When you say “Crystal Palace” here is what most folks think . . . The “Phoenix Tower”? Must be some part of the HFGCS – right? Not hardly . . .
Back when radio was king – you had the BBC World Service on shortwave – depending on which era you listened – one of these might ring a bell – YOU see what I did there – right?
When television became king – the BBC television service had the moniker ( always wanted to use that word in a post – LOL! ) “Crystal Palace” – and the transmission tower became known as the “Phoenix Tower” – Enjoy!
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
At this point – weathered in for the season – indoor antennas is where I are stuck at – But Bruce – Indoor Antenna?? – Can’t possibly be any good, can it? Well it is working out for me – and has worked for a long time for a lot of folks . . .
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
Did several of these over the years – not this fancy – they were just a loop of wire – no isolation transformer – real temporary set up – camping weekend thing – and they actually work!
The other thing I want to try is two ground rods about 30 feet apart – one is the ground side ( or braid side of the coax ) and one is the feeding to the center conductor, Hmmm?
What do YOU think?? Feasible??
Anyway, here is a pretty good tutorial to get YOU started on the road to an inexpensive and ( for the cost ) a decent antenna . . .
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
There are a lot of videos on the ‘tube about this antenna – some praise – some negative – so I figured go ahead and get one and see if it would do anything worthwhile with the Malahit – in an attempt to get some portability and performance out of such a small radio and have a decent small antenna to go with it . . .
This is NOT an amplified antenna – the only tweak to using it is a two step capacitor – switching between 4 mHz – 12 mHz and 12 mHz – 24 Mhz – then tuning the capacitor to hit the sweet spot for a given frequency. Come spring weather ( it is cold and snowing outside ) I will get it outside and try it – the other thing I am going to try is to use a Low Noise Amplifier with it – there are about a gazillion of them out on the market – I wonder how many I will “collect” to find one that works decently – LOL!
You can see the little switch off of the lower right corner of the capacitor to go between low and high range . . .
Here is VOA out of Korea on 9800 kHz using the MLA 30+ with the SDR – remember it is amplified –
And with the “Donut” – which is NOT amplified –
The signal was a little hard to hear – but it was there . . .
And the Malhit using the MLA 30+ –
And using the “Donut” – again hard to hear, but there . . .
Remember : this is inside the house – so there is some attenuation or dampening of the signal – the MLA 30+ more than makes up for that with the amplifier that is integral in the antenna system. The “donut” has no amplification – only the capacitor to get to the “sweet” spot.
Bottom line – it performs inside better than I expected . . . And for $18 bucks on Amazon it’s worth trying – another thing I’m going to try is a counterpoise on the “donut” and the MLA 30+ – nothing fancy, simply an 8 or 10 feet length of speaker wire and an alligator clip clamped on the nut – which is the ground side of this setup – it should make a difference – I am a little hesitant to try that until I get into my radio room – my Blushing Bride is likely getting close to the end of her patience with the on going “mess” on her dining room table and in her living room – women tend to get upset over the strangest little things – sorta like saving her $500 – on a new pistol – she just doesn’t go for that line of reasoning – But honey – I got it for $900 – and the list on it is $1400 – I saved you $500!
I’m here to say I won’t try that again . . .
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
One of my favorite reads is “Satanic Verses” by Salman Rushdie . . .
If you want to KNOW who the biggest liar / thief / asshole in a given game(s) is – criticize them or question their actions or motives. Go ahead – question the election ( theft ) that occurred – see where and what that gets you. 133 million TOTAL eligible voters – as certified by the various sec. of states – that number is reality – you can go to the various state websites – the numbers are public record – look it up for yourself – 80% turn out – which has never been achieved – and would be MASSIVE and talked for the rest of history! – would be roughly 104 million votes cast in 2020 – 74 million for one guy – 84 million for the other guy – yep – 155 million cast – it’s legit – the fuck you say . . .
If the “vote” was totally legitimate – wouldn’t you want an open – transparent – complete and thorough investigation into EVERY aspect of it?? Just to put everyone’s questions to rest?? Jailing people for questioning an election is a Hell of a way to say everything was honest and above board – just saying . . .
Lying Liars Lying
Have Fun! – Run the Gun! – and remember – Fish Heads are Cheap!!
Guns, Fun, Food and More 