Howard wrote in message . ..
On 5 Jul 2004 18:41:38 -0700, (ken) wrote:

Finch wrote in message ...
I'm planning a long road trip in a couple of weeks. I planned on
driving primarily at night and I thought it would be interesting
to be able to listen to shortwave along the way.
So my idea is to take along my DX-390, sit it in my lap and twiddle the
knobs as I drive. I'll listen through an earpiece.
snip.............................................. ...................

You will get much better reception if you put a mag-mount antenna on
the roof of the car and run the attached co-ax lead to the DX-390.
snip.............................................. ......................
Generally good advice. The question I have is regarding the mods to
the CB antenna - did it really make much of a difference with the coil
bypassed?

I have used my Icom R2 to listen to shortwave while mobile. Granted,
it's not a great performer on the sw bands (bandwidth is a bit wide)
however with a 19" magmount (2 meter 1/4 wave antenna) I've been able
to hear the major broadcasters. Does the '390 have memories? If so
it would be to your advantage to pre-program your favorites and just
hit a button or two versus fiddling with the tuning knob.

Have a fun trip,
Howard
.................................................. ..........................

The particular CB antenna I selected off a rack featured a 2" dia coil
with open windings of 16 ga. wire. The card featured a leggy blonde,
assorted lightening bolts, and a large title "1000 watts." In spite of
this, it was a well-made antenna. Because of the high-Q coil, jumping
across it improved signals at the lower part of the band, but not by
as much as I nad hoped, probably because of the 16 ga. winding.
Detaching the lower end of the winding and jumping from the top end
(the whip) to the bottom connector increased signal strength again.
When the coil was replaced with a close-wound enamelled 20 ga.
coil, the resonance was about 4 mhz. Taps on the coil selected by a
clip and wire wrapped around the coil (a la Outback) gave increased
gain on each band. At this point, I had enough gain, so I stopped
experimenting, although I did mull over various schemes to enable
band-switching while driving. This way leads to madness.
I recall that a simple 2-meter mag mount antenna gave fair results,
although it perked up considerably when the thin hustler 56"(?) from
the 5/8 antenna was used. But that would be too simple.

This is what I have used in my car for the past four years:

20-023 Clip-on antenna mount $14.99
20-006 Center-loaded telescoping whip antenna $9.99
278-250 BNC female to phono plug $3.49
274-330 RCA plug to 1/8 mono jack $1.94

All Radio Shack parts - make it yourself for about 30 bucks and
change. You can buy the same antenna made from the same Radio Shack
parts from the Tiny Tenna guy (on his web site it's called a Travel
Tenna) for thirty nine bucks and change if you don't feel like
spending the two minutes it takes to put the dopey thing together.

I have run my DX-398, ICF-2010 and 7600GR off of it. Works great day
and night. Have dx'd in the car with it on long trips and I don't
pick up any real engine noise using it.

(ken) wrote in message om...
Howard wrote in message . ..
On 5 Jul 2004 18:41:38 -0700, (ken) wrote:

Finch wrote in message ...
I'm planning a long road trip in a couple of weeks. I planned on
driving primarily at night and I thought it would be interesting
to be able to listen to shortwave along the way.
So my idea is to take along my DX-390, sit it in my lap and twiddle the
knobs as I drive. I'll listen through an earpiece.
snip.............................................. ...................

You will get much better reception if you put a mag-mount antenna on
the roof of the car and run the attached co-ax lead to the DX-390.
snip.............................................. ......................
Generally good advice. The question I have is regarding the mods to
the CB antenna - did it really make much of a difference with the coil
bypassed?

I have used my Icom R2 to listen to shortwave while mobile. Granted,
it's not a great performer on the sw bands (bandwidth is a bit wide)
however with a 19" magmount (2 meter 1/4 wave antenna) I've been able
to hear the major broadcasters. Does the '390 have memories? If so
it would be to your advantage to pre-program your favorites and just
hit a button or two versus fiddling with the tuning knob.

Have a fun trip,
Howard
.................................................. .........................

The particular CB antenna I selected off a rack featured a 2" dia coil
with open windings of 16 ga. wire. The card featured a leggy blonde,
assorted lightening bolts, and a large title "1000 watts." In spite of
this, it was a well-made antenna. Because of the high-Q coil, jumping
across it improved signals at the lower part of the band, but not by
as much as I nad hoped, probably because of the 16 ga. winding.
Detaching the lower end of the winding and jumping from the top end
(the whip) to the bottom connector increased signal strength again.
When the coil was replaced with a close-wound enamelled 20 ga.
coil, the resonance was about 4 mhz. Taps on the coil selected by a
clip and wire wrapped around the coil (a la Outback) gave increased
gain on each band. At this point, I had enough gain, so I stopped
experimenting, although I did mull over various schemes to enable
band-switching while driving. This way leads to madness.
I recall that a simple 2-meter mag mount antenna gave fair results,
although it perked up considerably when the thin hustler 56"(?) from
the 5/8 antenna was used. But that would be too simple.