Has anyone here read the two books on wire antennas by the ARRL? They are
volumes I & II, and have at least some information on shortwave receiver
antennas. Are they any good? Should I spend my money on them?

Thanks,

Dave

No! These are highly technical tomes and are orientated to the ham bands.
Shortwave listeners require different types of antennas, that is all band
full frequency general coverage (and no power).
Universal used to have some really good wire antenna books for SWL's only at
a very modest price and not too technical.
I haven't looked lately, but see their website:
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/index2.html

--
John Plimmer, Montagu, Western Cape Province, South Africa
South 33 d 47 m 540 s, East 20 d 07 m 541 s.
RX Drake R8B, SW8
BW XCR 30, Braun T1000, Sangean 818 & 803A.
Hallicrafters SX-100, Eddystone 940
GE circa 50's radiogram
Antenna's RF Systems DX 1 Pro, Datong AD-270
Kiwa MW Loop


"Dave" wrote in message
...
Has anyone here read the two books on wire antennas by the ARRL? They are
volumes I & II, and have at least some information on shortwave receiver
antennas. Are they any good? Should I spend my money on them?

Thanks,

Dave

Also take a look at URL:
http://www.mfjenterprises.com/produc...?prodid=MFJ-38

Easy Up Antennas By Ed Noll, W3FQJ
U can see it at HRO stores

Some freebees at URL:
http://ac6v.com/swl.htm#ANT

--
Incognito By Necessity (:-(

If you can't convince them, confuse them.
- - -Harry S Truman




"Dave" wrote in message
...
Has anyone here read the two books on wire antennas by the ARRL? They are
volumes I & II, and have at least some information on shortwave receiver
antennas. Are they any good? Should I spend my money on them?

Thanks,

Dave

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Has anyone here read the two books on wire antennas by the ARRL? They are
volumes I & II, and have at least some information on shortwave receiver
antennas. Are they any good? Should I spend my money on them?

I wouldn't. The ARRL antenna books are pretty technical and more oriented
towards transmission of amateur signals than SWL.

The AC6V site has some good ideas for SWL antennas.

Jackie

Jackie wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Has anyone here read the two books on wire antennas by the ARRL? They are
volumes I & II, and have at least some information on shortwave receiver
antennas. Are they any good? Should I spend my money on them?

I wouldn't. The ARRL antenna books are pretty technical and more oriented
towards transmission of amateur signals than SWL.

At the same time an antenna that is very efficient for the transmission of an
amateur signal will also be very efficient for delivering a signal to a
receiver.

True, but the major point being that a transmitting antenna is usually a
narrow bandwidth antenna...A good transmitting antenna will be good for
receiving that frequency of course, but it could be argued that a SWL
receiving antenna should have a high bandwidth/gain factor..



Mike







"N8KDV" wrote in message
...


Jackie wrote:

"Dave" wrote in message
...
Has anyone here read the two books on wire antennas by the ARRL? They
are
volumes I & II, and have at least some information on shortwave
receiver
antennas. Are they any good? Should I spend my money on them?

I wouldn't. The ARRL antenna books are pretty technical and more
oriented
towards transmission of amateur signals than SWL.

At the same time an antenna that is very efficient for the transmission of
an
amateur signal will also be very efficient for delivering a signal to a
receiver.

"Sherman D." wrote in message
...
True, but the major point being that a transmitting antenna is usually a
narrow bandwidth antenna...A good transmitting antenna will be good for
receiving that frequency of course, but it could be argued that a SWL
receiving antenna should have a high bandwidth/gain factor..

Depends on what you're interested in hearing. An antenna optimized for
European pirate broadcasts could be useful, or one built for Tropical Band
reception. The ARRL books in question are not highly technical and will
provide plenty of ideas for experimentation. Knowledge is Power.

"PM"

"Sherman D." wrote in message
...
True, but the major point being that a transmitting antenna is usually a
narrow bandwidth antenna...A good transmitting antenna will be good for
receiving that frequency of course, but it could be argued that a SWL
receiving antenna should have a high bandwidth/gain factor..

Yes, you are right. That said, I got generally good SW reception from a trap
dipole I had strung 30' up in some trees. It was made for 20-15-10 meters,
but I got decent SW reception from it when used with my IC-718. Too bad I
had to move, and it's all packed away in a storage locker now.

Jackie

-=jd=- wrote:

Some of you have been in the hobby for a long time and have probably tried
a few different antennas. In your practical experience, putting aside the
fiddle-factor*, is a random or long wire for SWL generally the most
forgiving of imperfection and the best broadband performer for the widest
range of situations?

Yes. A medium length inverted-L with a properly grounded (decoupled)
coax lead is a very good broadband, non-directional, low noise antenna.
I guess by now you know where to go on the Net to see the plans for such
an antenna. :-)
If you want to extract the last nano-erg from the ether, consider one of
the specialty antennas like you'll find in books on the subject.


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I'd like to
have some other way of measuring performance besides my uncalibrated ears
and the signal meter.

I can definitely appreciate the curiosity about exactly 'how well' the antenna
is working/behaving based on your design, but really, uncalibrated ears (and
sometimes signal meters) are about the only truly important gauges one can use
to find out if any given antenna is any improvement over what you had before.
IF you enjoy numbers and squeezing the last ounce of performance out of things,
that's cool, but most of the time I measure twice, cut once, and let my ears be
the main guide. The definition of 'best performance' has more to do with your
ears and the radio you're using than any noise bridge or antenna analyzer can
ever tell you.
Good luck-
Linus