antenna for 1961 Schaub Lorenz console/w shortwave

[1961SchaubLorenz]

Hello,
I'm unsure of the best antenna set-up for an old shortwave radio; I'm aware of some people using transformers in conjunction with coaxial cable, but I don't know the impedance of my radio's antenna jack.
Should I just hook up the long wire direct to the coaxial feed, then directly to the radio, or should I use baluns somewhere. I don't have the electronics background to understand the physics very well.
thanks!
Eric,
Seattle,WA

 

[majoco]

It's unlikely that your radio will have a properly matched coaxial cable input - more likely to have just a couple of screws for the antenna and ground. As the impedance of the input is not known, if you join a coaxial cable to it in an effort to get rid of some noise, you will probably lose some of the signal too. IMHO your best bet is just to hang a fairly long wire from the antenna terminal to outside and hopefully away from the house to a tree or post - 50 feet or so would be good. Having the radio on an outside wall to avoid picking up too much noise from inside your house would be good too. Switch mode power supplies, plasma TV's and light dimmers are the worst culprit. I guess your radio has tubes and should have good performance. My Blaupunkt does well on a short bit of wire around the window frame.

Don't expect brilliant results during the day. Unfortunately you being on the west coast means that you'll get most of your evening signals from the east - not a lot from the west until it gets dark over there. The best evening bands will be 49, 41 and 30 metres, during the day you might get some of the stronger stations on the 25, 22 and 19metre bands. Conditions change daily so don't expect miracles every day!

 

[1961SchaubLorenz]

Antenna for Schaub-Lorenz

Thank you for that information--I think the service manual (in German), mentions 120pF and 400Ohms in reference to the antenna and ground. At any rate, I'll experiment, though I have the feeling I'll need to use shielded wire to run from my antenna mast on the roof to the radio location.
Is there a scenario in which matched transformers at either end of the feed line would work for my intended application?
Cheers,
Eric