Random Wire Plan B Done! – Not quite as thrilling as the conclusion of “Plan 9 from Outer Space” – But It’s Done . . .

And it works for me!

Used the D ring that was on the side facing the tree not the shed – grand daughter didn’t want to hang off the side of the ladder to get to the shed side of the mast to add another D ring – I tried the old “no guts – no glory” thing with her – she asked if I was going to do it myself and that was a simple no – so we used the existing D ring and just came around the mast with the wire.

Used 2×4 blocking between the studs – secured with construction adhesive construction decking type screws – screwed to each other then in from the right side and toe nailed with 3 1/2 inch deck screws – don’t think the blocks will fall out – then smeared silicone on the 3 1/2 inch screws holding the mounts on – it’s quite stout . . .

This next pic gives you an idea of the bow I left in it – it was installed in full sunlight and it was warm out – so there should be enough bow at 29 below zero / 70 mph winds / 6 inches of snow per hour – or your typical winter day here – LMAO!

And there is the tree where Plan A was was originally going – which would have ended up at about 57 feet instead of the roughly 33 feet it ended up at . . .

That’s all well and good Bruce – but does it work? Yes it works quite well – here’s a couple of HAMS on 40 meters this morning – the second one is a mobile . . .

Dug the grundig satellit 800 out of storage to try the wire – it’s the only thing I’ve got with an SO239 connector on it. I’ve got some connectors / adapters coming and a switch or two so I will be able to go back and forth between the antennas without screwing/unscrewing coax – THAT is a pain!

The immediate take away?? Random wires work – they always have and they always will. There will always be noise issues with them – grounding is your number one tool in the box to fight noise . . .

The ground post on the Unun – which is common to the outside or shielding braid on the coax – goes to a #6 solid and down to a grounding rod . . .

That #6 solid grounds the Unun and coax sheilding – and rotator / mast assembly – the second clamp takes a #6 solid around to the entry box . . .

Where a second ground rod is in place where it helps equalize the electrical potential at both ends of the coax shielding – and a second #6 solid runs into the entrance box and . . .

Provides grounding for the surge protectors – and – a ground for the entrance end of the coax as well as surge protection for the rotator control cable and a #6 solid into the radio room for grounding of radios and equipment as well as one more grounding point for shielding on coax . . .

Here are 2 clips of Trenton VOLMET – roughly 1020 miles east – first one is the 800 on the wire antenna . . . ( you can read about VOLMET HERE )

This second one is the loop and SDR . . .

( i sure need to get better speakers for the computer )

Now this video has an almost too narrow a focus on transmitting as for what we are doing here – there are some good points made in it – what the 9:1 Unun does for receive is makes your random wire “sweeter” across more frequencies – your radio likes what it sees across the bands – remember your receiving not transmitting! . . .

So Bruce . . . is the wire antenna worth the effort for you? A.M. broadcast band – 540khz and up – won’t make a lot of difference – A loop will more likely out perform it and the wire antenna is generally a little noisier – BUT – when you start creeping around 25khz up to about 300khz it should out perform the loop. If you are not wanting to hear “stuff” in the basement so to speak – use a loop – BUT – if you want an inexpensive setup to hear “stuff ” – a wire antenna is hard to beat – BUT – ( you knew there was another one coming didn’t you? – LOL! ) if you want to go creeping through the weeds trying to find something really obscure ( and not EXTREMELY LOW frequency ) the loop and the Low Noise Amplifer is hard to beat – I can go back and forth like this all day – just saying . . .

I keep telling myself Short Wave Listening is only a hobby – it’s only a hobby – it’s only a hobby – after 61 years of it I have come to the conclusion that for me it “might” be a serious hobby – LMAO!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

JAMECO To “The Rescue”

The big issue these days is a power supply for your Grundig satellit 800 – so often the OEM power supply and the radio are no longer keeping each other company. So people buy them – got a cheapy power supply and then complain that the old radio is no good – I get all this static all the time – grumble grumble . . .

Chances are they are using a switching ( or cheapy ) power supply and the satellit 800 is sensitive enough that you WILL have noise issues. Period.

I had actually forgotten about JAMECO over the years and I searched for linear power supplies for the satellit and JAMECO popped up in the search results – and a little bell went ding in my head – got on their site and ordered 2 ( 1 is none – 2 is one ) – nice stuff and dead quiet – and far cry from feeding D cell batteries into it as it is a total battery whore – eats them like they’re free!

Take some time and peruse JAMECO’s web site – all the little “stuff” that you used to run down to Radio Shack and grab? Chances are JAMECO has it and has it at real good prices AND fast shipping . . .

Here is a Mr. Carlson video that gives a great explanation of switching vs linear power supplies. Sometimes that noise YOU are fighting YOU are creating.

The random wire antenna project shifted to plan B ( head out back to the corner of the shed ) as the tree I was going to use is more than likely going bye-bye late this fall or early spring. And that’s fine – it will end up at at 34 feet plus or minus, which is long enough to get down below AM broadcast band. 57 feet would have been a little better – the loop really falls off fast as you drop down towards a 100khz – and really doesn’t do much at all below that. With any luck and if the creek don’t rise I should get that done this weekend.

Here’s a look at a comparison video – 750 vs 800 . . .

For me and my purposes the 750 is just as good and easier to use – YOUR ACTUAL MILEAGE MAY VARY – LOL!

Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!

And thanks for asking – but I did find a home for my boat anchors – part of the deal was would I please find a power supply for the Grundig – you do what you gotta do – LOL! And the Grundig still works great and the nostalgia factor is off the scale – BUT – I am totally spoiled with the SDR.

The Best? No, there are better – But . . .

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!!