I think what I will do is just run a wire along the perimeter of my
house
outside, hook it up to a 3-4 foot ground (the ground never gets dry
here in
Indianapolis... NEVER EVER) and run a little bit of wire through the
winder
where I'll hook it up with alligator clips to the whip.

(Lemme guess. THAT'S a bad plan...) someone's gonna tell me that,
and
I'll feel like a flaming arse...

73, ww6djm

Daniel

That might be an improvement over your current setup. However, it sure
would be nice to get the wire *away* from the house and away from all
its accompanying sources of RFI. This is likely to result in much
quieter reception, especially if you use a matching transformer to mate
the antenna to a length of coax, which would then run into your house
and to your receiver.

Of course, this sort of arrangement will require you to find a
*stealthy* way to run a wire along (at least) one side of your
property, but that's not so difficult. You could conceivably use magnet
wire, which would practically be invisible even when elevated fairly
high into the air. Mind you, very thin magnet wire is definitely going
to *break* every now and then; but, once you have everything else in
place, it might only take a few minutes to run outside and put another
length of magnet wire in place.

It might also be possible to find some stronger, stranded wire with an
insulation that will make it difficult to see. Many possibilities here.


If none of these ideas thrill you, then maybe it really is time to
think about springing for an antenna specially designed for people who
have space limitations. I use a Wellbrook 330S and am very happy with
it. The downside to the Wellbrook is its cost: around =A3169.00 and =A330
for shipping. Also, if you plan to use it on MW, you'll want to spring
for a rotor as well, as the Wellbrook is very directional on MW.

If the Wellbrook costs too much, there are alternatives. Although I
have no experience with them, several people have told me they've had
excellent results with the RF Systems MTA antenna, which is a passive,
vertical antenna. Like the Wellbrook, it's supposed to be a very quiet
antenna. Universal Radio carries it, and it's less expensive than the
Wellbrook ($199.95 at the moment).=20

Steve