I push content out on text messages as well as on this platform – and slowly trying to get folks shifted over to this one – it’s going to take time – folks, if you want to comment on something – I urge you to comment on this platform rather than texting – get more folks/feedback involvement makes for a more interesting blog for all . . .
In texting to several people I made the statement that the RF-PRO-1B was as good as it gets – maybe the best out there . . .
And I failed to “qualify” that statement – Oops – My Bad . . .
For a small yard or garden ( a little UK lingo for you ) – where space is a consideration – it can be mounted on a 4X4 post dropped in a hole with a bag or two of Quikcrete and you’re good to go – 15.25 square inches of space is all you need – a cheapy rotator is all you need – and if you don’t want to do that? Just orient it in an east to west axis. That will get you most everything you would want to listen to. The rotator helps to reduce noise and or lower interference from stations interfering on close frequencies. You could even use a 10 foot piece of top rail from a chain link fence stuck in the ground – loops don’t need to be stuck way up in the air.
The biggest benefit for me? Noise reduction . . .
Here is three quick clips from yesterday – this is Eastern Atlantic Air Traffic Control –
Now there are somewhere between more than one and a gazillion web sites out there where you can listen to various streaming ATC feeds on the internet – where is the fun in that?
GO HERE and look at the Frequencies and start hunting – therein lies the fun!
So back to “is it the best?” Simply answered – NO – BUT – to get better takes MUCH more space and much bigger piles of money. How about a wire antenna? Full wave length wire AM broadcast band antenna for say 890 khz – WLS – roughly 336 meters or 1105 feet – click on them for the on line calculator(s) – and not even taking into account the wire needs to be suspended above the ground, it’s easy to see how actual wave length wire antennas can really get out of hand in a hurry!
Another way to approach a “better” system is what is called a receive circle array – FOUND HERE at DX Engineering – it is better – BUT – you need quite a pile of monies and to do it most efficiently – about a circular clear space roughly 400 feet across – a little less than 4 acres – Well let me just pull that out of my pocket – Not!
For antennas you start into 1/2 wave and 1/4 wave antennas – with loading coils to just be able to have them a size to where you reasonably utilize them – a random wire antenna will work / it’s simply as long as you have space for – yagi or beam antennas are another way of doing this – again for receiving they work but the trade off comes in complexity, cost and size – the loop antennas hit quite a sweet spot for a lot of applications.
Here is KJJQ AM – 500 watts – app. 50 miles due North of me – the loop in line with or “pointed” at them . . .
And the loop oriented 90 degrees away from them . . .
It’s not perfect – but this illustrates how you can turn the the loop to diminish a signal ( or noise source ) so you can hear “through” it or “around” it. The other unsung hero in this is the LNA ( Low Noise Amplifier ) that comes with the antenna – really good stuff. And the one thing a lot of folks don’t pay enough attention to is grounding – I’m grounded at the base of the antenna – again at the entry into the house-and – yet again ( this is temporary – no judgement please ) the shield side of the coax just before the Discovery SDR . . .
The shield on coax protects the inner wire from picking up stray or spurious signals of RFI/EMI and carrying them into your receiver. Long term the #6 solid copper coming in from the ground rod will terminate at something like this . . .
Ahead of the SDR are an AM and FM band pass filter – both are Flamingo brand ( Nooelec ) – ( RTL-SDR also has them – I have a set of those also ) which help some in stopping some AM/FM strong signal interference from crashing the party . . . Obviously if I am going to go creeping through the AM broadcast band in the middle of the night I take them out of line.
Bottom line – there are better options but everything has a trade-off of some sort – the RF-PRO-1B hits the sweet spot for me – will it work for you? – you have to make that decision – a lot of factors come into play – cost / available space / ease of use . . .
If you are using a random wire or an inexpensive loop – the RF-PRO-1B will take your short wave listening well into the next level – for all of my factors taken into consideration it is the best – and more than likely will suit your purposes well . . .
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
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