A whip is all you really need if your only interested in picking up
the BBC or Voice of America or whatever.

For those into dxing and listening to stations that don't come in good
with a whip, we use wire ants or dipoles or whatever.

Yes, there is plenty you can hear with just a whip antenna. It's just
those "speciality" stations that you might need an extra kick to
recieve.

= = = "Dale" wrote in message
= = = ...
I was going to say this as a response to someone else's post but didn't want
to hijack their thread. So... Can anyone tell me why you would ever use a
factory supplied whip antenna over an external wire or other external
antenna?

The factory supplied whip antennas are to me a sad excuse for a real antenna
but I guess the manufacturers have to put some sort of an antenna on the
radio so it will work and they can call it a portable. Did I just answer my
own question? I really get a kick out of someone saying some radios don't
perform well off of the whip. Who cares? Someone please enlighten me. When
would you ever use a supplied whip over an external wire or other antenna?
Even in a hotel room or on a camping trip you could use an external wire
antenna. Light guage wire of any reasonable length takes up very little room
and most decent radios usually have an external antenna jack. You can also
look at the higher end radios as well as ultra high end radios and none of
them come with a whip antenna.

I don't want this to become heated but I really am curious under what
circumstances some of you would use a whip antenna (FM excluded). I'm
certain that I must be missing something really obvious here. Thanks in
advance.... :)

DALE,

Well first of all - All of my 'portable' AM/FM/SW Radio have
a built-in Whip Antenna. The Whip Antenna is one of the key
features of these Radios that makes them in-fact 'portable'.
Grundig Satellit 800, Grundig S350, Grundig Yacht Boy 400PE,
Grundig Yacht Boy 300PE, Grundig Yacht Boy 500, Tecsun BCL-2000,
Tecsun PL-230, Sony ICF-2010, Sangean ATS-909, Panasonic Rf-2200,
Panasonic RF-2600, Panasonic RF-2900, GE World Monitor, ETC.

TIP: Collapse the Radio's built-in Whip Antenna.
First - Take one of those 'portable' External "Reel-Up" Antennas
and try plugging it in to the Radio's External Antenna Jack.
Second - Try 'clipping' the Reel-Up Antenna to the "Tip" of the
collapsed Whip Antenna. Most times 'clipping' the the External
Antenna to the Tip of the Whip Antenna, provides the best reception.


NOTE: None of my Receivers has a built-in Whip Antenna and
all of them require an External Antenna. Icom IC-R75,
Kennwood R-5000, Yaeus FRG-7700, Panasonic RF-4900.

jm2cw ~ RHF
..