Im currently running this radio using a wire antenna in my attic. Im interested going to an outside antenna this summer.That being said,What would the best route I should take in going about this?,,Any suggestions?
ICOM IC-R75 Antenna
- Thread starter cmed325
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ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
There are numerous considerations here, but here are a few;
Any issues with HOAs or other covenant agreements that might limit you?
How much area do you have to work with?
How high will you be able to get it, and far away from the home as possible?
Proper grounding of your system
Are you interested in a particular area of the world?
Broadband or just a few bands?
Pre built (well except for the coax, of course) or homebrewed?
We have 2 articles in our wiki with lots of ideas. This barely scratches the surface;
HF Antennas - The RadioReference Wiki
Loops - The RadioReference Wiki
Many start off with the PAR EF-SWL, and that's a good place to begin, but there are so many other designs...
Mike
Any issues with HOAs or other covenant agreements that might limit you?
How much area do you have to work with?
How high will you be able to get it, and far away from the home as possible?
Proper grounding of your system
Are you interested in a particular area of the world?
Broadband or just a few bands?
Pre built (well except for the coax, of course) or homebrewed?
We have 2 articles in our wiki with lots of ideas. This barely scratches the surface;
HF Antennas - The RadioReference Wiki
Loops - The RadioReference Wiki
Many start off with the PAR EF-SWL, and that's a good place to begin, but there are so many other designs...
Mike
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Ah but the planning is half he battle :.>> Mike
Thnx im not part of a HOA,,I just want to wake up my radio,,Im going to feed my cable outside this summer,,I monitor 7000-14000 mainly and enjoy listening to the conversations that Hams have,The attic antenna which I bought from HRO I think needs to be outside,,Just need direction from some experienced users.
Exactly what antenna did you buy that is currently in the attic?
Sorry,I forget.
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Then some of the questions apply, and no doubt others will have more. How much room do you have to work with, and how far away from the home (and how high) you can get it.
There are also grounding considerations, and being a nearly lifelong resident of apartments and condos, I'll let others better informed to comment on that...Mike
There are also grounding considerations, and being a nearly lifelong resident of apartments and condos, I'll let others better informed to comment on that...Mike
Own my own home,,Height etc is no pblm.
Oh well... maybe just leave it up there in the attic as a backup antenna.
Otherwise, lots of antenna choices but most simple is a wire type that you can build yourself. Do some research and reading. It can be a little intimidating at first but the "ARRL Antenna Book" is a good resource as is the new "ARRL Receiving Antennas for the Radio Amateur" book.
If you want to buy a pre-made antenna ready to install, the Alpha-Delta DX-SWL Sloper or the PAR EF-SWL are good choices. Both are easy to install with convenient end-feed.
Since this antenna will be installed outdoors, you will need to consider lightning protection.
jhooten
Member
This is not inexpensive but it works well.
https://www.dxengineering.com/searc...218+401126&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending
https://www.dxengineering.com/searc...218+401126&sortby=Default&sortorder=Ascending
prcguy
Member
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
OT...please use PM...'nuff said...Mike
ridgescan
Member
Since you have an attic I assume you are in a house with enough yard to run a decent wire-can you?
You say you have "cable" already I assume you mean coax.
You say you want to run the coax outside. Wherever you "run it outside" there should be a ground point like a cold water pipe near the house, or you could drive an 8' rod right where the coax comes out of the house and ground its braid there just outside the house, or maybe your electrical service ground is near there? Then right there where you grounded, you could run a nice endfed wire connected to the center conductor of your coax, out to however long you can. You could slope it up from there up to a tree maybe, with a non-conductive tie-off at the tree, making sure the "broadside" of the wire is about east-west to capture the majority of what you want to hear.
Another antenna you can do if you can't manage a groundpoint, is a dipole. Connect say 40' of wire to the coax braid, then 40' of wire to the center conductor of the coax and run those two wires in opposite directions, again with their broadsides facing to what you want to hear.
Fast1eddie
Member
If I had the space with the unrestricted height, I would love to try and darned if I cannot remember the name - old Barker and Williamson product, very broadbanded HF antenna, two heavy gauge wires with a horizontal non inductive spacer, looked like a rope ladder.....Icom made this product, as well as Opek, but don't see it on Universal Radio's site. It generated very low noise, constant impedance and was very popular with the military when I was in...Did not require a tuner which provided a reasonably flat SWR from 3.5 up to 30 Mhz. It was about 100 feet long and could be configured as a sloper, inverted Vee, etc.
Remember our radio operators once set one up and seemed to work well. Got put away and never used again, we had much B&W product back in the 80's. Anyway, to reduce locally generated noise, you would ground one end to a high impedance resistor. If when I get the space....
Remember our radio operators once set one up and seemed to work well. Got put away and never used again, we had much B&W product back in the 80's. Anyway, to reduce locally generated noise, you would ground one end to a high impedance resistor. If when I get the space....
To PRC GUY,,The answer is no.
ridgescan
Member
Sounds like a folded dipole.
I have an old Barker Williamson trapped dipole antenna in the "radio closet" that I still need to try.
To cmed325-do you have any response to all the help you received in your thread?
prcguy
Member
Aah, the old B&W BWD-90 folded dipole. I have a couple of regular 90ft models and a stainless steel version in the garage somewhere plus a home made 165ft version which I had at my office station for many years. The 90ft version works from about 5MHz on up and the 165ft versions works well down to 2Mhz.
These antennas are about one S unit lower in performance than a similar size regular dipole but present a good match to the radio across the entire frequency range. The loss of one S unit or about 5 to 6dB of signal is of no consequence for reception as your signal to noise ratio will be the same as a regular dipole, but you will have a lower noise floor that is easy on the ears.
These antennas are about one S unit lower in performance than a similar size regular dipole but present a good match to the radio across the entire frequency range. The loss of one S unit or about 5 to 6dB of signal is of no consequence for reception as your signal to noise ratio will be the same as a regular dipole, but you will have a lower noise floor that is easy on the ears.
Sounds like a folded dipole.
I have an old Barker Williamson trapped dipole antenna in the "radio closet" that I still need to try.
To cmed325-do you have any response to all the help you received in your thread?
ka3jjz
Wiki Admin Emeritus
Since I never got an answer as to how high the proposed antenna would be, and how far away from the home, I'm going to assume that the OP's lot is rather small - not so uncommon in urban areas. For these, a loop is the way to go, as a loop will help reject some noise sources as well as being able to null stations (when used in the MW band). Once again, our wiki has a good deal of information here...
Loops - The RadioReference Wiki
The W6LVP loop has been receiving a boatload of attention lately, but there are certainly others.
And I wouldn't discard the attic antenna, either. It can be to your advantage to have 2 completely different kinds of antennas available to you; if the loop isn't cutting it, the other antenna might. It's tough to predict because propagation can really mix things up...Mike
Loops - The RadioReference Wiki
The W6LVP loop has been receiving a boatload of attention lately, but there are certainly others.
And I wouldn't discard the attic antenna, either. It can be to your advantage to have 2 completely different kinds of antennas available to you; if the loop isn't cutting it, the other antenna might. It's tough to predict because propagation can really mix things up...Mike
Fast1eddie
Member
Yes, the Folded Dipole!!! Would love to put one up someday...No shortie either, the full banana! Very nice pics. Opek made a knock off and have seen one installed outside of Salem Ohio in my travels. Was tempted to stop and knock on the door and ask about if, but those folks out in rual Ohio love their guns...And I don't wanna be shot.
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