Looking for antenna advice from HAM radio folks

[Pobeka]

Here's the deal. I have a little shortwave radio (Sony ICF-SW7600GR).

I live in Puget Sound, and the stations of interest tend to be in Europe, or Asia.

Last winter I hooked the thing up to my downspout, which is roughly like a big inverted "U". That really helped with the reception, though I know it was possibly, uh, "not optimal".

Stringing a big outdoor antenna is really not feasible, so now I'm considering the attic. The way my house is situated, the peak of the roof runs in an east-west direction.

I'm really not able to get up into the attic more than once or twice to mess with this, as it's blown in insulation and that means I have to crawl up the ladder which I gotta put into the walk-in closet where my wife's best clothes are at and no matter how hard you try at something like that some insulation is gonna spread around a little...

Soooooo, what would you suggest?

1. Run the antenna along the peak of the roof, in the east to west.
2. Run the antenna zig-zagging a little (a lot).
3. Other.

I understand this can be complicated, but if you have any ideas (based on experience or knowledge) that would be helpful I would certainly appreciate hearing your suggestions!

[WillyBrandt]

1. Have you considering running just a long wire

Of relatively decent gauge across the inner lining of a roof, a car port, or somesuch. Very cheap That's as unobtrusive as can be: as for how well it would work, it's a gamble

[Pobeka]

2. Forgot to mention -- 2 story house.

With a relatively steep pitch to the roof. I'd prefer to string it inside the attic -- though it's messier, it's also safer.

I got that long-wire antenna kit from Radio Shack, pretty heavy gauge and a couple of standoffs.

[WillyBrandt]

3. Gotcha

I think that's the way to go. I think it's relatively rare for people to use complicate Yagi anntenae or whatever for shortwave reception

[Pobeka]

4. What about a straight east-west run vs. a couple of zig-zags?

Think that'd make any difference on the "directionality" of reception?

[Davis_X_Machina]

6. On a wire antenna...

you won't get serious directionality (x2 diff. in signal strength, or ca. 3db) unless it's really long, really high, or both, so don't sweat it too much.

[Pobeka]

7. Sweating is something I'm not planning to do!

Thanks.

[Pobeka]

8. Thanks for your posts! n/t

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

5. Google up...

"Grove Electronics". Look at some of their active antennas. Just the thing.

[Pobeka]

9. Thanks, I'll check that out. n/t

[BiggJawn]

10. Do you have "play money"?

Or are you into "Mother of Invention" radio like me?
Reason I ask is if you have the money, I would consider an "Active antenna". Sony makes one, as well as other mfgrs. Less than $100, try Universal Radio and www.aesham.com

If you're broke or cheap like me, just get as much wire in the air as you can, don't bother about "optimized directions" or other such stuff, it's a random wire, for Marconi's sake!
You hooked it to the downspout, and it helped, but it wsn't "optimal"...

Until you've put up the best antenna you can, and that means something that gets the neighbours pissed, you really can't tell what is optimal for your location. the question is, can you hear the stations you want to hear? if so, your downspout is optimal. if not, try something else.

[Pobeka]

11. Kinda shot the play money wad for awhile. Looking for cheap solutions

Yeah, from the little bit of reading about antennas I did (which didn't sink in very well), it did seem possible to me that the downspout may just be as good as anything else that *I* was willing to contemplate -- but we do get rain a lot here, which means the downspout is constantly wet and that *apparently* could mess up reception. Which is why I wanted to give this true random wire a shot. (plus the attic solution can get me about another 8 feet higher into the air, though now it's beneath a roof :shrug:)

I may even get serious and sink a little copper tube into the ground outside for a better ground.

[DBoon]

12. My 2 cents

1. Longer is better with anntenae

2. Higher (above the ground) is better.

3. Keep it far away from power lines - not just for safety reasons, but power lines also carry lots of noise, tend to arc in wet wether creating more noise, etc..

4. Try to position it away from household power wiring also to avoid noise. Many common household devices (light dimmers, computers, VCRs, etc.) generate a lot of electric noise in the short wave area. If your house wiring tends to run through the attic, then avoid putting the antenna in or right above the attic.

[Pobeka]

13. Thanks - that's reassuring

My attic has pretty much nothing in the way of wiring (that I can remember anyway).

[jmowreader]

14. Modified Inverted Vee

A "true" inverted vee has a balun at the peak, and it's cut to frequency.

For the modified inverted vee, go to a hardware store and buy three screw eyes. Go to one end of your house (preferably the one closest to the room your radio's in) and drive one into one corner of the house about a foot off the ground. Drive the second into the other corner of the house, about the same height off the ground as the first. The third goes into the fascia board around your roof, about two inches below the peak. Run the antenna wire out of the Radio Shack kit you got through the three screw eyes. Tie off at both ends so it doesn't get loose; ferrules are good if you can get them. Attach your feedwire to one end, hook to your radio and listen away.

[Pobeka]

15. What if I did this?

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Would the extended leg on the left matter at all?

[Briarius]

16. Not much

you would get a little more gain on that half of the antenna, but it wouldn't matter too much. If there's only one or two stations you listen to and they're fairly close to the same frequency, you might consider cutting the antenna to length, it would be a little more efficient than a random wire.