I live in a townhouse. My best antenna is my rain gutter. I was not familiar
with the H-800 until the recent thread. My location is somewhat noisy. Is it
reasonable to assume that I would be able to find a fairly quiet location
inside my home for the H-800 since it is so compact and could easily be
moved around my home to find a possible quiet location? I would like to try
one on my Icom R75 but the antenna is not cheap. I don't think dealers
normally accept returns on antennas.

There are quite a few DIY projects on building active whips. They are
quite simple, though some people freak out when it comes to inductors.

Even more compact than an amplified whip would be something like the
Quantom ferrite loops. They are not as quite as a large aperture
antenna like the wellbrook, but they are quite good for something you
can put on a desktop.

http://www.dxtools.com/
http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/dow...mz2006W-15.pdf
http://www.palomar-engineers.com/Loo...p_antenna.html

The only one I've seen used first hand is the Quantum. The null is
decent.


DeWayne wrote:
I live in a townhouse. My best antenna is my rain gutter. I was not familiar
with the H-800 until the recent thread. My location is somewhat noisy. Is it
reasonable to assume that I would be able to find a fairly quiet location
inside my home for the H-800 since it is so compact and could easily be
moved around my home to find a possible quiet location? I would like to try
one on my Icom R75 but the antenna is not cheap. I don't think dealers
normally accept returns on antennas.

DeWayne wrote:
I live in a townhouse. My best antenna is my rain gutter. I was not familiar
with the H-800 until the recent thread. My location is somewhat noisy. Is it
reasonable to assume that I would be able to find a fairly quiet location
inside my home for the H-800 since it is so compact and could easily be
moved around my home to find a possible quiet location? I would like to try
one on my Icom R75 but the antenna is not cheap. I don't think dealers
normally accept returns on antennas.



The advantages of an H800 over a garden variety active whip seem to be a
cleaner amplifier and extra dynamic range. But it'll still do a
beautiful job of picking up a nearby lamp dimmer.

I think you could predict if it'll work for you with any active whip you
might have or care to cobble together with $5 of parts from Radio Shaft.
A portable mw radio tuned to a dead spot on the dial might also let
you sniff for a quiet zone.

If you do get an H800, spring for the extra $20 for bnc connectors on
the antenna end so you can replace the coax when it dies.

Someone else suggested the Quantum loop. I use one at my office with an
HRB HW1390A receiver for MW reception. (it's a challenging location) I
don't think the Quantum is rated for much beyond 2mhz. But if you want
MW, the Quantum is a good choice.

It is reallyhard to get high bandwidth with ferrite based loops. But
they are compact.

The Wellbrook gets you wide bandwidth, but you really need at least a
meter in diameter for the wellbrook to shine.

Mark S. Holden wrote:
DeWayne wrote:
I live in a townhouse. My best antenna is my rain gutter. I was not familiar
with the H-800 until the recent thread. My location is somewhat noisy. Is it
reasonable to assume that I would be able to find a fairly quiet location
inside my home for the H-800 since it is so compact and could easily be
moved around my home to find a possible quiet location? I would like to try
one on my Icom R75 but the antenna is not cheap. I don't think dealers
normally accept returns on antennas.



The advantages of an H800 over a garden variety active whip seem to be a
cleaner amplifier and extra dynamic range. But it'll still do a
beautiful job of picking up a nearby lamp dimmer.

I think you could predict if it'll work for you with any active whip you
might have or care to cobble together with $5 of parts from Radio Shaft.
A portable mw radio tuned to a dead spot on the dial might also let
you sniff for a quiet zone.

If you do get an H800, spring for the extra $20 for bnc connectors on
the antenna end so you can replace the coax when it dies.

Someone else suggested the Quantum loop. I use one at my office with an
HRB HW1390A receiver for MW reception. (it's a challenging location) I
don't think the Quantum is rated for much beyond 2mhz. But if you want
MW, the Quantum is a good choice.

DeWayne wrote:
I live in a townhouse. My best antenna is my rain gutter. I was not familiar
with the H-800 until the recent thread. My location is somewhat noisy. Is it
reasonable to assume that I would be able to find a fairly quiet location
inside my home for the H-800 since it is so compact and could easily be
moved around my home to find a possible quiet location? I would like to try
one on my Icom R75 but the antenna is not cheap. I don't think dealers
normally accept returns on antennas.

I don't think you would have a problem returning a whip antenna to
'Grove', provided all the packaging and literature are included. They
have a good return policy.

I recall someone posted a rather long technical explanation that there
is more noise that is vertically polarized than horizontally polarized.
That is, noise will propagate better vertically polarized, which is why
the whip is a bad idea. It may not be just an issue of finding a quiet
spot, but the basic design might be flawed.


HFguy wrote:
DeWayne wrote:
I live in a townhouse. My best antenna is my rain gutter. I was not familiar
with the H-800 until the recent thread. My location is somewhat noisy. Is it
reasonable to assume that I would be able to find a fairly quiet location
inside my home for the H-800 since it is so compact and could easily be
moved around my home to find a possible quiet location? I would like to try
one on my Icom R75 but the antenna is not cheap. I don't think dealers
normally accept returns on antennas.

I don't think you would have a problem returning a whip antenna to
'Grove', provided all the packaging and literature are included. They
have a good return policy.