What antenna do you use for longwave

[chuckinnc]

When fall arrives on the east coast I like to DX longwave AM stations from Europe at night. I use a 160meter dipole, about 240' end to end, this does ok but is very noisy. If anyone listens to LW in this forum then pass along what antenna,feedline or tuner you use. I would like to stay with 50ohm feedline and avoid remote preamp if possible, also if anyone knows of a schematic for a longwave antenna tunner anywhere on the web then that would be great. I am using a Kenwood r2000 which isn't the best receiver for this band so comment
on what receiver you use.

[ridgescan]

Chuck FWIW here's mine
PAR EF-SWL to 100' horizontal "L" at 40' up, grounded at antenna to ventpipe-grounded in shack at antenna switch to cold water supply (those give full quieting at MW/LW) plus recently added 40' vertical leg of rg59u that connects to PAR's ground lugs vie center lead only and terminates to building electrical svc conduit that goes underground which opened up MW/LW quite a bit. Still haven't logged any overseas LW here but can score Canadian NDBs at 1000+ miles all night
oh and feed is LMR240

[k9rzz]

Longwave DXing - Kenwood R-1000 - YouTube

This is the best antenna I've ever used on a city lot. 7 ft on a side loop, 4 turns. I made it from multi strand house door bell wire. Fed with open wire feeders. Non rotatable, just hung between the house and a tree. Bottom of the antenna was only 3 ft above the ground. Loops tend to be quieter. Tip: use multiple inductors in your tuner circuit to help bring the system to resonance. Two or three AM BC ferrite loopstick bar antennas for example. Especially as you get down towards 153khz. That's pretty low and needs lots on inductance to hear well there. You might just try that with your current antenna ... just add some inductors in series with the lead in. It helps on longwave!

[ka3jjz]

The PAR would work, but it's entirely too short to be very efficient at LW. K9RZZ has the right idea re loops, and some have had success with short voltage probe type active antennas.

If you want to learn about LW, this is the place to be. Note the recent NAVTEX schedule change that's also listed on this page...

Longwave Home Page

Mike

[chuckinnc]

Wouldn't more turns make the loop a higher inductance and closer to resonance? I found a online calculator where 2500uh and a 500pf tuning cap would cover 140-550khz. for 2500uh you would need more turns. I
don't know much about loops so maybe you can comment, also I have some cable with 12 wires and one with 26, but both have a foil shield, do you think the cable would work even with the shield?
N4aeq

[ridgescan]

Originally Posted by ka3jjz

The PAR would work, but it's entirely too short to be very efficient at LW. K9RZZ has the right idea re loops, and some have had success with short voltage probe type active antennas.

If you want to learn about LW, this is the place to be. Note the recent NAVTEX schedule change that's also listed on this page...

Longwave Home Page

Mike

I know that Mike-the OP asked for "those who listen to LW" (I do) to state their antenna, feedline, etc. (I obliged) If he specifically asked for advice on a proper longwave antenna I would not have posted my antenna in here.

[k9rzz]

I made my 7 foot per side loop the way I did because that's what I had handy and it went up easily. Feel free to experiment! I've had very good luck with loops in general from BCB loops, 40 meter quad loops that screamed my signal out around the world, to 20 meter delta loops that worked wonders as well. Please note however ... I never (ever!) bought one.