[GreenKeys] Radio up and working... Question...

[Don Robert House]

Yes Jim,

I know there are problems with a vertical antenna.  AND as a retired  
telephony transmission engineer I know about noise caused by the power  
company amongst other guilty parties...
In Chicago, worse than the power company, are the electric railroads  
that use huge amounts of amperage.  Due to various ground anomalies  
and different ground +/- references our cables would disappear over  
time due to electrolysis.
The companies now coordinate their efforts to keep noise and  
electrolysis  to a minimum.  Not because they are nice folks, but  
because copper is very expensive and noise problems can be quite  
difficult to resolve.

I have two major headaches here for antennas.  One is the subdivision  
CC&Rs.  The other is the average wind speed around here.  As you know  
we live in an area that was a corn field only 8 years ago.  The trees  
are not mature and the wind gets very strong.  45 mph is not at all  
unusual.  I arrived home 3 years ago to a sight I would not have  
believed in other areas.  Siding blown off of my house and the flag  
pole bent all the way down to the ground.

The Hy-Gain 18vs is rated for 80 mph winds.  I have a really nice  
dipole I bought from a HAM is Canada that I would like to put up, but  
the center of the inverted V needs to be up about 16 feet.  I am  
pretty sure it would not last long in a 45 mph wind.  I might be able  
to do an end fed sloper but as of yet I have not figured out how to do  
that in an unfenced area so as to not take off youngster's heads if  
they run through our back yard.

Back in the late 50s my Mom sent in a jingle in my name to the Coca- 
Cola company.  My prize was a portable tube broadcast receiver. Even  
then getting batteries for it was not easy to do,  but that radio  
(small but heavy) could pull in stations from all over the country.   
It was fun to go across the band ever so slowly to see what I could  
pick up.  Then I got the bug to build several Knight-Kit shortwave  
receivers.  I still have my Ocean Hopper and a few other of those kit  
radios.  The area we lived in back then was full of mature trees and  
my Dad let me put up long wire antennas just about where ever I wanted  
to.

Thanks much for your continuing advice and support.  I appreciate your  
friendship.

Don



On 15 Nov 2008, at 12:13 PM, Jim Haynes wrote:


Sad to say, but it is commonly reported that vertical antennas pick up
more noise than other kinds.  Are you able to use a separate receiving
antenna?  A horizontal wire, or a loop antenna might be quieter.

Don't know how productive it would be to try to eliminate some of the
noise.  There's probably lots of stuff in your house that contributes
to the noise, as well as stuff in the neighborhood.  One of my useful
tools is a battery-powered shortwave receiver.  Can use it to listen
for noise while things in the house are powered off, and also to locate
noise sources inside and outside the house.  For instance, you might  
find
noise coming from a particular power pole, caused by leaky insulator.


jhhaynes at earthlink dot net


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