Receive only antenna for HF

[W4BSR]

Having returned from my first Field Day, I see how a receive only antenna can be used with multiple rigs running in a small area. So, what can it do for me at home with just one rig at a time? Is there a benefit to having a dedicated multi-band/ long wire, etc. for receiving only? (Thanks in advance!)73

 

[AK9R]

The answer, like a lot of things in amateur radio, is "it depends".

A friend is big into 160m DXing. Building effective 160m antennas is a challenge due to their size. He used to have a top-loaded vertical that he used for transmitting, with 1500 watts, on 160m. But, in order to receive weak stations on that band, he built a "Beverage on ground" (BoG) antenna just for receiving. His radio was set up so that he received using the BoG, but when he transmitted, his radio switched to his vertical. Beverage On Ground! – N5ZY

 

[Skypilot007]

A lot of rigs have a receive only antenna port. Check your rig for that and if you decide to make one and use it you should be able to configure the rig to receive with the receive only antenna and transmit on the other antenna.

 

[merlin]

That can be anything like from a 35 foot piece of wire to a full T3FD or full wave Rhombic.
Mag loops do well for their compact size.
There is a lot of good reading about HF RX antennas on SWLing dot com.
Much depends on the coverage you want, my main HF RX antenna is 84 foot end fed wire with autotuner and can transmit up to 150 watts.
Does well but 160 meters is not the best of performance. Above 2 MHz to 60 MHz, I cant complain.

 

[Token]

The answer, like a lot of things in amateur radio, is "it depends".

A friend is big into 160m DXing. Building effective 160m antennas is a challenge due to their size. He used to have a top-loaded vertical that he used for transmitting, with 1500 watts, on 160m. But, in order to receive weak stations on that band, he built a "Beverage on ground" (BoG) antenna just for receiving. His radio was set up so that he received using the BoG, but when he transmitted, his radio switched to his vertical. Beverage On Ground! – N5ZY

I have done something similar, also on 160 M. In my case I use primarily two transmit antennas on 160, a full size inverted V or a full sized sky loop, and while those two antennas are great on receive, having more options is very nice. I often use either a Beverage or a mag loop on receive. The mag loop gives me a steerable directionality that would have been hard to achieve on 160 by other means. I used this receive directionality less to peak signals, and more to null offending signals, including noise sources.

T!

 

[jwt873]

I'm curious as to what they used for a receive antenna at your field day... How did it outperform the TX antennas, and how did they connect it to multiple radios at once?

FWIW, I use a Wellbrook Loop as a receive antenna. It's primarily for receiving signals below 5 MHz. I occasionally DX the Broadcast Band and the NDB aviation beacons. It also works fairly well on the 630 and 2200 meter ham bands.