Apartment Ant. ? (receive only)

[BOBRR]

Hi,

Do receiving only.

For an apartment setup, and not desiring to use a loop, is there any
agreed upon "best" ant for <30 MHz ?

Or, a wire out the window is still the best solution ?
Horiz. only, or still effective if it droops down from sill ?

What about if i has to be totally inside ?

Comments on pros and cons, caveats, etc., would be apprecited.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[bearcatrp]

Look around this forum. Someone talked about a wire around the room. Endfed off the balcony would work.

 

[ka3jjz]

Something out and away from the home is usually best. Get away from all the noise sources.

I've seen folks use a Slinky attached to a fishing pole; I really dislike a wire hanging down from a sill for safety reasons. If that wire starts flying around in the wind, you have a whip that could hurt someone if they get hit by it. Never mind the possibility of touching a power or telephone line....

If you have a porch or balcony you could hide a wire wrapped around it. Use clear speaker wire and it would be almost invisible to the naked eye. Here are a couple of ideas...

Balcony antenna - SWLing Post Message Board

Build an affordable (but stealthy) Magnet Wire Vertical Loop antenna to mitigate condo QRM

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, TomL, who shares the following guest post: Magnet Wire Vertical Loop Antenna by TomL For those of you in a noisy condo like me, the environment does not give…

swling.com

but really a loop is about as good as you're going to get for an indoor antenna. I know you don't want to hear that but it's true.

Mike

 

[rf_patriot200]

Hi,

Do receiving only.

For an apartment setup, and not desiring to use a loop, is there any
agreed upon "best" ant for <30 MHz ?

Or, a wire out the window is still the best solution ?
Horiz. only, or still effective if it droops down from sill ?

What about if i has to be totally inside ?

Comments on pros and cons, caveats, etc., would be apprecited.

Thanks,
Bob

I tried the wire suspended from my sill, and it was satisfactory, until a Neighbor decided to tug on it !! That was the end of that...

 

[MUTNAV]

Some people apparently use cardboard tubing (from a large carpet) as a form for winding a helix around. Then they stick it in the corner of a room.

Or you could try an active whip antenna.

All of these may suffer from noise issues. The only solution I know to that is a loop, or even better, a static shielded amplified loop antenna.

What kind of radio are you thinking of using it with? and are there any other issues (nearby noise sources in one specific direction) etc...? A modern small portable wouldn't need much and may benefit from a slightly more unusual antenna.
Thanks
Joel

 

[BOBRR]

Hi all,

Thanks for thoughts.
Much appreciated

What is an "active whip" antenna ?
(sources for: Amazon ?)

Regards,
Bob

 

[ka3jjz]

Active whip antennas are terrible in an indoor environment. Huge noise magnets. They work as an outdoor antenna, but they require some work to mount properly (altho it has to be said that a few have just slapped them up and they work)....

The cardboard tube antenna is something I used for many years. It works but, as all indoor antennas are, it's a compromise. Here is a description on how to build one....

The McGyver(tm) special - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Mike

 

[vagrant]

@BOBRR - An active whip antenna will require a power source for the inline amplifier. This may introduce too much gain. As previously noted, those can work best outdoors away from RFI sources. Alternatively, there are passive antennas without an amplifier.

Alternatively, I often use a preselector inline on the coax between the radio and antenna. The one I favor is passive. You would adjust the frequency on the preselector to mirror the frequency on your receiver. Perhaps try the following below first. You may not need, nor want to deal with tuning a preselector as well.

A possible cost effective setup could be:
Some wire as the antenna - 9:1 balun - coax - AM broadcast filter - jumper coax or direct to receiver

AM filter

https://www.amazon.com/Flamingo-AM-Broadcast-Bandstop-Applications/dp/B079CMB44V/ref=sr_1_2?crid=22PHGQUOXKFPV&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.WFNyDDK1JdkJbY5MDZ9VxOfLJq_kX2LzeO3skj5FCuY.2E1sUV3ybVeShIdLC8mdJHPozEm--Yt6gL6G_FLsD8U&dib_tag=se&keywords=Flamingo+am+filter&qid=1726758562&sprefix=flamingo+am+filter%2Caps%2C200&sr=8-2

Preselector info

Improving HF Reception - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

 

[MUTNAV]

I think a lot will depend on the OP's situation.

What is the noise environment and what kind of radio is being used... If I understand it right, modern high quality portables don't need much of a wire connected, and if noise is a problem, then, as said, a pre-selector or tuned antenna might be most helpful.

There are some good ideas if noise is from a specific direction also (developed by US information agency) for people in communist countries to be able to receive signals despite jamming.

Thanks
Joel

 

[MUTNAV]

This is a variation of the cardboard tube antenna.

Broomstick Special, easy-to-build shortwave antenna -- on hard-core-dx.com

Aha, I just saw where you got the Mcgyver (TM) special from

Anyone know where the anti-jam tabletop antenna is?

Thanks
Joel

Thanks
Joel

 

[ka3jjz]

Hi all,

Thanks for thoughts.
Much appreciated

What is an "active whip" antenna ?
(sources for: Amazon ?)

Regards,
Bob

Just to fill in the knowledge gap...here is an example of one

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/2255800749434769.html?gatewayAdapt=glo2usa4itemAdapt

There are literally dozens of knock offs based on this design (I believe the ham who developed it is Dutch) and in fact the University of Twente web receiver uses one much like this one. In your environment, it would not work well at all

Mike

 

[Omega-TI]

One possible solution I used as a 9 year old kid that worked really well...

I ran a small wire out of my window after drilling a small hole in the side of the downspout and attached it with a sheet metal screw. The folks never seemed to notice. OMG, that worked FANTASTIC. I was really sad when we moved, but got over it when I got a real dipole antenna, but I swear it didn't work as well as the downspout, probably because it ended up using the gutter over the whole length of the house.