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Old April 1st 08, 04:55 AM posted to rec.radio.shortwave
Tom Tom is offline
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First recorded activity by RadioBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 58
Default Watson Miller SW Receiving Antenna

On Mar 31, 5:55*pm, Ian Jackson
wrote:
In message , vangellis
writesHi
I was wondering if anybody had tried one of these.
Watson Miller SW Antenna
http://www.radioworld.co.uk/~radio/c...g-antenna-30mh
z-passive-p-4085.html?osCsid=ba1bff9be9f92c719ff9ac7ab286fbca


I was thinking of getting one.
thanks
vangellis


It looks sort-of like a VHF 'Slim Jim' / 'J-Pole' (but it can't be, can
it?). I suspect that this part of the description is very true -
"Totally passive, there is also no risk of receiver overload".
--
Ian


I used to switch between a G5RV (a horizontal dipole over 100' long)
and a J-pole for 2 meters (a vertical about 8' long). Under some
conditions the short vertical outperformed the long horizontal - could
be due to the elevation angle or maybe the azimuth of the desired
signal favouring its radiation pattern and vice versa. Also could be
due to one pattern discriminating better against unwanted signals and
noise. The small antenna's diminishing efficiency at lower frequencies
is an advantage as it helps to prevent receiver overload by strong
signals at these frequencies. Getting such an antenna up as high as
possible and as far away as possible from local interference sources
and connecting it to the radio via shielded cable can result in a
pretty decent SW antenna. If you still have a VHF-TV antenna on your
roof, you might be surprised at how well it may work as a SW antenna.
Or take your radio up on the roof and see how much better reception is
with its little telescoping antenna than on the ground floor.

Tom