Temporary Dipole

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rocky28965

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I'm about to setup a temporary dipole on the back fence & hopefully pickup international aircraft on 8.867MHz.
Just waiting for the neighbours to head home. It's a holiday home & there're up for the weekend.
Had one at previous residence & was able to pick up Auckland & Sydney on most of the used frequencies.
Just want to test this location to see how it compares. I'm not expecting a lot as it won't be very high & is between two houses.
If it is successful I would like to setup something more permanent that wont be too ugly.
I don't have any flash gear & will be using a Sangean ATS-803A.
 

ebuchanan1970

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Oct 5, 2017
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Morgan Hill, CA
I put a fifty foot long long wire up on my back fence in 2009. It really sounds good on my Sangean ATS909. It is about seven feet up and it really does pick up a lot. I had to move for a while it to another part of the yard and it was only about three feet up one time. It was not quite as strong and it was noisier. We had trees taken out and that is why I had to move it temporarily. Later I bought a Tecsun PL-660 and a Tecsun PL-600. And a Sony 7600G. The wire is a green color and the neighbors never even noticed it. Also I put a twenty foot long wire up for 15 meters. Unless you are standing in front of it you would not notice it because the wire is really thin. The neighbors have walked by it without even seeing it. It really shines on 15 meters. My only gripe about my antennas outside is that this is not 1992 and so many broadcasters are off the air. I got on the roof with one of those wind up antennas. It was very noisy and it actually was not a lot stronger than my long wire antennas. I think I was about 13 feet up. I think you will be very happy with your dipole antenna.
 

jwt873

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Woodlands, Manitoba
Dipoles aren't as critical for receiving as they are for transmitting. In many cases just getting some metal up in the air will provide decent results.

You'll need a little over 16 meters of wire to be resonant at 8.867 Mhz. But again, for receive, if you put up 10 meters of wire it will perform just as well. The difference would be undetectable.

And.. Dipoles are directional. They receive best off the broadside and worst off the ends. So if you want to listen north to Auckland, the ends have to be secured on the east and west sides of your property.

Hope it works out well!
 

rocky28965

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Otago, NZ
The test was successful, I proved a dipole antenna in that location is not good.
Signal on 8.867 MHz was very weak with lots of noise.
Tried a few other frequency's around that range, all much the same.
I think the main problem is the antenna is in between two house which are both higher.
Perhaps if it were 3M higher but that's not an option.
 
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