Broadband receive-only vertical for shortwave listening?

[KB2GOM]

Is there such a thing?

I know of the Comet CHA-250 and I have seen -- on this forum -- folks who claim that the Imax 2000 CB antenna works pretty well as an SWL antenna. I'm certainly open to other suggestions.

 

[ka3jjz]

Are you talking full sized verticals or E Field active antennas? Both are verticals, but are quite different in their characteristics.

Remember as a general rule, verticals are more sensitive to noise, so if you're in an urban area, this might not be the best choice....

Mike

 

[KB2GOM]

Are you talking full sized verticals or E Field active antennas? Both are verticals, but are quite different in their characteristics.

Remember as a general rule, verticals are more sensitive to noise, so if you're in an urban area, this might not be the best choice....

Mike

Mike,

Basically, I am looking for something quick and easy that I can attach to the deck railing (no radials or guy wires) that will outperform the "horizontal room loop" -- a 50- foot wire that I have run around the ceiling of our sun room. Maybe I'm looking for a unicorn?

Cheers, Jock

 

[popnokick]

Eagle One vertical antenna. As you read the reviews on eHam you can ignore the reported SWR readings as you will be using it only for receiving. I'm using mine with a tuner and it is a very good general coverage HF vertical. For transmitting, it is best on 40 and 15M, but it receives very well everywhere.
https://www.eham.net/reviews/view-product?id=8094

 

[ka3jjz]

I think you know what kind of antenna I'd recommend in your situation (heh), but since you asked about verticals....

See this section from our wiki

HF Antennas - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Mike

 

[morfis]

You could try the wire outside. Very easy to hide wire on/under/around decking. Loop/loops/L-shape, up and down the rail supports. Lots of scope for experimentation before you start spending on verticals (I've never found a CB antenna made a better scanning antenna than a random length of wire but hey...much of the fun in radio is experimentation!)

 

[ka3jjz]

Actually morfis you reminded me about an article using that very idea from SWLing.com...

Guest Post: KK5JY’s Porch Loop Receiving Antenna

Many thanks to Matt Roberts (KK5JY) who has kindly given me permission to re-post the following article he recently published on his website KK5JY.net. Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Grayh…

swling.com

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

And something somewhat similar, also from SWLing.com...

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

Mike

 

[KB2GOM]

I think you know what kind of antenna I'd recommend in your situation (heh), but since you asked about verticals....

See this section from our wiki

HF Antennas - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Mike

Mike,

I noticed this statement from you: " Personally I think you'd be far and away better off by winding some very thin clear speaker wire around the perimeter of your balcony a few times (how big is the balcony?) and feeding that to a 9:1 transformer, (such as those sold by WinRadio and Palomar Engineers) with a bit of coax. " (It was from this post: Apex Radio 303WA-2 Antenna )

The phrase "a few times" raises the question: do you think running another loop around the ceiling of the sun room would make any difference? It would give me around 100 feet of wire (roughly).

If I recall correctly, you would recommend a loop, like a Wellbrook or similar for my situation. Some folks have made really thoughtful suggestions for a long wire antenna. My next door neighbor is a ham with a tower, big beam, and wires for some of the lower bands, and I raised the issue of maybe running a wire from my roof to his pine trees. He pointed out that he runs some significant power sometimes and he was concerned that pointing my wire in his direction would increase the likelihood of him interfering with me.

Incidentally, I did try running 50 feet of wire along the outside of the house and the perimeter of the deck, and the performance seemed to be the same as the horizontal room loop (using time stations and watching the S meter).

So it looks like a loop or vertical attached to the deck, or sticking with the room loop, might be the best bet.

In the meantime, I am experimenting with a BHI in-line noise reduction module, and it actually seems to work. More about that later.

-- Jock

 

[ka3jjz]

You might have surmised this already by looking at your neighbor's setup, but getting the antenna - any antenna - away from the home and all of the noise sources is going to give you the biggest bang for your buck insofar as signal quality is concerned. Just increasing the length of an indoor antenna will likely only give you marginally better signals.

You evidently aren't cursed with a HOA or antenna restrictions, so why not take advantage of that fact? Depending on how much space, and how many trees, you have to work with, you could put something outside, away from the home, and be far better off, whether you get a loop or keep with a wire antenna design, of which there are so many....our wiki just touches on a few possibilities.

A lot of folks start off with the Vibroplex PAR end-fed; it has a number of things you can experiment with, including replacing the stock 45 foot of wire with a longer length.

This depends to some extent on the radio(s) you are using - I would hesitate to put something long on a RTL-SDR v3, but with a decent desktop, a longer antenna isn't going to be as much of an issue, depending on your local RF environs, of course....Mike

 

[WA8ZTZ]

The Apex 303WA-2 vertical (if you can find one) would be the perfect solution for your "quick and easy" deck rail installation.
The Apex does a good job on LW through HF but in a side by side comparison is usually out performed by a 50' wire antenna
when chasing weak signals.

 

[merlin]

Well, yes there is. Common is a 33 foot end fed vertical. You will need an UNUN and tuner to give gain on frequencies, but consider they need little real estate and no radials. Just a good ground at the feed end.
If you are looking for smaller, the active mini whip works, but the lack of ground they are a bit noisier than the UNUN fed that has a DC ground.
My vertical is the Sigma SE-HF-X80 from Eurocom, works very good from 1Mhz to 50 Mhz.

 

[merlin]

Before I forget, I did go the trouble of a hidden loop around the top of the building.
From the feed at the center, guess 90 foot each leg brought end to end. that terminated with a 2 watt 1000 ohm resistor. the feed, a 9:1 balun fed with LMR600 coax.
I pick up a bit of noise from electrical wiring where the vertical lacks this. Only a slight edge on weak signals.

 

[MUTNAV]

Would you consider something like this?

Thanks
Joel

 

[GlobalNorth]

I had pretty good reception years ago by running wire around the perimeter of my then-back yard about 4 to 6 inches off the ground mounted on surveyor's stakes I found, going into my ICOM - R71.