RadioBanter - View Single Post

Richard Clark · August 17th 08, 05:52 PM posted to rec.radio.amateur.antenna

On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:59:52 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

This is a very general question. I'm looking for a very 'general'
answer, nothing particularly specific or 'brand' oriented.
What is a good listening or SWL antenna? Range would be from the
broadcast bands up through VHF/UHF. The 'attributes' of bigger and
higher come to mind, but how about something more than that?

I took a $40 Radio Shack SW radio to South Africa last October for
several weeks. It had a standard 3 foot extendable whip that couldn't
hear short wave until I clipped some wire-wrap wire onto the end and
lobbed the ww wire up onto the roof of our cottage (while sitting
outside in the evening or the morning). All-in-all about 20 feet of
wire with a nickel taped to the end to help tossing it. I got more
stations than I knew what to do with. No additional wire was
necessary for VHF (FM), of course, and UHF would have only needed the
whip collapsed to match (if UHF were available for that radio).

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC