Wellbrook Communications Loop Antenna's

[Saint]

Is there any one that is using any of these Loop Antenna's from a Apartment Balcony, I live on the fourth floor of a six story building and was wondering if any one else is in the same predicament and was using one of these Loop Antenna's just sitting on there balcony.

Wellbrook Communications recommend you install the Antenna as far away from your building as you can get, I did send them an email and they said The loop should provide a lower noise level than a longwire, even though your location is not ideal for radio reception.

Just wondering if any one has one on there balcony and how it was preforming.

Any information Appreciated.
Steve

 

[ridgescan]

Well your reception will be limited on one side of the antenna-that being the building side-but I will tell you that "brandon" uses one and he is posting some impressive catches on HF such as getting aircraft transmissions on the east coast for the Hurricane Center all the way from southern California. What direction is your balcony facing? Hopefully west or east?

 

[Saint]

Balcony

Well your reception will be limited on one side of the antenna-that being the building side-but I will tell you that "brandon" uses one and he is posting some impressive catches on HF such as getting aircraft transmissions on the east coast for the Hurricane Center all the way from southern California. What direction is your balcony facing? Hopefully west or east?

If I stand on the balcony I am facing North I can look North East and North West and I have no large structures in my way or any factories that could cause any noise, my building is made of block and steel. So I could face the loop north or north east or north west.
Steve

 

[ridgescan]

Wow and you are on the northern face of the globe too-your situation does present a challenge BUT I am sure it is possible that the loop antenna will perform well for you. How is your SWL reception right now and what are you using for antenna?

 

[Saint]

Radio

Wow and you are on the northern face of the globe too-your situation does present a challenge BUT I am sure it is possible that the loop antenna will perform well for you. How is your SWL reception right now and what are you using for antenna?

I am waiting for my Icom R75 to come in I order it and it's on back order, RadioWorld in Toronto put in there order to Japan for the radio's and it's been a month so I think another week or two before I get it, I had the Icom R75 Radio two years ago and really like it but I had a stupid spell and went and sold it. I was going to use a random wire until I make my mind up about buying the Loop, just bring the random wire out to the balcony and string it up or throw it over the side of the balcony, I can probably use 40 to 50 feet of wire, see how that works. I really like the look of the Loop antenna and think I will order one very soon. It's a lot of money but if I want to get serious about shortwave listening then you need a good antenna, I know you can have the best radio but if you do not have a antenna that works then your not going to hear anything, I will be listening to Utility frequencies and really look forward to the radio being delivered. Also I am right across the Niagara River from Buffalo NY
Steve

 

[ridgescan]

OK your location isnt bad at all hey the R75 is fun to have-keep it this time(never know when you may actually need a reliable HF radio at your disposal) and brandon mentioned on one of his posts that the Wellbrook is his "primary" HF getter right now. IMO it would be an outstanding companion to your new R75. Then we can enjoy your loggings from your neck of the woods especially since most HF loggers here are western U.S.
PS-from your vantage point you will be getting cool Andrews AFB stuff that we cant here (the jets)

 

[Saint]

Thanks

OK your location isn't bad at all hey the R75 is fun to have-keep it this time(never know when you may actually need a reliable HF radio at your disposal) and brandon mentioned on one of his posts that the Wellbrook is his "primary" HF getter right now. IMO it would be an outstanding companion to your new R75. Then we can enjoy your loggings from your neck of the woods especially since most HF loggers here are western U.S.
PS-from your vantage point you will be getting cool Andrews AFB stuff that we cant here (the jets)

Thanks ridgescan for all your information, you can be sure I won't sell the radio again, . I also have been reading Brandon's posts for a week now with all the other ones it's been really interesting to hear what everyone else is listening to, I will be sending in log's and posts of what I will be able to pick up in my neck of the woods, look forward to being a part of the group of people who pass on frequencies and information for other people, I have been watching other people's logs that are submitted to get a feel of how to do it and I have learned a lot just paying attention to how to do it.
Steve

 

[ridgescan]

Right on Steve-we got to keep SWL alive and well here as it is in the world. I will never get tired of it here anyway.

 

[comsec1]

I just received my wellbrook 1530 and will be testing it. If other users of this antenna could describe their mounting set up such as how far away from buildings, what type of coax and the length and if you use a rotator. I did a brief side by side with my TT paragon connected to a 5BTV and a B&W AC end fed wire and my TT omni-7 connected to the wellbrook. after figuring out the my ICE arrestor was blocking the DC and jumping it there was a noticable difference with the type of noise I was receiving.
The heat was too much today so testing was very limited. next week it should be cooler.

 

[Saint]

Wellbrook loop

I just received my wellbrook 1530 and will be testing it. If other users of this antenna could describe their mounting set up such as how far away from buildings, what type of coax and the length and if you use a rotator. I did a brief side by side with my TT paragon connected to a 5BTV and a B&W AC end fed wire and my TT omni-7 connected to the wellbrook. after figuring out the my ICE arrestor was blocking the DC and jumping it there was a noticable difference with the type of noise I was receiving.
The heat was too much today so testing was very limited. next week it should be cooler.

Look forward to your testing and thoughts on the new antenna, I was just wondering if there are any hidded cost for shipping, I live in Canada and was wondering if when It is ship to my door if I am going to have to pay any other costs.
Steve

 

[Turbo68]

This is how i mounted my Wellbrook-ALA1530 Active Loop its around 6 metres high & around 5 metres away from the radio room using belden-9913 coax cable and a Stridsberg passive 2 port multicoupler results have been excellent monitoring hf aero/utilities using an Icom-R75/Palstar-R30A will be adding a rotator in future.


Regards Lino.