Low Noise Antenna Connection

[KT4HX]

I ran across this interesting article while researching low noise antennas. Since I live in a very noisy hf environment, I am thinking about giving this a try. Wondered if anyone else has read this and tried it. Curious what others think of the principles involved as well.

[/url]http://www.anarc.org/naswa/badx/antennas/low-noise_antenna.html

 

[flyingwolf]

There is an old saying. You get what you pay for.

And standard TV cable for an antenna is not a good idea. I dont know if this would work. The priciples involved are sound (to a point) but give it a try and see for yourself. The cost of parts should be less than 10 bucks.

I am sure others much more versed on this subject will chime in.

Once again. I am no antena expert by any strectch of the imagination.

 

[KT4HX]

Well yes, there is that saying, but that doesn't mean that an antenna has to be expensive to work. Many people have come up with low cost solutions to both shortwave receive only and ham transmit antennas. As for not using, tv cable, I guess that is a matter of opinion and applicaton. Obviously, you could substitute any coax you desire for the buried run. While more expensive, you would be ahead of the game noise-wise with better quality coax. What drew my attention to it was that it was authored by someone from MIT - hopefully by an individual with the knowledge and background to devise a workable solution to the noise problem. You are correct in that given the relative inexpensive nature of it, it certainly is worth a try. Wouldn't take long to do, and if it works great, and if it doesn't you haven't wasted a lot of money nor time. Something to think about for this spring. Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate all comments.

 

[N_Jay]

I ran across this interesting article while researching low noise antennas. Since I live in a very noisy hf environment, I am thinking about giving this a try. Wondered if anyone else has read this and tried it. Curious what others think of the principles involved as well.

http://www.anarc.org/naswa/badx/antennas/low-noise_antenna.html

1) fixed the link

2) The issue he is addressing in the noise picked up by the transmission line system.

It is hard to say whether this would be of any benifit unless you know that local transmission line and ground noise is your problem.

Receiveing an RF signal can be affected by many different issues. It is best you understand the particular issue that is affecting your reception before trying to fix the overall reception problem.

 

[KT4HX]

Well in my case, at one point I had a ground mounted vertical, with the usual radials, grounded at the base, with RG-214 into the house, and the rig grounded. I had a constant s-8 noise level pretty much across the spectrum. In this case I was able to transmit fine, but had a hard time hearing stations coming back unless they were at or above my noise floor. I have since kinda slacked off on ham radio, but would like to quiet down my environment to use with my R8A. Based on what I was experiencing I was under the impression that I was getting a lot of ground noise. I know that my neighborhood has buried power lines, cable tv lines, phone lines, much like a lot of people's. So I thought maybe this would be worth a try to see if I could quiet down things for my receiver. Thanks for your input and for fixing the link.

 

[N_Jay]

Well in my case, at one point I had a ground mounted vertical, with the usual radials, grounded at the base, with RG-214 into the house, and the rig grounded. I had a constant s-8 noise level pretty much across the spectrum. In this case I was able to transmit fine, but had a hard time hearing stations coming back unless they were at or above my noise floor. I have since kinda slacked off on ham radio, but would like to quiet down my environment to use with my R8A. Based on what I was experiencing I was under the impression that I was getting a lot of ground noise. I know that my neighborhood has buried power lines, cable tv lines, phone lines, much like a lot of people's. So I thought maybe this would be worth a try to see if I could quiet down things for my receiver. Thanks for your input and for fixing the link.

If the noise is in the ground in the area of your antenna you may need to use something other than a ground mounted vertical.

The sugestions in the link (other than moving the antenna to a lower noise location) would not help. If the noise is caused by a ground differetial between your house and the antenna base, then it might help.

You might try sniffing for the source of the noise.