Eton Executive Elite Question

[EAFrizzle]

I like to leave 6-10' unsplit to feed to the radio, then split the rest, connect the far ends and spread it out as much as you can. Connect both ends to the terminal connector, that gives you a complete electrical loop.

Good luck!

 

[shirsch101]

Thanks for answering all of my questions. Still kind of new to this

 

[EAFrizzle]

No problem at all. Let us know how it works for you.

 

[shirsch101]

I laid out 100 ft of speaker 16awg on the ground and not that great of reception. Then split the wire and made a loop twisting the far end together still not great. I elevated 100ft. Of wire about 7 feet average. Much better but can’t leave it that way. So my questions if elevated
How high
Can it sag or does it have to be tight
How. long
Does the wire have to be straight run
Thanks for looking at my stupid questions
Steve

 

[kc2asb]

I don't have any experience with wire antennas that were on the ground, but had good results with just 25 feet of wire or so strung across the yard barely 10 feet off the ground. The idea was just to get as much wire outside as possible. The height was determined by the mounting points I had.

It worked better on some bands than others. Of course, results varied with the propagation conditions on any given day.

I tried another random wire antenna that sloped down from a higher point (30ft) to a 10ft mast and then back to the house. It was probably 50 ft total length. Results were definitely better than the shorter, lower wire.

I would just say that if you can elevate the antenna in a permanent installation, mount it as high as you can. But, spend some time tuning around. See which bands it works better on and make notes. The experimentation is part of the fun of the hobby.

 

[EAFrizzle]

So my questions if elevated
How high
Can it sag or does it have to be tight
How. long
Does the wire have to be straight run
Thanks for looking at my stupid questions
Steve

Not stupid at all. Try any height that you can get on the wire, sagging is OK. If you're using it as a loop, try spreading the wire into different shapes to see if that gives a directional improvement. I have mine laid out in about a 70' x 20' rectangle running E/W longways.

I don't have any experience with wire antennas that were on the ground, but had good results with just 25 feet of wire or so strung across the yard barely 10 feet off the ground. The idea was just to get as much wire outside as possible. The height was determined by the mounting points I had.

It worked better on some bands than others. Of course, results varied with the propagation conditions on any given day.

I tried another random wire antenna that sloped down from a higher point (30ft) to a 10ft mast and then back to the house. It was probably 50 ft total length. Results were definitely better than the shorter, lower wire.

I would just say that if you can elevate the antenna in a permanent installation, mount it as high as you can. But, spend some time tuning around. See which bands it works better on and make notes. The experimentation is part of the fun of the hobby.

👍👍

Propagation is pretty bad the past few days, so that doesn't necessarily mean that the antenna isn't working well. That's part of the experimentation. I have three different antennas to compensate for conditions as best I can; the Loop on Ground for horizontal polarization, a steel whip and a MLA-30+ for vertical polarization. Sometimes they all work well, somedays one is better than the others. Sometimes the signal is such that the fading is different between the antennas, making a swirling effect between the three radios.

Get as creative as you need to to find good reception, but I think right now conditions are just garbage, and not much will do an outstanding job right now.

 

[shirsch101]

If I run a long wire through trees will the reception be blocked?

 

[EAFrizzle]

Not on shortwave frequencies. Just needs to be outside.

 

[shirsch101]

Thanks as usual

 

[kc2asb]

I don't think this was mentioned so far, but ground conductivity would certainly play a role in how well an antenna works. It can explain why some get better results than others when using antennas of the same or similar design.

 

[shirsch101]

Is 20 ft an adequate height

 

[kc2asb]

Is 20 ft an adequate height

20 feet should be fine. A few posts above I mentioned a 25 ft random wire antenna that was no more than 10 ft off the ground. Reception was fairly good on many of the SW broadcast bands.

Give it a try, but use it for a while before making any changes. If reception seems poor, it could just be propagation. Also, make notes about reception quality on each band you use it on.

 

[shirsch101]

What about direction

 

[kc2asb]

The broadside of the wire antenna I mentioned above faced east and west. The direction was dictated by the mounting points I was dealing with, the main one being the house. It worked well for stations coming from Europe, and was decent for signals coming from Asia. I'm on the East Coast.