what do you think of this mobile SW antenna setup?

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radio_waves

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In my apartment I can't pick up much SW at all due to noise and static(and can't put an antenna outside). When I sit in the car and hang the built in telescoping whip out the window its much better. So I've come to the conclusion-get out of the apartment and get in the car to listen. I have a NMO trunk mount and NMO-3/8-24 adapter from my amateur radio days. I just ordered a 3' fiberglass CB antenna on Ebay for 9 bucks. Also I ordered a BNC-1/8 mono adapter so I can connect it to the SW receiver. You think the fiberglass CB whip on the trunk mount would make a decent SW antenna? I know it's not ideal, but I was thinking it may work much better than the built in telescopic whip. What do you think?
 
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NDRADIONUT

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If you are not driving around you could attach a longer wire to your antenna mount using a 3/8" crimp on loop under the 3' antenna or under a 3/8 x 24 bolt screwed in the mount and attach the other end to something available... You could also drive anywhere quiet and set up...
 

radio_waves

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I don't plan on driving while listening. And yes I've thought about going somewhere like a state park where there's probably less crap to interfere with the broadcast signal.
 

Boombox

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I once used a CB magnet-mount antenna with a communications receiver in my car. It picked up the stronger stations OK. CB, after all, is in the higher SW ranges... and it's obviously longer than the whip on the DX-390. Should work OK especially on the stronger signals.
 

jwt873

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You might consider the Hamstick or Hustler antenna systems. They're made for the ham bands, but work very well in adjacent short wave bands.

I have the Hustler system on my car. It consists of a mast with removable resonator coils that screw onto threads on the top of the mast. You need a resonator for each band.

The low bands 80m and 40m are quite narrow and you can't hear much outside of the ham bands, but the higher resonators are quite broad. For instance, if I have my 17 meter ham resonator installed, it give me great reception down on the 16 meter band. And it works while driving :)

Hamsticks are similar, except the resonators are fixed and you replace the whole mast.

You can buy mag-mounts for both. That will save you worrying about going through car washes, low garages etc.....
 

radio_waves

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Better than nothing. Now, don't let us hanging, when you test it out, let us know how it works! :)

I tried it tonight. The CB antenna does better than the built in whip at higher freqencies(about 9 MHZ and above), and about the same as the built in antenna at lower freq. I was receiving radio Brazil 11780Khz really strong. I can now hear activity on CB channel 19(27.185Mhz). There's an interstate about 5 miles from here, so I'm sure that's where most of the CH 19 activity is coming from.
 

radio_waves

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My ham radio friend loaned me a Wolf River Coil to mount below the antenna. We checked it with his antenna analyzer. With the ring all the way to the bottom using all the coil the resonant freq is 8.1MHZ. And with the ring up using the least amount of coil it's about 26MHZ. To adjust the coil, I put the radio on the car roof, slide the ring up or down until I hear the loudest signal on the freq. At 9MHZ and above it does really good. I picked up many more stations than I could get before the coil. It does a little better than the built in whip on the low freq's such as 5 or 6MHZ. But he said I could do better by replacing the CB antenna with maybe a 17 or 20 meter MFJ mini ham stick. The hamstick and coil should get me down to about 6MHZ, maybe even lower.



 
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kc9gld

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Before completely ruling out the apartment, I once lived in a 2 story apartment built in the 1970's with copper plumbing that is an antenna waiting to be used. I've also used porch railing, gutters, during my swl years. Even a wire within the apartment hanging at the ceiling worked well. For mobile recieve use I would try a 75 meter hamstick before cb antennas. Have fun and let us know what you come up with! '73 Harley
 
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