Question about the antenna on the Eton, is the antenna input jack for HiZ or 50ohm input?
Eton Executive Elite Question
- Thread starter shirsch101
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Mine works fine with a Loop on Ground with or without a 9:1 balun. A high impedance antenna will likely give little improvement over the built-in whip. If you want to go with an active loop like an MLA-30+, some in-line attenuators will help fight overload on strong signals. A random long wire fed against ground works well with the E³ as well.
So you are using a HiZ and LoZ antenna plugged into the antenna jack
No, just long (200') loops on ground, or an active loop in the air. The input jack on the E³ seems to be tolerant of impedance, it just likes the extra signal from wire. Even a CB vertical antenna works well with it.
Impedance generally isn't an issue with a recieve only antenna. Receivers just want more signal.
Now if you want to key up a transmitter, you might want to be cognizant of impedance. For listening, just get as much metal attached as you can.
Now if you want to key up a transmitter, you might want to be cognizant of impedance. For listening, just get as much metal attached as you can.
Are you saying that a long wire with a 3.5mm can be laid on the ground and doesn’t have to be elevated off the ground?
Yes. You can do a Dipole on Ground or a Loop on Ground. A roll of speaker wire works just fine. A 9:1 balun like the one from Nooelec helps a bit, but isn't absolutely necessary. Makes a great camping or quick-deployable stealth antenna for nosy HOAs.
I prefer a loop just to help cancel some noise. It has good S/N ratio and works great so long as there's no ongoing geomagnetic storm.
I prefer a loop just to help cancel some noise. It has good S/N ratio and works great so long as there's no ongoing geomagnetic storm.
What do you mean by a loop on the ground
Exactly that. A continuous loop of wire laid on the ground. For speaker wire, simply split the far end of the wire, connecting the two ends. Spread it out as evenly as possible, and connect the close end to a wire terminal x mono 3.5mm plug. They can be tuned to a specific band for weak signal work, but for general listening, more wire is better.
Thanks
Interesting. Antenna construction articles almost always advise getting an antenna up as high as possible, but I'm not surprised at all that this works well.
Back in the late 80's, my uncle gave me an ancient Hallicrafters S-40A as a Confirmation gift, along with a small roll of insulated hook-up wire. I just ran the wire around the floor in my room and was listening to the world.
Last question is the 3.5mm plug is stereo or a Mono plug
Mono. Amazon has wire terminal adapters that go to a 3.5 mm mono plug for a good price.
Thanks
Good info. What gauge speaker wire would you suggest for this type of run?
Whatever is cheapest and quickest to get. It doesn't need to be a heavy gauge since no transmitter power is going into it. If you want it portable for camping or travel, smaller is definitely better.
Back in the 90s when we'd head down to Bolivar for fishing and DXing, we'd set up all sorts of antennas, including a portable mast and base. I had an extension cord spool with 500' of speaker wire on it. A 1000' loop laid down by the wet line on the beach pulls in some amazing DX. A 25-50' spool works great in the woods, and you can suspend it in the air with some planning and creativity.
So you separate the far end all the way back to the beginning after twisting the far ends together.Or separate it just enough to twist th far end together?
Also at the beginning end just connect 1 conductor to 3.5mm plug and leave the other conductor alone?
Also at the beginning end just connect 1 conductor to 3.5mm plug and leave the other conductor alone?
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They work surprisingly well for basically throwing some wire on the ground. They can be deaf on some strongly vertical polarized signals, but usually catch a lot of stuff. The drawback is that once Kp gets over 4 or so, they pick up all of the geomagnetic noise. I find that they're better during electrical storms; you still get the lightning crashes, but better S/N.
Back when 300 ohm twin-lead was cheap and available, i used that to make indoor/portable loops that could lie along the baseboards or be tacked up near the ceiling. My old Philips SW portable has screw terminals made for twin-lead and did a lot of hotel room DXing over the years.
