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broomstick antenna success?
I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna
the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5" pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no* increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group: 1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work? 2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"? 3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire at my Home Depot. 4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against the bare conductor. Is this valid? 5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or the external antenna jack of the receiver? 6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz? 7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength should I expect? It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. Best, -Al A. |
In article ,
Al Arduengo wrote: I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5" pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no* increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group: 1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work? This has been covered many times and it does work. It just does not work well. 2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"? It would help if the turns were separated. The larger the separation the better. The largest separation would result in one turn or a straight wire. 3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire at my Home Depot. Size (diameter) here does not matter. 4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against the bare conductor. Is this valid? Sure. 5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or the external antenna jack of the receiver? Yes depending on the radio the jack may have a desensitizing circuit to prevent overloading the radio. 6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz? This antenna will have a tendency to work at the quarter wave length and higher frequencies. 7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength should I expect? See #2. It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. Sorry you wasted your time. You can use the wire to make another antenna type. Lot's of web sites tell you how. -- Telamon Ventura, California |
According to what I think I know about antennas,
I'd say it works a little better than a dummy load. I had one in the early 70's when I was (only) SWL'ing, and the reception became much better when I "pulled" the wire to a L-type horizontal antenna. I guess that the total length from the feedpoint to the capacitance "hat" is never enough however much one uses wire. Matti Ponkamo OH1GPU, Naantali, Finland |
"Al Arduengo" wrote in message ... I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5" pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no* increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group: 1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work? 2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"? 3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire at my Home Depot. 4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against the bare conductor. Is this valid? 5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or the external antenna jack of the receiver? 6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz? 7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength should I expect? It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. Best, -Al A. For some odd reason, people expect that if you wind 100' of wire onto a stick, it will perform like a 100' random wire- or better than say, 50' wound onto a stick. It's all about capture area. Dale W4OP |
Telamon,
One of the more 'exciting' stories concerning the BroomStick Antenna in the Middle East. This Guy built a 18Ft Long/Tall BroomStick on 4" PVC Pipe. Plus, he had a 750 Ft Random Wire Antenna connected to the Top of the BroomStick Antenna ! Hello - He had a 750 Longwire Antenna [.] ~ RHF .. .. = = = Telamon wrote in message = = = ... In article , Al Arduengo wrote: I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5" pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no* increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group: 1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work? This has been covered many times and it does work. It just does not work well. 2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"? It would help if the turns were separated. The larger the separation the better. The largest separation would result in one turn or a straight wire. 3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire at my Home Depot. Size (diameter) here does not matter. 4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against the bare conductor. Is this valid? Sure. 5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or the external antenna jack of the receiver? Yes depending on the radio the jack may have a desensitizing circuit to prevent overloading the radio. 6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz? This antenna will have a tendency to work at the quarter wave length and higher frequencies. 7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength should I expect? See #2. It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. Sorry you wasted your time. You can use the wire to make another antenna type. Lot's of web sites tell you how. |
Al Arduengo wrote in
: It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. It's not worth it. Lousy antenna. I have one out on my patio waiting for me to reclaim the wire off it. A 20 foot longwire out performs it. |
donutbandit wrote: Al Arduengo wrote in : It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. It's not worth it. Lousy antenna. I have one out on my patio waiting for me to reclaim the wire off it. A 20 foot longwire out performs it. Basically, I agree with donutbandit. The attractive things about a broomstick are compactness and relative portability. But I've use both broomstick and longwire extensively, and the longwire will beat the 'stick almost every time (though IMHO, a good broomstick and a *20* foot longwire will not differ much in performance). But if you can string 50' or more of wire for a longwire, it will usually beat the broomstick every time. If you like to take a good, small portable on vacation, and want noticeably better performance than the whip, a broomstick can be the perect solution, though. Tony ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet 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 =--- |
Tony Meloche wrote:
donutbandit wrote: Al Arduengo wrote in : It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. It's not worth it. Lousy antenna. I have one out on my patio waiting for me to reclaim the wire off it. A 20 foot longwire out performs it. Basically, I agree with donutbandit. The attractive things about a broomstick are compactness and relative portability. But I've use both broomstick and longwire extensively, and the longwire will beat the 'stick almost every time (though IMHO, a good broomstick and a *20* foot longwire will not differ much in performance). But if you can string 50' or more of wire for a longwire, it will usually beat the broomstick every time. If you like to take a good, small portable on vacation, and want noticeably better performance than the whip, a broomstick can be the perect solution, though. Tony If you don't need something that'll stand up on it's own a slinky is more compact for travel, and if you have room, odds are you can make it longer than a broom stick you'd want to carry along. I use a 3 meter folding military whip antenna when I want something I can plunk down and use without needing to figure out supports. It breaks down to something about 20" long that's about 2" wide. |
If you like to take a good, small portable on vacation, and want noticeably better performance than the whip, a broomstick can be the perect solution, though. Tony BUT, even better, is just stringing up 30 - 60 feet of wire & hooking it up to the whip.. Dan |
Diverd4777 wrote: If you like to take a good, small portable on vacation, and want noticeably better performance than the whip, a broomstick can be the perect solution, though. Tony BUT, even better, is just stringing up 30 - 60 feet of wire & hooking it up to the whip.. Dan It is better if you're in a cabin in the woods. It's not better if you're in a hotel room, though. Tony ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet 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 =--- |
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Tony Meloche wrote:
Diverd4777 wrote: snip BUT, even better, is just stringing up 30 - 60 feet of wire & hooking it up to the whip.. Dan It is better if you're in a cabin in the woods. It's not better if you're in a hotel room, though. Tony For hotel rooms, loops are pretty good. Most will fit in a suitcase, and they're less likely to pick up RFI than a broomstick or whip. I suppose if you expected to use it often, you could make one in the lid of your suitcase or attaché case - though these might be a little more interesting than you'd like at airports. |
"Mark S. Holden" wrote: Tony Meloche wrote: Diverd4777 wrote: snip BUT, even better, is just stringing up 30 - 60 feet of wire & hooking it up to the whip.. Dan It is better if you're in a cabin in the woods. It's not better if you're in a hotel room, though. Tony For hotel rooms, loops are pretty good. Most will fit in a suitcase, and they're less likely to pick up RFI than a broomstick or whip. I suppose if you expected to use it often, you could make one in the lid of your suitcase or attaché case - though these might be a little more interesting than you'd like at airports. Delightful observation on both points! It *could* make for a very intersting (and possibly quite effective) antenna,and it *could* make for a world of grief in airports! Shazam! Tony ----== Posted via Newsfeed.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet 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 =--- |
Tony Meloche wrote:
"Mark S. Holden" wrote: Tony Meloche wrote: Diverd4777 wrote: snip BUT, even better, is just stringing up 30 - 60 feet of wire & hooking it up to the whip.. Dan It is better if you're in a cabin in the woods. It's not better if you're in a hotel room, though. Tony For hotel rooms, loops are pretty good. Most will fit in a suitcase, and they're less likely to pick up RFI than a broomstick or whip. I suppose if you expected to use it often, you could make one in the lid of your suitcase or attaché case - though these might be a little more interesting than you'd like at airports. Delightful observation on both points! It *could* make for a very intersting (and possibly quite effective) antenna,and it *could* make for a world of grief in airports! Shazam! Tony I have experience with interesting equipment at airports- my 7030+ is set up as an "ultimate portable", and the X ray machine shows a cabinet within a cabinet, and a passle of battery packs and related circuitry jammed inside the larger cabinet. Whatever antenna I'm bringing goes in the suitcase, but I keep a short antenna with the radio so I can demo it for them. |
It is better if you're in a cabin in the woods. It's not better if you're in a hotel room, though. Tony Ah! quite true.. In hotel rooms,( or the hotel rooms I've been in ) I've found wrapping wire in a spiral round a 1 liter plastic bottle & setting it on the windowsill, then leading the signal over to the radio helps; - When venturing into airports, remember that your luggage will be searched * thoroughly *, and the batteries taken out of All electronic devices.. So anything in Memory Goes away Since this, I just write 'em down or travel with a copy of M.T. Dan |
You just made yourself the equivalent of a Hamstick. There's some
frequency out there at which it's going to work like gangbusters! At that frequency it should outperform your other antennas. But as you get away from that frequency, whatever it is, it will be worse than a straight wire antenna. /Carl Al Arduengo wrote: I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5" pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no* increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group: 1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work? 2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"? 3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire at my Home Depot. 4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against the bare conductor. Is this valid? 5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or the external antenna jack of the receiver? 6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz? 7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength should I expect? It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. Best, -Al A. |
I have a broomstick up in my attic feeding a dx394 in the basement. It works
OK, much better than the 20ft of wire on the whip (inside). Got a 100' wire antenna Im going to put up this spring. |
= = = longwave wrote in message
= = = ... - - - - - S N I P - - - - - He made a base loaded long wire. - - - - - S N I P - - - - - LW, Not really, the 18 Foot tall PVC Pipe 'wire wound' Broomstick Antenna at these Shortwave HF would efectively appear to be a [Hollow] Metal Tube acting as a vertical antenna element. ( A piece of Copper Pipe. ) The better arangement would be to take a piece of PVC Pipe with a "T" on Top. Start with a piece of wire, and have a single loading coil wound for a specific frequency; and then run the wire up to the "T" and through it and out horizontally for as many feet as you can run the wire. Indoors - Stick the PVC Pipe in the corner of a room and have the top wire circle the room at near the ceiling level. Simply - A Folded Inverted "L" Antenna with a Loading Coil designed for a single target Shortwave Band. If this is then your thing - The 'build' a series of them if you need coverage on more bands. iane ~ RHF .. |
= = = donutbandit wrote in message
= = = ... Al Arduengo wrote in : It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique. It's not worth it. Lousy antenna. I have one out on my patio waiting for me to reclaim the wire off it. A 20 foot longwire out performs it. DnB, That's why they sell those small 23 Foot Roll-Up Antennas that can Clip to the WHip Antennas of most AM/FM/SW Radios. What Works... WORKS ! iane ~ RHF .. |
longwave wrote in message ...
He made a base loaded long wire. And this means what, exactly? That the 6m pipe with 1200m of wire did nothing but provide a better impedance match between the radio and the existing longwire? |
Question:
How does one make a loading coil for a specific frequency; - & Has anyone made SEVERAL loading coils, switching between them ( all hooked to a long wire) for better reception on different frequencies - What works WORKS !! Dan / NYC In article , (Patchmaster) writes: He made a base loaded long wire. And this means what, exactly? That the 6m pipe with 1200m of wire did nothing but provide a better impedance match between the radio and the existing longwire? |
In article ,
Carl - w5su wrote: You just made yourself the equivalent of a Hamstick. There's some frequency out there at which it's going to work like gangbusters! At that frequency it should outperform your other antennas. But as you get away from that frequency, whatever it is, it will be worse than a straight wire antenna. snip Don't leave them in suspense Carl. Tell them what that very narrow frequency is OK. -- Telamon Ventura, California |
"Carl - w5su" wrote in message m... You just made yourself the equivalent of a Hamstick. There's some frequency out there at which it's going to work like gangbusters! At that frequency it should outperform your other antennas. Only if his other antennas are equally bad. |
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