Moonraker X1 HF Antenna

[IrvingtonVFD43]

Has anyone purchased one of these? How well does it receive, etc.. I am looking to possibly getting one to stick into the attic to replace my longwire antenna.

Moonraker UK Limited 11-510 Moonraker Ltd X1 HF Vertical Receive Antennas | DX Engineering

Free Shipping - Moonraker Ltd X1 HF Vertical Receive Antennas with qualifying orders of $99. Shop HF Receive Antennas at DX Engineering.

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[devicelab]

Don't have one but would bet a lot of money it wouldn't be anything special. It's a compromise antenna. You could probably fashion a similar antenna using a 10ft CB whip and HF tuner for a lot cheaper.

 

[merlin]

Good antenna but like a mobile broadband. Your long wire will work better.
I have been looking at the AOR SA7000 but don't need anything above 60 Mhz.
I took down my SE-HF X80 vertical for a 90 foot long wire.

AOR SA7000 Super Whip Antenna (Receive only) 30kHz ~ 2000MHz Fedex from Japan 4589839882026 | eBay

It is a high-performance antenna that realizes a receiving antenna. In particular, the reception performance of VLF to HF as a wideband antenna is highly evaluated. ☆ One antenna from VLF to UHF band covers most bands / Ideal for installation on a residential balcony / Light weight (1.5kg).

www.ebay.com

 

[devicelab]

Reminds of the APEX antenna. Those are hugely popular in Japan.

Apex Radio 303WA-2 Shortwave antenna. ApexRadio

 

[IrvingtonVFD43]

Good antenna but like a mobile broadband. Your long wire will work better.
I have been looking at the AOR SA7000 but don't need anything above 60 Mhz.
I took down my SE-HF X80 vertical for a 90 foot long wire.

I have also taken a look at the AOR SA7000. I am in the same boat as you, don't need anything above 60. Although I don't do much monitoring above 60mhz, I got a OmniX that handles the Aircraft band and higher, which it does the job well.

The longwire antenna I have is a Alpha Delta sloper, but it's not sloped at a very large angle. It runs around 65ft with a 9:1 bauln and feeds a Icom IC-7100. It does a fairly decent job for being in the attc. Noise is not a real big problem except around 9500-11000mhz reaches upwards of S5. It's somewhere in the neighborhood, never goes away.

 

[devicelab]

Noise is not a real big problem except around 9500-11000mhz reaches upwards of S5. It's somewhere in the neighborhood, never goes away.

It's going to be worse with any kind of vertical antenna.

 

[IrvingtonVFD43]

It's going to be worse with any kind of vertical antenna.

I certainly do not want increased noise! Going through a few older posts in the archives about the Apex 303WA and noise issues with verticals, I may just stick with the longwire. Now only if I could convince my Wife to go outdoors with the antennas!

 

[devicelab]

Nah what you need is this: W6LVP Amplified Receive-Only Magnetic Loop Antenna – With Power Inserter | W6LVP

But yes it's best if used outside. You could even mount it low on top of the roof. A rotator is recommended but not required. (You could rotate it manually and check noise levels. Set it when you find the lowest RFI.)

 

[ka3jjz]

Everyone seems to think that loops should be mounted high off the ground.

Not so, folks

From all the works I've seen, if a loop is mounted no more than 1 loop diameter - roughly 3 foot - off the ground, you will have the ability to null out a station that is interfering with your desired target to roughly 2 Mhz or so. Some say it's no more than 8 foot. The late Joe Carr has an excellent book on these antennas. Besides mounting it low makes it easier to hide from the condo nazis. Above a certain height, (and frequency), skywave propagation takes over and gets increasingly hard to null a station, although you still might be able to get away from local noise.

But first before you do anything, take a battery powered portable around as a crude RF sniffer and see what is giving you the noise issue; There are so many things that are RFI sources that one could write several books on them. Find out where your issues lies first, then we can see if there's something that can be done to eliminate or reduce the issue. Do some homework - literally!

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

Oh by the way we have a massive wiki on loops here, viz.

Loops - The RadioReference Wiki

wiki.radioreference.com

Mike

 

[devicelab]

Everyone seems to think that loops should be mounted high off the ground.

I never implied that. I just said he could install it on low, on top of the roof to keep it stealthy.

 

[ka3jjz]

On top of the roof is stealthy?? HAH! Not likely. Do you remember when OTA TV was the norm and folks had TV antennas on their roofs? Granted, a loop is quite a bit smaller, but it still sticks out like a sore thumb. If you're trying to hide it, as I mentioned in my response, that is the worst possible scenario. And there are sound electrical reasons why you don't want to do this, as I also mentioned

Besides a lot of homes these days the roofs are empty at least in my area. A loop mounted on the roof would also stick out.

Stealthy on a roof? That's a good one...Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

You want stealthy on a roof? With a little work on waterproofing the connections and hiding the balun, this might be the best yet. Lay the wire on the roof (or better a couple of inches off to avoid too much interaction) and the antenna itself would be practically invisible. Or you could put it in your attic to replace the Alpha Delta and see how it works for you

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

Or if you want to stay with wire antennas, one more for the attic, and I know 1 or 2 people here use it that way...

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Go ahead and try to find poor reviews of this antenna. Guaranteed you won't find too many

What is interesting with this antenna that you have what is essentially a balun which can be connected in several different configs depending on your own RF situation. Whatever you put up, go for signal quality not signal strength

Mike

 

[IrvingtonVFD43]

Whatever you put up, go for signal quality not signal strength

Mike

High signal strengths are nice. I have had excellent results with FAX/SSB/SSTV with very low signal strengths as long as the signal quality is good and the noise is low, which can be a struggle for SWL in my area.

I still haven't purchased the Moonraker antenna and it appears it is not going to happen. To save me the headache and the money. I decided to throw out a longwire antenna outside, roughly the same length as what I have the Alpha Delta up in my attic to check for signal quality. The noise level actually increased from right at 9mhz up well into the 10 meter band. I would have figured having a antenna outside would decrease noise, but the total opposite. Even the filters on my 7100 were struggling to clean up the noise. So the attic antenna wins out. I am guessing the roof is acting as some sort of shield form all the noise.

 

[ka3jjz]

This goes back to what I said earlier - Do Some Homework!! Do you have nearby power lines? A defective transformer? Get an el cheapo AM radio and use it as a crude signal sniffer to determine what could be the cause. Whole books have been written on the subject of RFI; it could even be more than one cause for the issue.

The reason the noise is reduced is likely due to the fact that many signals are attenuated when it has to deal with indoor environs. This is one of the primary reasons why outdoor antennas are better. A lot of factors come into play here...the construction of the home, the roof having metal in the shingles, etc.

Loops are more resistant to noise, but before you go any further, you know what I'm going to say....

Do Some Homework!!

Mike

 

[merlin]

I have also taken a look at the AOR SA7000. I am in the same boat as you, don't need anything above 60. Although I don't do much monitoring above 60mhz, I got a OmniX that handles the Aircraft band and higher, which it does the job well.

The longwire antenna I have is a Alpha Delta sloper, but it's not sloped at a very large angle. It runs around 65ft with a 9:1 bauln and feeds a Icom IC-7100. It does a fairly decent job for being in the attc. Noise is not a real big problem except around 9500-11000mhz reaches upwards of S5. It's somewhere in the neighborhood, never goes away.

Yea, I get the same performance but 10 meters is hurting a bit.

 

[merlin]

You want stealthy on a roof? With a little work on waterproofing the connections and hiding the balun, this might be the best yet. Lay the wire on the roof (or better a couple of inches off to avoid too much interaction) and the antenna itself would be practically invisible. Or you could put it in your attic to replace the Alpha Delta and see how it works for you

Mike

A friend uses that antenna, surprising performance from 160 to 6 meters. You would never know it was there unless pointed out.
Even strapped to rain gutters don't seem to affect it.