Mini “Donut” Antenna – Quick Look

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!!

A PSA from Salman Rushdie

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!!

SCORE! – NHK World Radio Japan on 11630 kHz

I have been trying to catch this for a week or so – today I scored! – The signal to the left @ 11610 kHz / Radio Exterior de Espana – a 250 KW station out of Noblejas, Spain – not a “real” catch as it comes booming in here almost every evening – “NHK Japan” just doesn’t do as good here – Conditions / Conditions / Conditions . . .

The screen shot below ( from short-wave.info )shows the gray line – the signal is bouncing right to left – under the night sky – it slips under the edge then bounces and comes out here – South Dakota – any later not enough signal gets “under” the atmospheric conditions to get “here” – Conditions / Conditions / Conditions – paying attention to the gray line will get you some great “catches” . . .

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

WLW – Just Wow!

WLW was a blaster – A 500,000 watt flamethrower – now the AM broadcasters here in the US are throttled back to 50,00, watts . . .

Big time radio from way back in the day!

The early days of radio were quite different than current times – now a flamethrower ( on AM broadcast band ) is a measly 50 KW – LOL! – but there are a lot of shortwave stations out here in the world that are still truly flamethrowers . . .

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