out in my brick faced apt. bldg. All I could get was alot of static and a
couple of Montreal ,Canada and the voa out of DC. I saw that it has an
antenna and ground connection on the back. Being new to this I need to know
how to improve my reception without trashing my apartment building. I can't
hang any antennas off anything as it's brick exterior. I also have sliding
windows. What can I do? I remember my dad used to have a Zenith
Transoceanic radio that would pull in about everything. This little Grundig
doesn't seem that great. Thanks Hp in Seabrook,NH USA

Head down to Radio Shack and get a spool of "hook up wire" about
3.99USD, or "magnet wire" works great too, and it's nearly invisible.
Strip insulation off the end of the wire, then run the wire outside
through the window. Then toss the spool of wire over a high tree.
This will bring in a ton of stations.

The S350 is really nice for AM and FM too.

Good luck.

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 05:08:22 GMT, "Hp"
wrote:

My wife gave me a Grundig S350 radio tonight for my 50th birthday. I tried
it out in my brick faced apt. bldg. All I could get was alot of static and a
couple of Montreal ,Canada and the voa out of DC. I saw that it has an
antenna and ground connection on the back. Being new to this I need to know
how to improve my reception without trashing my apartment building. I can't
hang any antennas off anything as it's brick exterior. I also have sliding
windows. What can I do? I remember my dad used to have a Zenith
Transoceanic radio that would pull in about everything. This little Grundig
doesn't seem that great. Thanks Hp in Seabrook,NH USA

Outdoor antenna for an Apt

MATERIALS

Some Stranded, Insulated copper wire from Radio shack
Colors so it matches the bricks / outside of your building

Some stick-on Cord holders
One tube clear Silicone sealer glue
One black magic marker
One Rusty red magic marker
A roll of Duct tape color of outside of apt.

One Mop
One piece of twine or string.

PROCEDU

See how far it is in between two windows of your Apt..

Measure out a piece of string this distance + ~ 6 - 8 feet.
Attach a small soft edged weight to it.

( Look Outside to see no one is looking !! )

Secure curious household pets

Open Both Windows.
Insert mop part way out one]
Close that window to secure mop handle

Run over to the other window QUICK!
Take the twine with the weight on it & (without risking life & limb)
Toss the string over the mop.
Secure the end of that end of the string with a bit of slack
Close that window
Run over to the other window with the mop that has the twine handing down off
it

Pull the mop in
Close the window.
NOW
Attach stranded wire to the end of the string.
Slightly open window
Run over to other window.
Open it & pull in string until wire / string connection is through..

Pull in enough so that wire will reach SWR
Attach wire to SWR.
Close window.

- That's basically it. Modify as needed.

You can take Square stick -on cord holders
Camouflage them with magic Markers, &
Silicone glue them to the outside corners of the window,
Then loop more wire

( DONT FALL OUT WHEN DOING THIS !!)

around the cord holders. This makes the antenna longer.
repeat for other windows..This should help lots..

( Works for me !!)




In article , "Pierre L"
writes:


It can be hard to get reception inside an apartment building like that.

The quickest, easiest solution (and one that can easily be moved when you
need it to another room on another side of the building) is just one of
those little wind up portable antennae. Just make sure it's secure and it
can't fall on anyone, and hang it out the window when you want to listen. It
should make a world of difference. If you're new to SW, you should also be
aware that there are various times during the day when there isn't much to
pick up out there.

Pierre

WHY NOT? Just choose some 22 or smaller gage magnet wire or even insulated
stranded wire and tie a tennis ball to the end and hang it out and gently
close your window on it...it works here..I even chose insulation color to
blend in with the side of the building and reel it in at Bedtime...But now I
use a slinky stretched accross the bedroom ceiling

Yodar


"Hp" . Being new to this I need to know
how to improve my reception without trashing my apartment building. I
can't
hang any antennas off anything as it's brick exterior. I also have sliding
windows. What can I do? I Thanks Hp in Seabrook,NH USA

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 17:49:49 -0600, Joe Strain wrote
(in message ):

WHY NOT? Just choose some 22 or smaller gage magnet wire or even insulated
stranded wire and tie a tennis ball to the end and hang it out and gently
close your window on it...it works here..I even chose insulation color to
blend in with the side of the building and reel it in at Bedtime...But now I
use a slinky stretched accross the bedroom ceiling

Yodar



[sigh]

It isn't an option when the windows don't open.



Gray Shockley
--------------------------------------------------------
But - as I said - it's a great place to live.






"Hp" . Being new to this I need to know
how to improve my reception without trashing my apartment building. I
can't
hang any antennas off anything as it's brick exterior. I also have sliding
windows. What can I do? I Thanks Hp in Seabrook,NH USA

Just taping the roll-up antenna wire around a window most often works just
as well, if the windows don't open. You don't want to get too fancy anyway
if you're using a little portable, because they can get overloaded very
easily.
Pierre


[sigh]

It isn't an option when the windows don't open.



Gray Shockley
--------------------------------------------------------
But - as I said - it's a great place to live.

Diverd4777 wrote:

Outdoor antenna for an Apt

MATERIALS

Some Stranded, Insulated copper wire from Radio shack
Colors so it matches the bricks / outside of your building

Radio Shack sells speaker wire that has a brownish plastic coating on
it. Works just as good as that bare copper wire they sell as a SW
antenna, and it's less prone to rot.


Some stick-on Cord holders
One tube clear Silicone sealer glue
One black magic marker
One Rusty red magic marker
A roll of Duct tape color of outside of apt.

One Mop
One piece of twine or string.

PROCEDU

See how far it is in between two windows of your Apt..

Measure out a piece of string this distance + ~ 6 - 8 feet.
Attach a small soft edged weight to it.

( Look Outside to see no one is looking !! )

Secure curious household pets

Open Both Windows.
Insert mop part way out one]
Close that window to secure mop handle

Run over to the other window QUICK!
Take the twine with the weight on it & (without risking life & limb)
Toss the string over the mop.
Secure the end of that end of the string with a bit of slack
Close that window
Run over to the other window with the mop that has the twine handing down off
it

Pull the mop in
Close the window.
NOW
Attach stranded wire to the end of the string.
Slightly open window
Run over to other window.
Open it & pull in string until wire / string connection is through..

Pull in enough so that wire will reach SWR
Attach wire to SWR.
Close window.

- That's basically it. Modify as needed.

You can take Square stick -on cord holders
Camouflage them with magic Markers, &
Silicone glue them to the outside corners of the window,
Then loop more wire

( DONT FALL OUT WHEN DOING THIS !!)

around the cord holders. This makes the antenna longer.
repeat for other windows..This should help lots..

( Works for me !!)




In article , "Pierre L"
writes:


It can be hard to get reception inside an apartment building like that.

The quickest, easiest solution (and one that can easily be moved when you
need it to another room on another side of the building) is just one of
those little wind up portable antennae. Just make sure it's secure and it
can't fall on anyone, and hang it out the window when you want to listen. It
should make a world of difference. If you're new to SW, you should also be
aware that there are various times during the day when there isn't much to
pick up out there.

Pierre