Antenna handheld.
 

I've made no secret of the fact that I've got an R-10, and that
I use it every day, both in my work and for personal listening.
It's got very good sensitivity, but the antenna has insufficient
capture area for anything below about 10mhz. It's also 12 khz
wide....not exactly the most selective performer on crowded HF bands.

I tried centerloaded telescopics for improved MW/HF performance.
I even found a whip for a 2 meter HT. Not the hot setup.

About a year ago I bought the Active Duck by Grove. Like the UHF
converter on the Pro-80, it sits on top of the receiver. It's got a
short duck on top of the preamp, and makes the R-10/duck combination
about the same height as the R-10 with factory duck alone.

Switch it on, and the R-10 comes alive on the lower bands. MW
performance becomes actually quite good, and with the wide IF's,
presents some pretty decent audio through a quality earpiece. It
still doesn't achieve full quieting, but the MW performance is quite
listenable. R-10 is still much too wide for HF, and the increased
signal level doesn't help that. But the improvement in the number of
audible signals is dramatic. Above HF frequencies, the antenna is
transparent, and performance is the same as with the factory passive
duck.

All of which begs the question, "what if it's connected to a
decent MW, HF receiver?"

So, through a BNC/PL259 adaptor, I put it on my HF-150.

Now THIS is a very nice combination. With the solid MW/HF
performance of the radio, and the sensitivity of the active duck,
this combination is actually quite a potent, very compact, package
for MW/HF listening, especially on the road or in the field. Noise
floor on WGN at 720 was comparable to random wire.

I even pulled in the aviation beacon at 350khz with similar
noise floor random wire.

Not bad for an antenna only 5" long.

I'm not sure if this product is still in production by Grove,
but if you can find one on the used market, especially if you're
looking for a compact antenna/receiver combination, snap it up.

The active duck does require a rather esoteric battery. But I
had no trouble finding one at the local Osco, and the drugstore at
the local Cub.



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