Bruce – Does that Loop Antenna Thingy Actually Work?

Yes – Yes it does – and quite well I might add . . .

The picture below shows the radiation pattern for a loop antenna – which is also its receive pattern – it has two defined receive “spots” and two defined “null” spots . . .

Here is WLS Chicago at about 5AM CDST this morning with the antenna oriented to an East / West receive axis . . .

And here are the “nulls” oriented East / West . . .

The audio really sucks on these two clips – still trying to figure the hardest way to capture decent audio and work backwards from there – LOL! – but – look at the signal strength – the top one you heard clear – the bottom one not at all . . .

While it is not a complete blanking of signal – the use of the “null” aspect of the loop allows you to significantly diminish a signal from a station – say from Spain – that is broadcasting on the same frequency as a station from – say South America – that you want to hear . . .

The Bottom line? The DXE-RF-PRO-1B does work – and works well! – I consider it a GREAT tool to use for SWL. Now I just have to get together with my neighbor and get my random wire antenna up – yet another “tool in the box” . . .

And that weird signal? Did some digging and found out it is a Russian OTH ( Over The Horizon ) radar – so now we know . . .

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

Gillis is Right – or – Anchors Aweigh!

About a week or so ago Gillis – Offficial SWL Channel posted this video . . .

Something that has been in the back of my mind for several years or so is these newer ( and new ) radios really out perform the old boat anchors from the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s – well you get the idea. What really made the point for me was hooking up my beloved Realistic DX-160 – to kinda give you folks an idea of how to do it . . .

After 10 minutes of tuning I couldn’t even find what I was listening to with no effort on the SDR and the QODOSEN – enough is enough!

When this QODOSEN DX-286 for 75 bucks . . .

. . . performs like this – in the house – on its little rod antenna . . .

. . . and the Airspy SDR not only out performs ANY and ALL of the old radios AND just about ALL of the new ones – but – lets you see the stuff being broadcast at a glance in the water fall display – you have to ask yourself – Self, do I want to spend my time fiddle farting with a radio or spend my time finding (and listening/enjoying ) to short wave broadcasting??

And just to illustrate the outside vs inside antenna thing – Radio Thailand on the SDR and the PRO 1-B outside antenna . . .

( i couldn’t get it at all in the house with anything – something in the house is spattering all over it )

( and yes i know the audio sucks on this clip – still trying to figure out what i’m doing )

And this?? Hellifino – ran across this yesterday – strange . . .

Bottom line – the new radios are simply so far beyond ANY of the old “legacy” radios – for all intents and purposes I am through with them – Anchors Aweigh – I’m shopping the whole pile – 200 bucks for the pile – and no – no delivering or shipping . . .

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

Tecsun AN-200 : Is It Magic?

No, not really – but – it can take an ok little radio and make it perform quite well – if hunting AM stations is an interest for you . . .

The better the radio – generally the less increase in performance you will gain. However if you are using a radio that gives you good performance on AM broadcast band – the 2 that come to mind off the top of my head are . . .

. . . one of the GE SUPERADIO variants . . .

. . . or the little QODOSEN DX-286 . . .

The generational differences are quite obvious when they are side by side – even more so if you look under the hood – the GE? – good electronics for the time and an eight (8) inch ferrite core antenna and an incredible speaker – the QODOSEN? – state of the art current bleeding edge technology – may do a deep dive on the GE at some point . . .

If you are doing some serious AM dxing – a 500 watt daylight darling way the Hell and gone away from you – and you are using something like one of these and you think you may be hearing it – the TECSUN AN-200 can make quite a difference – and at 30 bucks or so on Amazonia – it’s a good tool to put in the box for the price . . .

Some of the best camping and fishing times I’ve had was by a campfire in the middle of the night – and in the middle of nowhere ( away from the electrical noise of town ) listening to “stuff” from radio stations scattered all across the country . . .

Nowadays? Not so much – it’s all satellite feed talk shows – the same basic Blah Blah Blah – God I miss Art Bell – George Noory?? – you’re kidding, Right?? – and music stations – KOMA / WLS / KOA to name several – and Trucking Radio on WWL with Weather Scan reports – Oh Well . . .

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

Friday Music : Eclectic Edition or Musical Whiplash

Found this and figgered all y’all needed it today – Enjoy!

programming note : posting will probably be light this weekend – finishing up the antenna project ( random wire going up i hope ) and shoveling crap out of the radio room – beats shoveling snow – LOL!

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

Progress – Slow – but Progress Regardless

It is actually ridiculous just how trashed out the bench/desk became – but in my defense – I am not a neat “freak” by any stretch and it took 5 months of gathering all of the bits and pieces up and and not losing them – so I stacked everything on the bench. If I do something like this again – I’m going to consider a different methodology – it turned into a TFM – Total. Fucking. Mess. . . .

Actually getting the portables where I wanted them at to begin with – going to excavate the rest of them – should have enough space for them now – and if I have more room than needed? I guess I’ll have to buy some more – right? – that’s how it always works for me – LMAO!

Actually have the DX-160 wired up correctly to the antenna and earth ground – I will do a post on that for you folks – the neat part? Is just how well the DX-160 works off of the loop – and even have room for the “eton elite 750” . . .

The rotator control box is actually on the bench – not on top of a pile of stuff – and I even found the cellphone holder that my Blushing Bride gave me . . .

The monitor for the SDR is clear to the right – the tiny little computer for it is on the shelf above and also clear to the right . . .

Listening to Radio New Zealand @ 9.700mhz – then went to China Radio International for their English language news.

And here’s a little bit for you – China Radio International @ 9.800mhz – English language news at 0105 UTC / 8:05am CDST . . .

And for those of you who claim there’s nothing on shortwave?? – All the peaks you see on the monitor – with waterfall trailing down from them? Those are folks out there in the world broadcasting. On shortwave. All. The. Time. Different times / different frequencies – but broadcasting. You need a decent radio doesn’t have to be expensive – AND a decent antenna. This weekend – if it don’t snow (LOL) I hope to get my wire antenna up. Should end up at about 57 feet – 55 to 65 feet has worked good over the years for me – one time get a little carried away with it and ended up with about 600 feet strung back and forth across a lot – Not doing that again – way too much work for not enough return – and “noise” was an issue – Gee, I wonder why? – LOL!

Actually getting a switch or two so I can switch back and forth between the loop and the wire to illustrate the differences for you. The biggest difference for most folks is two things – #1 Get the antenna outside ( even 15 or 20 feet of speaker wire – but get it outside ) – your house is a very noisy emi/rmi box and your antenna is in it! / and #2 Grounding is very overlooked for noise reduction – I get set up here a little better and will try to show the difference on the DX-160 with and without earth ground.

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

RF-PRO-1B / Finally Up and Working GREAT!

The ground rod under the entry box . . .

Showing the #6 copper coming from the antenna setup to the second ground rod – and the #6 copper going up to the entry box . . .

Into the entry box we go . . .

Ready to start terminating in the box . . .

Upper Left / the surge protector for the rotator control cable . . .

Lower Left / the surge protector for the PRO-1B loop antenna . . .

Lower Right / the surge protector for the random wire antenna . . .

The bottom lug of the grounding strip – #6 copper to the ground rod – top lug of the grounding strip is #6 copper into the house for an earth ground for radios and equipment . . .

And yes – the antenna does rotate – LOL! – north on the controller is true north – approximately 2.5 degrees east of magnetic North – the further South you are the greater the difference . . .

( the unun looks kinda lonely up there – not to worry – the random wire is getting strung this weekend )

So Bruce – is all this worth it? – Does it work good?? Weighing cost vs. benefit – for me it’s worth every penny – I am a hardcore short wave listener – been listening since 1963 – the noise floor has dropped dramatically – signal strength is up – modulation is clearer – grabbed these this morning . . .

So the bottom line – is the DXE-RF-PRO-1B from DX Engineering worth it? You are going to have decide that for yourself – not a cheap date for real – but – the performance level of it is so far beyond anything I have ever used as a short wave receiving antenna – it simply is not fair to compare this to anything else . . .

As I get some time I will figure out how to get some better videos of this antenna working – the best way I can describe it is “buy once – cry once” – except I am not crying – I have a big grin on my face – genuine happy camper!

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

and before you say anything – and we all know who you are . . .