I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna
the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5"
pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household
wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the
construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no*
increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a
flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group:

1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work?
2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each
other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"?
3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does
the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC
covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire
at my Home Depot.
4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of
the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the
stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against
the bare conductor. Is this valid?
5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or
the external antenna jack of the receiver?
6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the
pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz?
7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be
only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be
more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength
should I expect?

It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct
it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced
users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique.

Best,
-Al A.

In article ,
Al Arduengo wrote:

I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna
the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5"
pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household
wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the
construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no*
increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a
flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group:

1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work?

This has been covered many times and it does work. It just does not work
well.

2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each
other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"?

It would help if the turns were separated. The larger the separation the
better. The largest separation would result in one turn or a straight
wire.

3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does
the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC
covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire
at my Home Depot.

Size (diameter) here does not matter.

4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of
the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the
stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against
the bare conductor. Is this valid?

Sure.

5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or
the external antenna jack of the receiver?

Yes depending on the radio the jack may have a desensitizing circuit to
prevent overloading the radio.

6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the
pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz?

This antenna will have a tendency to work at the quarter wave length and
higher frequencies.

7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be
only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be
more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength
should I expect?

See #2.

It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct
it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced
users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique.

Sorry you wasted your time. You can use the wire to make another antenna
type. Lot's of web sites tell you how.

--
Telamon
Ventura, California

According to what I think I know about antennas,
I'd say it works a little better than a dummy load.

I had one in the early 70's when I was (only) SWL'ing,
and the reception became much better when I "pulled"
the wire to a L-type horizontal antenna. I guess that
the total length from the feedpoint to the capacitance
"hat" is never enough however much one uses wire.

Matti Ponkamo OH1GPU, Naantali, Finland

"Al Arduengo" wrote in message
...
I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna
the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5"
pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household
wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the
construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no*
increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a
flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group:

1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work?
2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each
other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"?
3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does
the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC
covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire
at my Home Depot.
4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of
the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the
stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against
the bare conductor. Is this valid?
5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or
the external antenna jack of the receiver?
6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the
pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz?
7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be
only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be
more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength
should I expect?

It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct
it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced
users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique.

Best,
-Al A.

For some odd reason, people expect that if you wind 100' of wire onto a
stick, it will perform like a 100' random wire- or better than say, 50'
wound onto a stick. It's all about capture area.

Dale W4OP

Telamon,

One of the more 'exciting' stories concerning the BroomStick
Antenna in the Middle East. This Guy built a 18Ft Long/Tall
BroomStick on 4" PVC Pipe. Plus, he had a 750 Ft Random Wire
Antenna connected to the Top of the BroomStick Antenna !

Hello - He had a 750 Longwire Antenna [.]

~ RHF
..
..
= = = Telamon wrote in message
= = = ...
In article ,
Al Arduengo wrote:

I just completed an atempt at construction of the "broomstick" antenna
the plans for which were found on the internet. I used a 84" x 1.5"
pole, a 14" aluminum pie pan, approximately 100" of 14/2 solid household
wire. I followed the instructions as closely as possible in the
construction. To my dismay the contraption provided absolutely *no*
increase in signal strength that I could discern. Before I call this a
flop I wanted to ask a few questions of the group:

1. Has anyone else built one and found it to work?

This has been covered many times and it does work. It just does not work
well.

2. Does it really matter if the wire turns are actually touching each
other or can the be spread by up to 0.5"?

It would help if the turns were separated. The larger the separation the
better. The largest separation would result in one turn or a straight
wire.

3. As much as I hate to show my lack of antenna theory knowledge, does
the type of wire covering matter? The instructions said to use 16 PVC
covered wire but I could not find this description on the available wire
at my Home Depot.

Size (diameter) here does not matter.

4. I made contact with the wore to the aluminum disk by stripping 1" of
the end and wrapping it round a nail between the pan and the end of the
stick such that when the nail was driven in it pressed the disk against
the bare conductor. Is this valid?

Sure.

5. Does it actually matter if the feed line is connected to the whip or
the external antenna jack of the receiver?

Yes depending on the radio the jack may have a desensitizing circuit to
prevent overloading the radio.

6. How much wire should I use ideally? As much as I can fit on the
pole? Enough for a quarter wave at 5MHz?

This antenna will have a tendency to work at the quarter wave length and
higher frequencies.

7. I have to assume that the benefit of this sort of antenna must be
only nominal since if it worked as well as a stright wire, it would be
more widely used. How much of an increase in received signal strength
should I expect?

See #2.

It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct
it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced
users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique.

Sorry you wasted your time. You can use the wire to make another antenna
type. Lot's of web sites tell you how.

Al Arduengo wrote in
:

It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct
it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced
users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique.

It's not worth it. Lousy antenna. I have one out on my patio waiting for me
to reclaim the wire off it. A 20 foot longwire out performs it.

donutbandit wrote:

Al Arduengo wrote in
:

It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct
it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced
users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique.

It's not worth it. Lousy antenna. I have one out on my patio waiting for me
to reclaim the wire off it. A 20 foot longwire out performs it.



Basically, I agree with donutbandit. The attractive things about a
broomstick are compactness and relative portability. But I've use both
broomstick and longwire extensively, and the longwire will beat the
'stick almost every time (though IMHO, a good broomstick and a *20* foot
longwire will not differ much in performance). But if you can string
50' or more of wire for a longwire, it will usually beat the broomstick
every time.

If you like to take a good, small portable on vacation, and want
noticeably better performance than the whip, a broomstick can be the
perect solution, though.

Tony


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Tony Meloche wrote:

donutbandit wrote:

Al Arduengo wrote in
:

It took me the better part of a day to gather the supplies and construct
it so I hesitate to let the project go until I hear from experienced
users that it is not worth it. I welcome any suggestions or critique.

It's not worth it. Lousy antenna. I have one out on my patio waiting for me
to reclaim the wire off it. A 20 foot longwire out performs it.

Basically, I agree with donutbandit. The attractive things about a
broomstick are compactness and relative portability. But I've use both
broomstick and longwire extensively, and the longwire will beat the
'stick almost every time (though IMHO, a good broomstick and a *20* foot
longwire will not differ much in performance). But if you can string
50' or more of wire for a longwire, it will usually beat the broomstick
every time.

If you like to take a good, small portable on vacation, and want
noticeably better performance than the whip, a broomstick can be the
perect solution, though.

Tony


If you don't need something that'll stand up on it's own a slinky is more compact for travel, and if you have room, odds are you can make it longer than a broom stick you'd want to carry along.

I use a 3 meter folding military whip antenna when I want something I can plunk down and use without needing to figure out supports. It breaks down to something about 20" long that's about 2" wide.

If you like to take a good, small portable on vacation, and want
noticeably better performance than the whip, a broomstick can be the
perect solution, though.

Tony

BUT, even better, is just stringing up 30 - 60 feet of wire & hooking it up to
the whip..

Dan

Diverd4777 wrote:


If you like to take a good, small portable on vacation, and want
noticeably better performance than the whip, a broomstick can be the
perect solution, though.

Tony

BUT, even better, is just stringing up 30 - 60 feet of wire & hooking it up to
the whip..

Dan



It is better if you're in a cabin in the woods.


It's not better if you're in a hotel room, though.

Tony


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