Dorm room, noise hell, lighting fixtures, computers, digital devices, wall
warts, power lines, distribution lines, transformers for building
equipment, radios, tvs, etc. all conspire to make radio reception a bit
dicy fro all the rfi produced. The wire just makes reception of all those
nearby sources all the better. Try grounding to a known ground, a
transformer is not likely to help, it doesn't distinguish all the noise
sources from other signals. Get battery power and pull the main breaker
for the building.

Hey -

I posted in here recently about active shortwave antennas - well, I
managed to get 75 feet of #26 magnet wire on a perpendicular roof to
my window of my dorm room, and two runs of 15' speaker wire as a
counterpoise in my room. I'm getting a really bad noise problem,
however - so bad that I can't hear stations on 20 meters! There's a
pretty solid S9 noise floor that prevents me from hearing anything
other than WWV and the major broadcast stations. Now, I know I can do
better with the amount of wire I've got strung out there.

I was thinking about adding one of those 9:1 transformers or other
impedance matching things for longwires; would this reduce the noise
problem I'm having? Any other tips for reducing longwire noise? It
works enough, but I know I can do better...


Thanks in advance.