Question About Long wire Antenna

[LtDoc]

I think that if it were me I would start with just the longest run of wire I could manage. At the very least it would give you something to make comparisons with, and would probably work 'fine' (you'll always wish it were 'better').
If you're just listening you shouldn't need a tuner, receivers are just not that 'picky' about matching impedances. I also don't see much benefit in that MFJ antenna for just listening. For transmitting, sure, a tuner and that antenna makes multibands possible.
Another beneficial thingy is antenna height. The higher the better to some absolutely ridiculous degree. You have to do what's practical for you though.
Good luck.
- 'Doc

 

[ay00]

That's one thing that I liked about the MFJ is that if I get my license, I'm already half way there with a nice antenna. All the same, is there any law that says the wire needs to be laid out in a straight line? Could I zigzag or loop to save space? I saw a link for a 'star loop' dipole but I can't seem to find it anymore. I also have a friend who said years ago he was able to take a 1/4 wavelength worth of bare wire, wound it in a spiral which was able to "shorten" the wire substantially and had success that way. I'm not sure if he's just blowing smoke though.

 

[LtDoc]

Antennas do not have to be in any specific/particular shape. They usually work better if they are, but there's some 'fudge' in it to some extent. Zig-zagging a wire antenna can be done if it isn't taken to extremes. I don't know how to tell you what that 'extreme' is, sorry.
Winding an antenna into a coil or spiral is one way of shotening an antenna. It's called 'loading' which means a part of it is a coil of wire instead of just a straight length. There's no -direct- correspondences in the amount of wire is needed to make the 'right' sized coil, but there is a formula for making coils. It means knowing what inductance is and how it works, and that's not exactly simple by any means. That shortened antenna does have benefits, but it also has draw-backs. Very roughly, the more you shorten the physical length of an antenna the more you 'shorten' it's performance. There's mo 'magic' solutions to that, no 'magic' antennas. Antenna length is frequency dependent, no way around it. The higher the frequency the shorter the antenna. There's some slight 'fudge' in that, but not all that much. So your friend may have been a little 'foggy' but not really blowing smoke, sort of.
- 'Doc