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Shortwave Antenna
A question to the group and please don't get mad at me ! Question is what do
you think is the best commercial built antenna? I am using a Alpha Delta DX-Ultra now and I think it is a good antenna but always looking for better! |
#2
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Hello Bill,
While I have no personal experience with the Alpha Delta DX-Ultra, PASSPORT rates it the best of all commercially-built antennas they have tested. Of course, a better antenna would be an array of several 300-feet towers and remember - the only thing separating you from them is the fact that you haven't yet won $100,000,000.00 in the lottery so that you could pay for them. Get with it kid! Win that lottery! ;-) Failing that, PASSPORT (and I personally) recommend the Wellbrook ALA 330S Active Loop Antenna as an excellent supplement to the DX-Ultra, especially in the summertime when there is lots of atmospheric noise. The Wellbrook EXCELS in attenuating that noise (it is not responsive to it) and it also GREATLY attenuates local electrical noise. The antenna is so quiet that this past winter, when few on the east coast of the US were able to hear Australia's 2300 UTC transmission on 21740 kHz, I was able to hear it, if not loud, certainly clear (it was coming in at an indicated S-3(!) to S-5 on my AOR AR7030 Plus receiver). And lately, as last year, this antenna/radio combination is as quiet in the summer as in the winter. You might want to check out the latest reviews of this antenna in the 2005 PASSPORT, the 2005 WRTH, and Jay Allen's review on RadioIntel.com. If you do much tropical-band DXing or other faint-signal DXing during the summer, in my opinion, you will find no better antenna than the Wellbrook ALA 330S. Best, Joe |
#3
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You're just saying that because you haven't experienced the JOY of owning a
DE31! "Joe Analssandrini" wrote in message oups.com... Hello Bill, While I have no personal experience with the Alpha Delta DX-Ultra, PASSPORT rates it the best of all commercially-built antennas they have tested. Of course, a better antenna would be an array of several 300-feet towers and remember - the only thing separating you from them is the fact that you haven't yet won $100,000,000.00 in the lottery so that you could pay for them. Get with it kid! Win that lottery! ;-) Failing that, PASSPORT (and I personally) recommend the Wellbrook ALA 330S Active Loop Antenna as an excellent supplement to the DX-Ultra, especially in the summertime when there is lots of atmospheric noise. The Wellbrook EXCELS in attenuating that noise (it is not responsive to it) and it also GREATLY attenuates local electrical noise. The antenna is so quiet that this past winter, when few on the east coast of the US were able to hear Australia's 2300 UTC transmission on 21740 kHz, I was able to hear it, if not loud, certainly clear (it was coming in at an indicated S-3(!) to S-5 on my AOR AR7030 Plus receiver). And lately, as last year, this antenna/radio combination is as quiet in the summer as in the winter. You might want to check out the latest reviews of this antenna in the 2005 PASSPORT, the 2005 WRTH, and Jay Allen's review on RadioIntel.com. If you do much tropical-band DXing or other faint-signal DXing during the summer, in my opinion, you will find no better antenna than the Wellbrook ALA 330S. Best, Joe |
#4
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"Bill Amann Jr" wrote in message news A question to the group and please don't get mad at me ! Question is what do you think is the best commercial built antenna? I am using a Alpha Delta DX-Ultra now and I think it is a good antenna but always looking for better! Depends on what you need and what your limitations are. Some people need a loop like the Wellbrook to help their reception; some can use a dipole; and some can use a sloper. Some, like me, don't have the space for a big dipole or sloper, and don't have the ready cash for a loop like the Wellbrook (well, there's also the matter of managing to scrounge up the funds for a Drake R8/R8A/R8B, too), so a random wire attached to a 9:1 transformer will have to do. Of course, when I get that swamp white oak planted in the backyard in the next year or two, I'll lose my prime location for the random wire, so I may have to invest in a Wellbrook in the long term (until the trees get big, that is). --Mike L. |
#5
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"Bill Amann Jr" wrote:
A question to the group and please don't get mad at me ! Question is what do you think is the best commercial built antenna? I am using a Alpha Delta DX-Ultra now and I think it is a good antenna but always looking for better! If you have the space for it, I would recommend a terminated, tilted, folded dipole (TTFD or T2FD). Barker & Williamson (B&W) makes some for hams for transmit purposes -- I picked up a new-in-box SWL version they discontinued a few years ago. I'm very pleased with mine. Read about them he http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx...wire/t2fd.html B&W antennas are available through Ham Radio Outlet http://www.hamradio.com -- Eric F. Richards "Nature abhors a vacuum tube." -- Myron Glass, often attributed to J. R. Pierce, Bell Labs, c. 1940 |
#6
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"Eric F. Richards" wrote: "Bill Amann Jr" wrote: A question to the group and please don't get mad at me ! Question is what do you think is the best commercial built antenna? I am using a Alpha Delta DX-Ultra now and I think it is a good antenna but always looking for better! If you have the space for it, I would recommend a terminated, tilted, folded dipole (TTFD or T2FD). Barker & Williamson (B&W) makes some for hams for transmit purposes -- I picked up a new-in-box SWL version they discontinued a few years ago. I'm very pleased with mine. Read about them he http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx...wire/t2fd.html B&W antennas are available through Ham Radio Outlet http://www.hamradio.com I built several and was never really impressed with their performance. I went back to the transformer matched wires or band specific dipoles or inverted vee's. dxAce Michigan USA |
#7
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Thanks a lot everyone for the info sounds like the DX-ULTRA might just be my
best antenna. But the T2FD look great also I could put one up that is over 70 feet long without much trouble. At my location a sloper antenna would fit the yard best! But if I was to ever hit the lottery I would move out of town and put up one of those log periodic with a 100 foot boom and about 500 feet in the air!!! "dxAce" wrote in message ... "Eric F. Richards" wrote: "Bill Amann Jr" wrote: A question to the group and please don't get mad at me ! Question is what do you think is the best commercial built antenna? I am using a Alpha Delta DX-Ultra now and I think it is a good antenna but always looking for better! If you have the space for it, I would recommend a terminated, tilted, folded dipole (TTFD or T2FD). Barker & Williamson (B&W) makes some for hams for transmit purposes -- I picked up a new-in-box SWL version they discontinued a few years ago. I'm very pleased with mine. Read about them he http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx...wire/t2fd.html B&W antennas are available through Ham Radio Outlet http://www.hamradio.com I built several and was never really impressed with their performance. I went back to the transformer matched wires or band specific dipoles or inverted vee's. dxAce Michigan USA |
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