DIY safe antenna wire length for clip on to portable SW receiver (C Crane CC Skywave)

[KB2GOM]

DSP portable SW radios seem to do well off the whip, and I think the CCrane Skywave has a DSP chip. The RF amp section that fronts a DSP chip is pretty robust, and usually the DSP chip will tune to whatever antenna is being used.

My Grundig G2 (which has a SiLabs DSP chip) works well off the whip. Sometimes, I have to shorten the whip to maximize reception. Often, when I clip my 25 ft. indoor wire to it, it just increases the noise level.

I've found the "auxiliary wire" antenna works well with the Skywave SSB, but when I am using that, I am mainly trying to listen to hams or utilities on sideband. As I think about it, I haven't really used the aux wire to listen to shortwave broadcasts. Either I can hear them on the whip or I can't.

 

[GKLdiy88]

The FT-60 is a great little HT. I do use it on my club repeater, as well as monitor analog fire and PD frequencies.

Good to hear, while I might consider getting a base station later on, it's good to have a portable unit, especially one that I have read a lot of good reviews about !

DSP portable SW radios seem to do well off the whip, and I think the CCrane Skywave has a DSP chip. The RF amp section that fronts a DSP chip is pretty robust, and usually the DSP chip will tune to whatever antenna is being used.

My Grundig G2 (which has a SiLabs DSP chip) works well off the whip. Sometimes, I have to shorten the whip to maximize reception. Often, when I clip my 25 ft. indoor wire to it, it just increases the noise level.

That seems to have been my experience so far also, not saying there might not be times when clipping the long wire won't help with some stations, but the whip antenna by itself does indeed do pretty good by itself. I'll have to try shortening the whip occasionally to see if I have a station that helps with, interesting and good to know, thanks !

 

[GKLdiy88]

I've found the "auxiliary wire" antenna works well with the Skywave SSB, but when I am using that, I am mainly trying to listen to hams or utilities on sideband. As I think about it, I haven't really used the aux wire to listen to shortwave broadcasts. Either I can hear them on the whip or I can't.

Since I have the non-SSB Skywave I use my FT-60R HT to listen to hams and the Skywave for shortwave and the air band, it would be interesting to know if anyone with a portable shortwave that uses a whip antenna has had many instances where adding the extra wire makes a difference with some shortwave stations.

 

[w2xq]

After reading all the comments, I winder if you are overthinking the wire antenna for your portable. Aside from your statement about your rural location, I don't have enough information to suggest the "best" length of a wire.

For example, what area of (I assume) the lower 48 do you live in?

Here in NJ, the signal strength of the nighttime skywave signals from Sackville overload my lesser receivers with spurious signals appearing around 5 MHz. Adding a wire antenna makes things worse. Some daytime signals, notably from WWCR, a skywave hop away can also appear in strange places on the dial.

If you are in the SE USA, the Cuban could pound the receiver day or night.

If you are in the Midwest or the Rockies, very likely stromg SWBC signals won't as much of a problem... and a longer-than-usual wire might help.

A really local AM or FM transmitter, even on lower power, with an attached wire to your portable, may cause some strange signals to appear. Just be aware.

All of this isn't meant to discourage you but just to make you aware that rural locations are not all equal. Experiment.

You already know the *general* rule of a shorter wire rather than longer on a portable and the advice of static prevention. And you obviously know higher and out in the clear is better than a few feet off the ground around the top of the backyard fence. The short wire length won't exhibit directivity; I wouldn't worry about ihe orientation.

One thing you might consider is making the wire vertical, rather than horizontal, by anchoring it to a tree branch. Whether sloping or fully vertical, again nothing critical, but it might prove a bit better for nighttime reception. Low-angle signals and all that stuff...

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[GKLdiy88]

After reading all the comments, I winder if you are overthinking the wire antenna for your portable. Aside from your statement about your rural location, I don't have enough information to suggest the "best" length of a wire.

For example, what area of (I assume) the lower 48 do you live in?

Here in NJ, the signal strength of the nighttime skywave signals from Sackville overload my lesser receivers with spurious signals appearing around 5 MHz. Adding a wire antenna makes things worse. Some daytime signals, notably from WWCR, a skywave hop away can also appear in strange places on the dial.

If you are in the SE USA, the Cuban could pound the receiver day or night.

If you are in the Midwest or the Rockies, very likely stromg SWBC signals won't as much of a problem... and a longer-than-usual wire might help.

A really local AM or FM transmitter, even on lower power, with an attached wire to your portable, may cause some strange signals to appear. Just be aware.

All of this isn't meant to discourage you but just to make you aware that rural locations are not all equal. Experiment.

You already know the *general* rule of a shorter wire rather than longer on a portable and the advice of static prevention. And you obviously know higher and out in the clear is better than a few feet off the ground around the top of the backyard fence. The short wire length won't exhibit directivity; I wouldn't worry about ihe orientation.

One thing you might consider is making the wire vertical, rather than horizontal, by anchoring it to a tree branch. Whether sloping or fully vertical, again nothing critical, but it might prove a bit better for nighttime reception. Low-angle signals and all that stuff...

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

Thanks, appreciate the ideas, we live in a semi-rural area roughly around the upper middle part of South Carolina. No nearby radio stations I know of, closest might likely be as far as the nearest big city about 25-30 miles away. (but I'm more interested in listening to shortwave and air more often than am/fm anyhow) I'll see about trying the more vertical wire idea later, I've been using much of my free time recently studying for an exam to get my Ham radio license so not spending as much time right now messing around with the radio as before until after I take my exam, want to try to make sure I pass it on the first try

 

[MiCon]

I, too, recently got back into SWL after many years in not listening. I don't know what frequency ranges your receiver covers, but here are a few things I've noticed (I live in southern CA):
Tune in the WWV time tone (Boulder, CO) on 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 khz at different times of the day or night. This will give you an idea of how the reception is at different times of the day in different areas of the band. You might occasionally hear WWVH (Hawaii) on any of these frequencies also.

For International Broadcast I've found many stations concentrated in the following areas: 5800~6400khz; 7300~7600khz; 9000~10000khz; 11600~12200khz; 13600~14000khz; 15100~16000khz.

When I started SWLing 50 years ago, even foreign stations ID'ed in English. Not so much anymore, so it's hard to ID who you're listening to.

Although there is still an abundance of SW broadcasts, as others have mentioned, many broadcasters have switched to streaming or satellite transmissions.

I'm using a Realistic DX-440 portable receiver that has an internal core antenna, an external whip, and an RCA jack for an external antenna plug-in. For the external plug-in, I'm using a short vertical antenna in the attic with a coax feed to the radio. It does make a difference. If you have a core antenna inside the radio, keep in mind that it's directional. Turning the radio might make a difference in reception for any given station.

If your receiver tunes the AM broadcast band (medium wave) 530~1700khz, you might find it interesting to tune around there at night. Occasionally I'll pick up stations in Texas and Iowa, but on a regular basis I can hear certain stations in Washington, CO, and New Mexico, and places in-between.

And if you're interested in aviation comms, try the HF trans-oceanic freqs.

Welcome back to the SW world, and good luck on your test.

<>< Mike

 

[KB2GOM]

Whatever you do with your antenna, do not EVER place it where, if the antenna support fails, it could come in contact with a power line, or -- if the powerline fails -- it could come in contact with your antenna. In addition, disconnect your antenna when lightning threatens.

 

[GKLdiy88]

I, too, recently got back into SWL after many years in not listening. I don't know what frequency ranges your receiver covers, but here are a few things I've noticed (I live in southern CA):
Tune in the WWV time tone (Boulder, CO) on 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 khz at different times of the day or night. This will give you an idea of how the reception is at different times of the day in different areas of the band. You might occasionally hear WWVH (Hawaii) on any of these frequencies also.

For International Broadcast I've found many stations concentrated in the following areas: 5800~6400khz; 7300~7600khz; 9000~10000khz; 11600~12200khz; 13600~14000khz; 15100~16000khz.

When I started SWLing 50 years ago, even foreign stations ID'ed in English. Not so much anymore, so it's hard to ID who you're listening to.

Although there is still an abundance of SW broadcasts, as others have mentioned, many broadcasters have switched to streaming or satellite transmissions.

I'm using a Realistic DX-440 portable receiver that has an internal core antenna, an external whip, and an RCA jack for an external antenna plug-in. For the external plug-in, I'm using a short vertical antenna in the attic with a coax feed to the radio. It does make a difference. If you have a core antenna inside the radio, keep in mind that it's directional. Turning the radio might make a difference in reception for any given station.

If your receiver tunes the AM broadcast band (medium wave) 530~1700khz, you might find it interesting to tune around there at night. Occasionally I'll pick up stations in Texas and Iowa, but on a regular basis I can hear certain stations in Washington, CO, and New Mexico, and places in-between.

And if you're interested in aviation comms, try the HF trans-oceanic freqs.

Welcome back to the SW world, and good luck on your test.

<>< Mike

Thanks for the frequency ideas !

I'm using a Skywave, this product page gives the details as to what it has - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QMTI6YK/

The whip antenna seems to work pretty good by itself, even inside the house !

Welcome back to SWL also, I'll have more time for SW listening again after I pass my ham radio test, been studying for that so I can use ham as well as listen to shortwave !

 

[GKLdiy88]

Whatever you do with your antenna, do not EVER place it where, if the antenna support fails, it could come in contact with a power line, or -- if the powerline fails -- it could come in contact with your antenna. In addition, disconnect your antenna when lightning threatens.

Very good point, thanks, I am aware to watch for that, but still appreciate the reminder and it might help remind others also ! (same caution goes for if someone is moving a tall aluminum ladder around their property to also watch the ladder does not bump against any power lines)