Long wire antenna.

[se]

Hi. Would this do for a long wire antenna for my SDRplay RSP 2 Pro?

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/4-Squa...ical-Bare-Braided-Copper-Wire/PRD4XQMMOU8J6I9

Thanks Sheldon.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Eh, I would go with speaker wire or search long wire antennas on EBay.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jwt873]

18 bucks for six feet of wire? That's not what you want. Six feet isn't much of a 'long wire' antenna.

For 18 dollars, you can get at least 50 feet of stranded 14 gage wire at places like Lowes or Home Hardware

 

[se]

And that brand of copper wire from Radioworld will make my SDRplay RSP 2 Pro come alice with signals that I either want to decode or listen to? What will it do for my BCD536hp?

Sheldon.

 

[majoco]

What will it do for my BCD536hp?

Absolutely nothing - any insulated will do. You can probably buy a 25yard/metre roll of insulated hookup wire cheaper than the braid - just string the wire out of a window to a convenient tree/post/washing line and connect the inside end to your antenna terminal - done.

https://www.jaycar.co.nz/orange-light-duty-hook-up-wire-25m/p/WH3003

That's NZ dollars of course but it gives you some idea.

 

[slicerwizard]

Gah. Why would anyone want to use bare braided wire as an antenna?

 

[jwt873]

And that brand of copper wire from Radioworld will make my SDRplay RSP 2 Pro come alice with signals that I either want to decode or listen to? What will it do for my BCD536hp?

Sheldon.

OK.. Lets go back to the beginning.

What exactly do you plan on listening to? The SDR Play covers from 1.5 Mhz to 2 Ghz. Is the 'long wire' antenna you want to add for short wave coverage or for VHF/UHF coverage.

The BCD536HP covers from 25 Mhz to 1.3 Ghz. Again, are you listening to the low band VHF or are your interests in the UHF portion?

 

[KC4RAF]

Pay attention whats been posted above.
And that which 'JWT873' said.
Antenna length is ruled by what frequency you plan on listening to.
General formula:
468/Mhz for 1/2 wave length
234/Mhz for 1/4 wave length
For monitoring only, you don't have to be precise in length, (for transmission you must cut exactly to the formula).
And as posted, that piece of wire is NOT what you need.
At Lowes, buy some #12 or #14 or even #16 wire, (doesn't matter if it's insulated or not). Place it as high as you can and start listening away.

 

[ka3jjz]

That's true, up to a point. There are many antenna designs fpr receiving that are cut to specific lengths based on the frequency(ies) you want to hear. For example, one form of a true longwire (notice it's one word) is a wavelength or more in length, mounted fairly close to the ground. But if you're just getting your feet wet, using something like the PAR EF-SWL is a good place to start for HF (and yes, for some MW too, although on this band, loops rule).

Generally speaking if you want to get above 30 Mhz, it's time to start thinking about verticals, discones and the like. A wire antenna will work, but the efficiency is going to start to suffer the higher in frequency you go. At 144 Mhz, a horizontal antenna is very lossy (by about 20db) when listening to stations using vertical antennas.

The question remains as to what you want to hear, and where? Mike

 

[jonohudson]

Hi. Would this do for a long wire antenna for my SDRplay RSP 2 Pro?

https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/4-Squa...ical-Bare-Braided-Copper-Wire/PRD4XQMMOU8J6I9

Thanks Sheldon.

Lots of discussions about antennas on the SDRplay forum SDR Antennas - Page 3 - SDRplay Community Forum

But as already posted here, you need to have at least a quarter wavelength at the frequencies of interest. For low HF and noisy environments you can also consider a magnetic loop antenna. Good luck.

 

[ko6jw_2]

Technically a long wire antenna is defined as one that is several wavelengths long. This could mean hundreds of feet at a given frequency Most people think 100 feet is a long wire. This is a misconception. Using stranded bare copper wire was very common. There are discussions as to the effect of insulation, but these would be of more interest if you were transmitting.

I have the same SDR Play box, but I have not tried it on HF yet.

There is no magic, just string out some wire and start listening.