Grundig Satellite 750 noob ant question

[nycnewbee]

After returning 2 defective Grundig 450 units I upped the anti and went for the 750.
First thoughts were it's smaller then I imagined and the build quality seems better the the 450. The LCD was clear unlike my 450 units. Everything seems to work fine and sound good. The internal whip seems to have some wiggle room as it comes out but is tight once it's pulled all the way out. Is that normal? Unable to pickup much on ssb or air but that's probably because I was in the basement using an internal antenna. What's the best way to help with that considering I do most listening in a basement about 3 ft underground with 2 stories above me? I'm sure it's not as efficient but has anyone attempted a through the glass style antenna? Any help is truly appreciated!

 

[kennyloatman]

Someone wrote a lengthy thread on the 750 a while back if you care to do a search for it. The antenna comes all the way out and then at the end it kind of pops out after a little tug, at that point it swivels around horizontally . Take care of the tuning knob, On the older ones there is a long history with it losing its sync and then you get the spinning wheel that doesn't rotate the numbers properly. [like mine]. There are stories of people that have sent them back for repair only for the tuning knob to do it again after a short time.

 

[SCPD]

What's the best way to help with that considering I do most listening in a basement about 3 ft underground with 2 stories above me? I'm sure it's not as efficient but has anyone attempted a through the glass style antenna?

Those glass antennas are probably not worth the money. I would go with an external antenna. You'll need to figure out how much room you have to work with.

A wire antenna is the cheapest solution but may not be very practical depending on space requirements, etc.

Something like this could be very simple and easiest to put up: Apex Radio 303WA-2 Shortwave antenna. ApexRadio

You can paint it a specific color to hide it if need be...

Note that the above antenna is passive -- not active -- so it's not going to pick up "everything" out there but it's far better than your internal whip. BTW, it's normal to have some play after fully extending. It's so you can rotate it around, etc.

 

[ka3jjz]

It would be to your advantage to get something outside - preferably away from your home as far as possible to avoid picking up any number of noise sources from inside your home.

Can you put something up outdoors? We have LOTS of possibilities in our antennas wiki...

HF Antennas - The RadioReference Wiki

but you certainly don't need to get complex. Lots of folks use the PAR end feds with excellent results. And if you're close to NYC, it might not be a good idea to put a big antenna on that radio - overloading from all the MW powerhouses would be a very likely result.

It would also help to know what you want to listen to...

Mike

 

[fleef]

Those glass antennas are probably not worth the money. I would go with an external antenna. You'll need to figure out how much room you have to work with.

A wire antenna is the cheapest solution but may not be very practical depending on space requirements, etc.

Something like this could be very simple and easiest to put up: Apex Radio 303WA-2 Shortwave antenna. ApexRadio

You can paint it a specific color to hide it if need be...

Note that the above antenna is passive -- not active -- so it's not going to pick up "everything" out there but it's far better than your internal whip. BTW, it's normal to have some play after fully extending. It's so you can rotate it around, etc.

I have that whip and have used it with the Satellit 750.. It is a good whip! It was easy to put together (watch out, those nuts are tiny- don't lose them!) the APEX comes with the RNC lead that fits right into one of the connex on the 750 The other option is plain old random wire I used about 150' of speaker 14 guage up on a roof, worked excellent.

Those telescopics on the Grundig are designed to break if used. Don't bother with them.

 

[nycnewbee]

Thanks so much for all the advice. I am just starting to get used to the S750. I just keep reading about people warning how to NOT break the built in whip. Would i be better off using a telescoping bnc whip off of the side for FM/aircraft(haven't heard anything)or on the shortwave bnc connection? Something like this... Amazon.com: Ramsey WA10 Telescopic Whip Antenna VHF - UHF: Electronics

The location I am in really is rough to get an antenna outdoors.

 

[nanZor]

If that is a basement with a sealed window, and you want to run a random wire outside, then you can try this "through the glass trick".

Place about a 1 foot square piece of aluminum foil on both sides of the glass. Now make a mechanically good connection to the inside foil to the 750. Typically this is folding the foil over several times, and using multiple alligator clips to squash the foil over the wire. Now run a random wire from the outside foil, again using the best mechanical connection you can. Perhaps seal it against the weather if you can.

The two foil pieces serve as a capacitor, and allow rf to pass even though there is no physical connection between the inner wire and the outer wire. This is for BCB and shortwave reception.

As for airband reception then YES, use the FM antenna connector. The bandpass filter is wideband, so the FM port actually covers 88-135 mhz, AND has a lowpass cutoff below 88mhz, so this is actually best. It provides better reception than the built-in whip, and therefore the built-in one should be fully compressed when listening to fm/airband. Adjust your new whip to about 21 inches or so for airband.

If you never get around to using a small 3rd party whip for airband, then if you must use the built-in whip, adjust it so that it is maybe 15 inches long! Why? Because when fully extended, there is still about 6 inches of wire acting as an antenna inside the case and the connection point is at the bottom interior of the case.

It is easy to break the built-in whip trying to get it fully extended so that the bottom knuckle is exposed, especially the first time. Here, just extend enough of the whip to get access to the fatter tubing sections. Pull straight-up *gently* but firmly on the fatter sections to expose the knuckle and now you can position the whip in any direction. Don't yank the sections.

Also note that the cap on the whip is plastic, so attaching anything to the cap is useless. This isn't recommended anyway, especially with the plethora of antenna ports available.

Your biggest issue is getting out of the basement, although you *may* be able to hear something on airband if you are close enough, or position it close to the window.

 

[nycnewbee]

Thanks so much for the advice. I know they sell through the glass antennas for CB's and scanners, would something like that work?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DN1L6K/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[majoco]

Only for VHF/UHF. If you want to use it for HF results will be very poor as the capacitance across the glass is only very small so not much signal gets through.
A thin wire around the window frame to an outside wire will be much better. You can even get flat coaxial cable for that purpose.