"Dave" wrote in message
...

As you seem to have mentioned, you have lots & lots of signal
strenth, so you actually might want to make your antenna even _less_
sensitive. What it sounds like you're looking for is selectivity,
and you do that with tuned circuits. Or you did back when I was
learning this stuff. ;-)

Hope This Helps!
Rich



Yes, a tuned circuit, I am thinking. There is currently much more signal
than I need. Is an antenna tuner what I am looking for?

I hooked up 300 microhenries worth of RF choke, which reduces the entire
signal just a hair, but that is enough to knock the noise level down
considerably. I am not yet sure, but this *may* be all I need. BTW, did
some fiddling withe the anchor of the random wire, and decided it is more
like 45 - 50 feet total. I am planning on moving it, however, and placing
it under the eaves and off to the side of the aluminum rain gutter, which
may deflate it some. Right now I have signal to waste. That may change.

Thanks for the input. Working with RF is new to me.

Actually, if you've got good electrical conductivity, the aluminum
rain gutters themselves might make a passable antenna. Ground _one_
of the downspouts at the bottom end, and experiment with different
pickoff points along the length of the gutter. An antenna has
different impedances at different points along its length, based on
the wavelength of interest. And you'd add inductance and capacitance
as needed to make the whole thing resonant at the freq. you want.
(that's the philosophy of an "antenna tuner.")

It really wouldn't do any harm to look up some books on antennas
and stuff, like "The ARRL Antenna Book", and talk with practically
any radio amateur - those guys do this stuff all day long.

Cheers!
Rich