Wire antenna

[k1agh]

In what direction is the best for a wire antenna?ive heard ne by sw and nw by se.

 

[k9rzz]

It depend upon who do you want to hear and how long is your antenna?

 

[jonwienke]

That totally depends on what station you want to listen to, and what direction that station is from your location. If the station is directly east from you, and your antenna is east/west, you'll get crappy reception compared to a similar north/south antenna.

If you have 2 antennas 90 degrees from each other and a switch, one of the antennas will always get good reception, regardless of the direction to the transmitter you want to hear. It doesn't matter whether you go N-S/E-W or NW-SE/NE-SW, as long as the antennas are 90 degrees to each other.

 

[n4yek]

In what direction is the best for a wire antenna?ive heard ne by sw and nw by se.

Being that you are in Maine:

Run your antenna NW to SE if you want to cover most of the states. This will also give good coverage to Europe, western Russia area, the Middle East, eastern part of Africa.

Run your antenna NE to SW if you want to talk with Alaska, Japan, east coast of Russia, China, Korea, and the west coast of Africa.

But jonwienke suggestion would be best about having 2 antenna's at 90 degrees from each other forming a big 'X' in the sky.

 

[k9rzz]

However if your antenna is less than, say 25 ft high, it will be basically omni directional anyway.

 

[kj3n]

However if your antenna is less than, say 25 ft high, it will be basically omni directional anyway.

That depends on the band in question. Twenty-five feet is more than adequate for the antenna to be directional on 10m, fair on 15m, poor on 20m, and practically NVIS on any band lower than 20m.