My First SW Radio and Antenna. A Couple of Questions. (Photos)

[scloyd]

Scott we are really down the rabbit hole now, aren't we?

Obviously I can't help you out, but I am curious to see your setup when it is all said and done. Are you still going to run this up your tree? Or in your secret attic room?

Rabbit hole.....no kidding, thanks for getting me hooked. I wish I would of started SWLing when I was younger.

I decided against the "secret" attic room. I ran the new antenna exactly were I had the speaker wire, from the house to the garage. Today, I experiment with grounding.

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Scott,

My suggestion would be to tie off the matchbox to the white insulator form the end opposite from what you
show in the pic. That way the antenna would feed straight off of the matchbox without the 90 degree bend and associated
strain on the terminal. You also should consider lightning protection along with your grounding.

 

[popnokick]

I had to look hard, but now I do see the antenna wire in your pic. Hopefully it's going to be attached to something much higher in the air (unless this pic and attached insulator are already near the top of the house / roof height)??

 

[scloyd]

Scott,

My suggestion would be to tie off the matchbox to the white insulator form the end opposite from what you
show in the pic. That way the antenna would feed straight off of the matchbox without the 90 degree bend and associated
strain on the terminal. You also should consider lightning protection along with your grounding.

There is only one mounting hole on the matchbox. I was able to turn it a bit and straighten the antenna terminal. Next time I'm up on the ladder I'll see what I can do.
Here's a photo from today.


The way I have it wired/grounded seems to be the best reception for now. I'll check it again tonight when I listen.
The top terminal (1) is the antenna feed.
The middle terminal (2) is wired to the ground rod.
The bottom terminal (3) is connected to the ground on the back of the radio.
And I removed the wire jumper between 2&3.

Any suggestions or suggested reading about lightning protection?

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[scloyd]

I had to look hard, but now I do see the antenna wire in your pic. Hopefully it's going to be attached to something much higher in the air (unless this pic and attached insulator are already near the top of the house / roof height)??

The antenna wire runs from the second floor window to the peak of my garage. It's about 14' above ground. I was thinking of mounting it to the chimney which is easy to get to. I can walk up the lower roof and then right up the upper roof to the chimney. I've done this several times making repairs to the chimney bricks. That would raise one end to about 25'.

That is an option for the future. Right now, I have enough on my plate with what I'm trying to accomplish now. Ha Ha!

 

[WA8ZTZ]

Houston... we have a problem...
Took a closer look at your pics, the link to the instructions, and both my PER EF-SWL antennas out in the backyard.
It looks as though somehow the antenna wire is attached to the wrong stud on your matchbox. Per the pics in the instructions and how mine
came wired from the factory, the antenna wire should be attached to the stud most separated from the other two. The two studs closest to
each other are for grounding and should have come from the factory with a bare jumper wire connecting them together.
Check out the instruction sheet to confirm this and wire it accordingly.

 

[scloyd]

Houston... we have a problem...
Took a closer look at your pics, the link to the instructions, and both my PER EF-SWL antennas out in the backyard.
It looks as though somehow the antenna wire is attached to the wrong stud on your matchbox. Per the pics in the instructions and how mine
came wired from the factory, the antenna wire should be attached to the stud most separated from the other two. The two studs closest to
each other are for grounding and should have come from the factory with a bare jumper wire connecting them together.
Check out the instruction sheet to confirm this and wire it accordingly.

Your right...nice catch.
This photo is the antenna right out of the box. It is wired wrong.

You can see the bare wire jumper in the wrong place too.

I never would of noticed.
Thank you so much. I'll fix it all tomorrow.

Scott

 

[scloyd]

I couldn't wait...took out the ladder and fixed it. I'll be listening tonight and checking the reception.
Thanks again.

 

[MikeThompson]

Scott, how did everything work out? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[scloyd]

Mike, not so good. I was better off the night before without the new antenna and matchbox. Today, I'm going to work on the grounding....

Now that it's all up and wired I can work on it from the second floor window and I don't have to keep running up & down the stairs and up & down the ladder.

I'll let you know tomorrow how it goes.

 

[MikeThompson]

better off the night before without the new antenna and matchbox

in terms of getting more stations, or getting the stations clearer?

 

[scloyd]

Before the new antenna and matchbox I was getting more stations and more clear. Last night I could only pick up Nashville, Greenville and Radio Marti, that's it. Today I removed the wire to the ground rod and connected a wire from the matchbox to the radio and I was able to pick up Radio Saudi (11820 kHz), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at 20:31 UTC. I had a strong signal with moderate interference. I think that's pretty good in the middle of the afternoon. I will see if I have a better night tonight.

Never owning a shortwave radio and being a newbie....this is not easy. Honestly, it's confusing. This forum sure has helped and I appreciate all of the help I've received.

 

[MikeThompson]

.this is not easy. Honestly, it's confusing. This forum sure has helped and I appreciate all of the help I've received.

Quite right! There is certainly more of a technical aspect to it than some other hobbies of mine. But I feel like with everything there is a learning threshold, where things aren't new and confusing after a while, and that's when things get interesting. I think you are heading right towards that point Scott.

 

[ka3jjz]

A couple of things here -

Make sure that you follow the basic rule of tuning above 10 Mhz during the day, below that at night. Tuning in the lower regions won't be productive as there's too much absorption from the D layer of the ionosphere to propagate very well if at all.

Take a look at this, and make sure you have your Flash player on...it will give you the basics of HF propagation...

Propagation Primer - Flash Movie by AE4RV

AE4RV Propagation Primer - Learn how HF (shortwave) radio signals travel accross the world without satellites. Good for people studying for Amateur Radio Exams or anyone who needs to know how HF radio works. Flash Movie by Geoffrey Noles, AE4RV.

www.ae4rv.com

Don't discard an antenna setup after just a day. Propagation, like lady luck. is very fickle. It can and does change - even if slightly - from day to day. Give it a week or so, tuning at different times.

What to look for? Well mailing lists tend to be much better than a specific website since they can catch changes in a schedule rather quickly. One of the premier ones is the World of Radio reflector at groups.io, run by long time veteran DXer Glenn Hauser. In addition, the SWSKeds reflector at groups.io gathers schedule information from numerous sites and puts it into an Excel readable spreadsheet. He updates this rather frequently. This is an advantage over many websites that use downloadable schedules that only update now and again.

I believe you have the Eton Field- that has a local/DX switch on the side. It appears it should be in the DX position. And NEVER leave the antenna connected during a TStorm. This thread is worth reading for making a simple box that can help (nothing will prevent damage from a hit...) drain off the static

Static drain for outside long wire antenna

Up until now I've used the old tube radios I collect and restore for DXing. I use a 50' outside wire for my antenna. Static (other than lightning) isn't a problem for tube radios. But I decided I wanted to try one of the new portable radios and ordered a Tecsun PL-880, which should arrive in a...

forums.radioreference.com

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

Another place to find up to date tips are Facebook pages such as the Extreme SWL and HF Underground- both of which also list pirate logs. And that's a whole 'nother ball game...if you are thinking that this is as much an information game as an equipment one...

You are right...Mike

 

[scloyd]

Don't discard an antenna setup after just a day. Propagation, like lady luck. is very fickle. It can and does change - even if slightly - from day to day. Give it a week or so, tuning at different times.

That's good to know. I have changed the antenna set-up a couple of times already. Last night's reception was pretty good. I'll leave it for a week or so....then I'll go from there.

I believe you have the Eton Field- that has a local/DX switch on the side. It appears it should be in the DX position.

That is the radio I have and the switch is set at DX.

I will look into those groups and read up on the links.
Thanks for all of the great information and help.

 

[IQ_imbalance]

Second HF underground as a good source of info. Lots of good posts on antenna setups....

Remember that some HF antennas are directional, and that reception shifts from the higher HF frequencies (like 11MHz) down to lower ones (like 5-6MHz) based on atmospheric ionization (which means as the day progresses where you are and the sun goes down you'll start hearing stations from further away on lower frequencies). Also make sure you try to do some listening around twilight...propagation can do some nice things around then.

Beyond that...keep trying different setups and have fun!

 

[scloyd]

Beyond that...keep trying different setups and have fun!

I am having fun. I wish I would of got into this hobby years ago.
Thanks.

 

[scloyd]

*UPDATE* with a couple of questions.
With the Par EndzFed EF-SWL antenna set up everything is pretty good. I've been able to pick up Radio New Zealand, Helliniki Radiophonia (Greece), Radio Exterior De Espana (Spain), Radio Romania International (Romania), the U.S. religious stations, Radio Marti (Miami) and a few others. I'm happy and I'm having fun...that's the main reason for joining in on this hobby.

My set up now is 50' long, 14' above ground from house to garage. My plans are to go 85' long, 14' above ground at the house to 85', 25-30' above ground to a tree. The direction of the antenna will change from E-W to SE-NW.

Here's a drawing:


Will extending the antenna from 50' to 85' and raising the antenna from a straight level 14' to 14' at one end and 25-30' at the other end help with reception and possibly picking up more frequencies? The investment will be small...maybe $30. I'm retired and it would be a fun project. Any thoughts or idea?

I'm new to the hobby and I appreciate everyone's help.

Thanks

 

[ka3jjz]

Well there's good news and bad news. Let's get the bad out of the way first. Depending very much on your local environment (do you have AM, FM or TV stations nearby, for example) the longer length may be enough to overload the radio. Too much RF is not something portables in this class are very happy with. You will likely be fooling around with the RF Gain control and switch to see what works best. If you start hearing distorted AM stations- or stations repeating in places where they don't belong - that's overloading. A better quality radio would laugh at it, but portables are simply not designed to handle this.

The good news? The length will make the antenna perform better going lower in frequency. This will make hearing pirates in the 4000-4200 khz and 5100-5200 khz area easier, assuming thunderstorms and the higher summertime absorption on these frequencies doesn't interfere. There are also a number - not nearly as many as there was, say, 20 years ago- tropical band broadcasters that the higher length will make a bit more possible to hear.

As my old physics professor once told me, Nature doesn't give without taking....Mike