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#1
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Hello everyone and happy New Year! This is my first post here, and I'm
quite sure it wont be my last. I am very green to this hobby. I have always been fascinated with DX radio and finally have the time and money to get involved in it. I started BIG. I just bought an R8B for my first receiver. I live in a small condo in Northern Arizona (Flagstaff) I am surrounded by tall mountains and the elevation at my house is 8,200 Feet. I am looking for the best antenna for my buck at around $200.00. My main listening interests are utility stations. This antenna must be able to withstand winds of 60 mph +, and not be too much of an eyesore. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Chad |
#2
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![]() chad556 wrote: Hello everyone and happy New Year! This is my first post here, and I'm quite sure it wont be my last. I am very green to this hobby. I have always been fascinated with DX radio and finally have the time and money to get involved in it. I started BIG. I just bought an R8B for my first receiver. I live in a small condo in Northern Arizona (Flagstaff) I am surrounded by tall mountains and the elevation at my house is 8,200 Feet. I am looking for the best antenna for my buck at around $200.00. My main listening interests are utility stations. This antenna must be able to withstand winds of 60 mph +, and not be too much of an eyesore. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Chad Sounds like you're looking for an outdoor antenna, which is good. How much space do you have to work with? Are you looking for something that would go on your roof or on a balcony or do you have some real estate to play with? |
#3
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chad556 wrote:
I am looking for the best antenna for my buck at around $200.00. My main listening interests are utility stations. This antenna must be able to withstand winds of 60 mph +, and not be too much of an eyesore. The simplest and the best are wire antennas outside of your building for this frequency range. Home brew isn't a problem with a minimum of fees. Hang a wire between to points with a maximum length. You will find some suggestions in the net. Regards, Ralf |
#4
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chad556 wrote:
Hello everyone and happy New Year! This is my first post here, and I'm quite sure it wont be my last. I am very green to this hobby. I have always been fascinated with DX radio and finally have the time and money to get involved in it. I started BIG. I just bought an R8B for my first receiver. I live in a small condo in Northern Arizona (Flagstaff) I am surrounded by tall mountains and the elevation at my house is 8,200 Feet. I am looking for the best antenna for my buck at around $200.00. My main listening interests are utility stations. This antenna must be able to withstand winds of 60 mph +, and not be too much of an eyesore. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Chad Several questions come to mind. What are you interested in? I am mainly into utility and pirate(6.925) Are there any local, within 5 miles, MW, AM BCB, stations? What is your technical skill? Can you build equipment from a diagram? Terry |
#6
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Some radio stations are miles and miles (I saw miles and miles of
TEXAS,,,,,,,, all the STARS up in the SKYYYYYYY,,,,,,,,,) from where their actual transmitter towers are. cuhulin |
#7
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All the reviews I have read before in this news group about Wellbrook
Antennas are pretty good. cuhulin |
#8
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![]() chad556 wrote: My main interests are same as yours... utility, maritime, aeronautical HF, and pirate. There is an AM radio station 3 miles away. On their site it says it transmits 5,000 watts on 930 khz, but I see no towers at the radio station. I also live a few miles from some microwave towers, and (assuming) cell phone, VHF/UHF TV towers. I am not very technically savy, and would prefer to buy an antenna that is already built. I can assemble it fine and put it up. IN am however very good with diagrams. Size is not much of an issue as long as its not a tower or 10 foot or higher vertical antenna. I'm the manager of the apartment community I live in, so I can bend the rules a bit in terms of roof installation antennae. I'm hearing rave reviews and numerous suggestions about the Wellbrook ALA-1530, but the cost is a big downfall. I tried to post this earlier but google ate it. I had a chance to test a ALA-1530 for over a month. I was very unimpressed. The WL1030 worked at least as well and can be built for much less green stuff. www.wl1030.com The only hard part to find is the Litz wire. And in truth I couldn't tell any difference between solid, stranded and litz wire in this application. I am not a fan of loops and continue to be impressed by the loyalty of true believers. If, as the manager, you could cheat a bit more, there is a 15' relay switched antenna that works very well. http://www.kongsfjord.no/ Look in "The Dallas Files"; "LW-MW-SW Relay Tuned 15' Noise Reducing Vertical Antenna", It does require at least a 4' ground rod 6 to 8 work much better. While I have always been a fan of coax feedlines, I have to admit that for this antenna balanced feedline, either Radio Shack speaker wire or AC zip cord, worked slightly better then coax. Other good antennas could be any of Dallas Lankford's active antennas. The new comp pair is very very good but rather difficult to setup. The next best is "Some of My Favorite Small Antennas for MW and LW", set up is straight forward, but the Crystalonics FET is pricey. The much less expensive antenna in "Low Noise Active Antenna AC/DC Power Supplies" is a very good active antenna. When configured as a active dipole it is a very good performer and only usuitable (IMHO) in very strong MW signal locations. To the best of me knowledge there are no commercial versions of any if these antennas. A friend built the 15' relay switched and used very inexpensive radio shack 12V relays that he sealed with GE "silicon seal". And if none of these look interesting be inventive. Do you have a wood fence? Run wire that blends in as high on the fence as possible. Do you have access to the attic, if there is one, you might try to run wire along the peak, or form a quasi dipole. Are there "tall" trees close to the building? If so then run some wire up the side of the tree. Works best where there aren't kids, they tend to find and pull stray wire off. Terry |
#9
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try the Eavesdropper . . .
"chad556" wrote in message ups.com... Hello everyone and happy New Year! This is my first post here, and I'm quite sure it wont be my last. I am very green to this hobby. I have always been fascinated with DX radio and finally have the time and money to get involved in it. I started BIG. I just bought an R8B for my first receiver. I live in a small condo in Northern Arizona (Flagstaff) I am surrounded by tall mountains and the elevation at my house is 8,200 Feet. I am looking for the best antenna for my buck at around $200.00. My main listening interests are utility stations. This antenna must be able to withstand winds of 60 mph +, and not be too much of an eyesore. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Chad |
#10
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In article . com,
"chad556" wrote: Hello everyone and happy New Year! This is my first post here, and I'm quite sure it wont be my last. I am very green to this hobby. I have always been fascinated with DX radio and finally have the time and money to get involved in it. I started BIG. I just bought an R8B for my first receiver. I live in a small condo in Northern Arizona (Flagstaff) I am surrounded by tall mountains and the elevation at my house is 8,200 Feet. I am looking for the best antenna for my buck at around $200.00. My main listening interests are utility stations. This antenna must be able to withstand winds of 60 mph +, and not be too much of an eyesore. Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. You can buy most of the antennas on this page. http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/sw_ant.html You bought a good radio, have fun. -- Telamon Ventura, California |