I use a 60' random wire, and I also built a helically wound
"broomstick". Building a simple A/B switch was easy enough, so over the
last few days I have been doing some comparisons. The receiver is an
Icom R-75, there is a 30" attachment to a six foot sunken galvanized
steel rod for ground. These should be seen as just "early returns" yet,
but some are interested in info like this, sooooo . . . .


If you like the fine points, the random wire is 60' of stranded 14
gauge,
with plastic insulation. It is mounted at ceiling/wall juncture (7.5
feet above grade). Unbalanced. The broomstick is 20 gauge plastic
insulated solid strand, wound tighly on a recycled wooden snowshovel
handle (1 1/4" diameter). It is 30" high - shorter than I wanted, but
the best I could do with the (approx.) 225 feet of wire I had. There is
a 6" aluminum disc atop used for hat capacitance.
It is at windowsill height.


As far as signal strength, whether day, night, low MW band or 13
meter SW, the random wire has the edge by a slight amount, according to
the S meter and my own ears. But I underline "slight".

Most interesting is that in daylight hours, I prefer to use the
broomstick, merely because it is *quieter*. For MW DX in daylight
hours, it beats the random wire, simply because the listening is easier,
with only a slight drop in signal sensitivity.

During local nighttime hours, I find myself using the random wire
much more. The broomstick is actually *noisier* at night than the
random wire (most places on the dial - the noise is bothersome with
either one in certain spots), and the darker it gets, the more the
superiority of the random wire becomes evident.

As I said, these are early results. If I note any other interesting
contrasts, I'll report back on this topic. I would eventually like to
construct
a broomstick closer to 4 1/2 feet in length. I have read that the
length favors certain meter bands - can anyone give me more info on
that?

Tony


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