DAVE,

Here is the RadioIntel 'review' of the Sangean ATS-505 by Russ [K3PI]
http://www.radiointel.com/review-ats505.htm
Two points made by the reviewer we
* "An external antenna jack is provided, but it only works
for SW (not AM/MW)."
* "This receiver is quite sensitive on SW and I found that
using an external antenna overloaded it."

iane ~ RHF
..
..
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...

- - - - - S N I P - - - - -

Sorry, forgot to include that information. I am using a DX-402
(aka Sangean ATS-505).

I honestly wondered about that, but hesitated to shorten the
wire because I would (obvioiusly) lose some sensitivity, and
really like being able to pick up VOK's English broadcasts to
Central America. Only problem is the noise that makes it
difficult to single out.

Thanks,

Dave

Thank you. Someone else suggested that possibility and I suspected as much,
but haven't opened it up yet to proved yea or nea. Thanks for the link. I
appreciate the information.

Dave


"RHF" wrote in message
om...
Dave,

Here is the Radio Netherlands 'review' of the Sangean ATS-505.
http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/ats505.html

The Shortwave "External Antenna" Jack appears to be a 1/8"
Mono-Jack. The Outer-Barrel is Ground and the Tip-End is the
Antenna. Using a 1/8" Mono-Plug 'wire' the External Antenna to
the Tip-End of the plug and the Ground Wire 'connection' to
the Outer-Barrel of the plug.


iane ~ RHF
.
.
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...

- - - - S N I P - - - - -

Just a quick note: it actually does have an external antenna
input, I just don't know what type of plug to stick into it.
Plastic ring with metal contact inside, looks like 1/8" mono
would do it, but how would I ground it?

Negative battery term?

Thanks,

Dave


.

Hmmm. Others have suggested I was overloading it, but I don't *think* that
is the case. It's just hard to dig weak signals out of the hash and trash
surrounding them (like Voice of Korea's broadcast to Central and South
America.) I am planning on building a preselector anyway, and will post
updates on the effects of that addition.

Dave


"RHF" wrote in message
om...
DAVE,

Here is the RadioIntel 'review' of the Sangean ATS-505 by Russ [K3PI]
http://www.radiointel.com/review-ats505.htm
Two points made by the reviewer we
* "An external antenna jack is provided, but it only works
for SW (not AM/MW)."
* "This receiver is quite sensitive on SW and I found that
using an external antenna overloaded it."

iane ~ RHF
.
.
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...

- - - - - S N I P - - - - -

Sorry, forgot to include that information. I am using a DX-402
(aka Sangean ATS-505).

I honestly wondered about that, but hesitated to shorten the
wire because I would (obvioiusly) lose some sensitivity, and
really like being able to pick up VOK's English broadcasts to
Central America. Only problem is the noise that makes it
difficult to single out.

Thanks,

Dave

Hmmm. Others have suggested I was overloading it, but I don't *think* that
is the case. It's just hard to dig weak signals out of the hash and trash
surrounding them (like Voice of Korea's broadcast to Central and South
America.) I am planning on building a preselector anyway, and will post
updates on the effects of that addition.

Dave


"RHF" wrote in message
om...
DAVE,

Here is the RadioIntel 'review' of the Sangean ATS-505 by Russ [K3PI]
http://www.radiointel.com/review-ats505.htm
Two points made by the reviewer we
* "An external antenna jack is provided, but it only works
for SW (not AM/MW)."
* "This receiver is quite sensitive on SW and I found that
using an external antenna overloaded it."

iane ~ RHF
.
.
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...

- - - - - S N I P - - - - -

Sorry, forgot to include that information. I am using a DX-402
(aka Sangean ATS-505).

I honestly wondered about that, but hesitated to shorten the
wire because I would (obvioiusly) lose some sensitivity, and
really like being able to pick up VOK's English broadcasts to
Central America. Only problem is the noise that makes it
difficult to single out.

Thanks,

Dave

Hmmm. Others have suggested I was overloading it, but I don't *think* that
is the case. It's just hard to dig weak signals out of the hash and trash
surrounding them (like Voice of Korea's broadcast to Central and South
America.) I am planning on building a preselector anyway, and will post
updates on the effects of that addition.

Dave


"RHF" wrote in message
om...
DAVE,

Here is the RadioIntel 'review' of the Sangean ATS-505 by Russ [K3PI]
http://www.radiointel.com/review-ats505.htm
Two points made by the reviewer we
* "An external antenna jack is provided, but it only works
for SW (not AM/MW)."
* "This receiver is quite sensitive on SW and I found that
using an external antenna overloaded it."

iane ~ RHF
.
.
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...

- - - - - S N I P - - - - -

Sorry, forgot to include that information. I am using a DX-402
(aka Sangean ATS-505).

I honestly wondered about that, but hesitated to shorten the
wire because I would (obvioiusly) lose some sensitivity, and
really like being able to pick up VOK's English broadcasts to
Central America. Only problem is the noise that makes it
difficult to single out.

Thanks,

Dave

DAVE,

So you have a Sangean ATS -505 and your 'problems' are Antenna
Overload and Noise Levels.
* Consider a 'smaller' shorter Antenna will reduce the overload problems.
* Consider a Low Noise Antenna Design will reduce the noise problems.
{LOW NOISE SWL ANTENNA - popularized by John Doty}
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortw...enna/message/2
http://www.anarc.org/naswa/badx/ante...e_antenna.html

For a simple 'external' Shortwave Antenna to use with the Sangean
ATS-505 'portable' Shortwave Radio, using the 1/8" Mono-Jack
External Shortwave Antenna Input. Consider a Random Wire
Antenna using a Matching Transformer and Ground for Low Noise
and Wide Range Frequency Coverage.

PARTS: Here is a simple SWL Antenna Idea using a few common
RadioShack TV Antenna type parts:
Catalog #: 15-1174 = 25~50 Foot 300 Ohm (Flat) TV Twin-Lead
Catalog #: 15-1230 = 75 to 300 Ohm Matching Transformer (2 Ea.)
Catalog #: 274-286 = 1/8" Mono (Phone) Plug
Catalog #: Catalog #: 15-1579 = 25~50 Foot Coax Cable with F Connectors

NOTE: This is an 'improved' Random Wire SWL Antenna using "TV"
Parts for 'reducing' Man Made Noise (RFI EMF) that is generated in
or near most modern homes/buildings.

EXTERNAL "OUTSIDE" SWL ANTENNA:

The Antenna [Loop] Element is Stretched outside Horizontally or
in the shape of an Inverted "L". The Antenna [Loop] Element is
formed by connecting the two ends of the Far-End of the 300 Ohm
TV Twin Lead. This forms a continuous single skinny horizontal
flat loop going out and back. This also represents a Balance
300 Ohm Load to match-up with the 300 Ohm Matching Transformer.
The 300 Ohm Leads of the Matching Transformer connects to the
Near-Ends of the Loop Antenna Element. The 75 Ohm F Connector
of the Matching Transformer is connected to the 75 Ohm Coax Cable.
The 75 Ohm Coax Cable acts as the Lead-In from the Outside to
inside the house to the radio shack. The other end of the 75
Ohm Coax Cable is connected to the 75 Ohm F Connector of the
Matching Transformer. The Radio-End of the Coax Cable F Connector
would connect to a 75 to 300 Ohm Matching Transformer; and then
into a 1/8" Mono-Plug to plug into the Radio.
NOTE: Using the 300 Ohm TV Twin Lead in a Skinny Flat Loop
Antenna should balance-cancel-reduce most man made noise and be
Omni-Directional.

GROUND: Find a Grounding Point within/about your dwelling.
Secure a good Grounding Point for your Radio and Antenna.
Run a Heavy & Short Ground Wire to your Radio. Locate the
Ground Terminal on your Radio. Attach/Secure the Ground Wire
to the Coax Cable and/or the Radio's Ground Terminal.

FWIW: This Antenna using common TV Antenna type parts should
be effective as SWL Antennas above 5MHz and beyond 30MHz.


iane ~ RHF
..
Some Say: On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortw...na/message/502
I BELIEVE: On A Clear Night...
You Can Hear Forever and Beyond - The Beyond !
..
..
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...
I recently hooked up a thirty-six foot (plus or minus a couple of feet)
piece of four-stranded wire with alligator clip to the internal "whip"
antenna of my portable shortwave receiver, for the extra performance such a
device offered. It works so well that I now cannot usually use my "DX"
setting because of all the background noise (sounds like hundreds of other
broadcasts vying for attention.) I don't know the frequency source of all
this background noise, but would like to filter out as much of it as I can.
One manufacturer of a similar "wind-up" antenna adds a capacitor to the wire
in order to lower the resonance frequency of the wire. If I were going to
try something similar (adding a capacitor, in series) in an attempt to bring
the resonance of the wire down into the 30 MHz range, what size (roughly)
capacitor should I use? Should I just try a few with different ranges, or
does anyone here have any suggestions?

TIA

Cross-posted between sci.electronics.basics and rec.radio.shortwave


Dave


..

Wow. Thank you for these concise and clear directions. One thing though, I
really don't *think* I am overloading the set. Only problem I have is
digging the weak (but desired) signals our of the background noise
surrounding them. In another post I mentioned Voice of Korea's Central and
South American broadcast as the point of interest. It is just at the same
level as the background noise that doesn't interfere with other broadcasts
like the BBC on 5975 kHz or Radio Havana, Cuba on 9820 kHz (or Radio China
International, originally from Taiwan and rebroadcast through some place in
Florida, which frequency I can't remember at the moment.) It is only the
weak signals I am having trouble with. If I tune into WWV our of Ft.
Collins CO I can barely make out some out-of-band signals coming in, but
they are so weak as to be vanishing. Does this still sound like
overloading? Because the troublesom signals are also very weak, I am
thinking that a preselector will probably take care of my problems. (I am
still tempted to abandon my random wire and install your suggested antenna
just because it sounds so much more sophisticated. Will let you know.)

Thanks for the feedback.

Dave


"RHF" wrote in message
om...
DAVE,

So you have a Sangean ATS -505 and your 'problems' are Antenna
Overload and Noise Levels.
* Consider a 'smaller' shorter Antenna will reduce the overload problems.
* Consider a Low Noise Antenna Design will reduce the noise problems.
{LOW NOISE SWL ANTENNA - popularized by John Doty}
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortw...enna/message/2
http://www.anarc.org/naswa/badx/ante...e_antenna.html

For a simple 'external' Shortwave Antenna to use with the Sangean
ATS-505 'portable' Shortwave Radio, using the 1/8" Mono-Jack
External Shortwave Antenna Input. Consider a Random Wire
Antenna using a Matching Transformer and Ground for Low Noise
and Wide Range Frequency Coverage.

PARTS: Here is a simple SWL Antenna Idea using a few common
RadioShack TV Antenna type parts:
Catalog #: 15-1174 = 25~50 Foot 300 Ohm (Flat) TV Twin-Lead
Catalog #: 15-1230 = 75 to 300 Ohm Matching Transformer (2 Ea.)
Catalog #: 274-286 = 1/8" Mono (Phone) Plug
Catalog #: Catalog #: 15-1579 = 25~50 Foot Coax Cable with F Connectors

NOTE: This is an 'improved' Random Wire SWL Antenna using "TV"
Parts for 'reducing' Man Made Noise (RFI EMF) that is generated in
or near most modern homes/buildings.

EXTERNAL "OUTSIDE" SWL ANTENNA:

The Antenna [Loop] Element is Stretched outside Horizontally or
in the shape of an Inverted "L". The Antenna [Loop] Element is
formed by connecting the two ends of the Far-End of the 300 Ohm
TV Twin Lead. This forms a continuous single skinny horizontal
flat loop going out and back. This also represents a Balance
300 Ohm Load to match-up with the 300 Ohm Matching Transformer.
The 300 Ohm Leads of the Matching Transformer connects to the
Near-Ends of the Loop Antenna Element. The 75 Ohm F Connector
of the Matching Transformer is connected to the 75 Ohm Coax Cable.
The 75 Ohm Coax Cable acts as the Lead-In from the Outside to
inside the house to the radio shack. The other end of the 75
Ohm Coax Cable is connected to the 75 Ohm F Connector of the
Matching Transformer. The Radio-End of the Coax Cable F Connector
would connect to a 75 to 300 Ohm Matching Transformer; and then
into a 1/8" Mono-Plug to plug into the Radio.
NOTE: Using the 300 Ohm TV Twin Lead in a Skinny Flat Loop
Antenna should balance-cancel-reduce most man made noise and be
Omni-Directional.

GROUND: Find a Grounding Point within/about your dwelling.
Secure a good Grounding Point for your Radio and Antenna.
Run a Heavy & Short Ground Wire to your Radio. Locate the
Ground Terminal on your Radio. Attach/Secure the Ground Wire
to the Coax Cable and/or the Radio's Ground Terminal.

FWIW: This Antenna using common TV Antenna type parts should
be effective as SWL Antennas above 5MHz and beyond 30MHz.


iane ~ RHF
.
Some Say: On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortw...na/message/502
I BELIEVE: On A Clear Night...
You Can Hear Forever and Beyond - The Beyond !
.
.
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...
I recently hooked up a thirty-six foot (plus or minus a couple of feet)
piece of four-stranded wire with alligator clip to the internal "whip"
antenna of my portable shortwave receiver, for the extra performance
such a
device offered. It works so well that I now cannot usually use my "DX"
setting because of all the background noise (sounds like hundreds of
other
broadcasts vying for attention.) I don't know the frequency source of
all
this background noise, but would like to filter out as much of it as I
can.
One manufacturer of a similar "wind-up" antenna adds a capacitor to the
wire
in order to lower the resonance frequency of the wire. If I were going
to
try something similar (adding a capacitor, in series) in an attempt to
bring
the resonance of the wire down into the 30 MHz range, what size
(roughly)
capacitor should I use? Should I just try a few with different ranges,
or
does anyone here have any suggestions?

TIA

Cross-posted between sci.electronics.basics and rec.radio.shortwave


Dave


.

Sorry, all, for the repeated posts. It's not me, my ISP has been doing
something funny, and disconnecting me without warning. Every time I
reconnect to do something else it reposts whatever is left in the job it
never finished. Think it may be fixed now though.

Dave


"Dave" wrote in message
...
Hmmm. Others have suggested I was overloading it, but I don't *think*
that
is the case. It's just hard to dig weak signals out of the hash and trash
surrounding them (like Voice of Korea's broadcast to Central and South
America.) I am planning on building a preselector anyway, and will post
updates on the effects of that addition.

Dave


"RHF" wrote in message
om...
DAVE,

Here is the RadioIntel 'review' of the Sangean ATS-505 by Russ [K3PI]
http://www.radiointel.com/review-ats505.htm
Two points made by the reviewer we
* "An external antenna jack is provided, but it only works
for SW (not AM/MW)."
* "This receiver is quite sensitive on SW and I found that
using an external antenna overloaded it."

iane ~ RHF
.
.
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...

- - - - - S N I P - - - - -

Sorry, forgot to include that information. I am using a DX-402
(aka Sangean ATS-505).

I honestly wondered about that, but hesitated to shorten the
wire because I would (obvioiusly) lose some sensitivity, and
really like being able to pick up VOK's English broadcasts to
Central America. Only problem is the noise that makes it
difficult to single out.

Thanks,

Dave

Dave wrote:

Wow. Thank you for these concise and clear directions. One thing though, I
really don't *think* I am overloading the set. Only problem I have is
digging the weak (but desired) signals our of the background noise
surrounding them. In another post I mentioned Voice of Korea's Central and
South American broadcast as the point of interest. It is just at the same
level as the background noise that doesn't interfere with other broadcasts
like the BBC on 5975 kHz or Radio Havana, Cuba on 9820 kHz (or Radio China
International, originally from Taiwan and rebroadcast through some place in
Florida, which frequency I can't remember at the moment.) It is only the
weak signals I am having trouble with. If I tune into WWV our of Ft.
Collins CO I can barely make out some out-of-band signals coming in, but
they are so weak as to be vanishing. Does this still sound like
overloading? Because the troublesom signals are also very weak, I am
thinking that a preselector will probably take care of my problems. (I am
still tempted to abandon my random wire and install your suggested antenna
just because it sounds so much more sophisticated. Will let you know.)

Thanks for the feedback.

Dave


If you don't hear that background noise with the whip antenna, the
problem is almost certainly too much signal (overloading) from the
external antenna. That's why I recommended a passive preselector.


-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 100,000 Newsgroups - 19 Different Servers! =-----

"Dave" ) writes:
Hmmm. Others have suggested I was overloading it, but I don't *think* that
is the case. It's just hard to dig weak signals out of the hash and trash
surrounding them (like Voice of Korea's broadcast to Central and South
America.) I am planning on building a preselector anyway, and will post
updates on the effects of that addition.

Dave


But if it's really just adjacent signals, and I doubt it, nothing done
at the antenna will fix the problem, unless you go to a directional
antenna so you can null out the unwanted signals.

You can't get enough selectivity at shortwave frequencies with
coil and capacitor filters to knock out stations adjacent in
frequency to what you want to hear. Well, a crystal filter at
the signal frequency would work, but that gets complicated, and
it's only good for one frequency. That's the whole point of the superhet
receiver, to convert to a fixed frequency where a good filter can
be built.


Michael

"RHF" wrote in message
om...
DAVE,

Here is the RadioIntel 'review' of the Sangean ATS-505 by Russ [K3PI]
http://www.radiointel.com/review-ats505.htm
Two points made by the reviewer we
* "An external antenna jack is provided, but it only works
for SW (not AM/MW)."
* "This receiver is quite sensitive on SW and I found that
using an external antenna overloaded it."

iane ~ RHF
.
.
= = = "Dave" wrote in message
= = = ...

- - - - - S N I P - - - - -

Sorry, forgot to include that information. I am using a DX-402
(aka Sangean ATS-505).

I honestly wondered about that, but hesitated to shorten the
wire because I would (obvioiusly) lose some sensitivity, and
really like being able to pick up VOK's English broadcasts to
Central America. Only problem is the noise that makes it
difficult to single out.

Thanks,

Dave