[HCRA] Longwire antenna for shortwave listening

[Bob Lafleur]

I'd like to set up a longwire antenna at my parents' house so that my
son can do some shortwave listening and possibly get interested in the
radio hobby (that's how I got interested)...

A couple of questions:

Is there anything special I should do? Any special kind of wire I should
use? What's an optimum length?

I've got a 500' spool of 12 gauge solid copper wire that's coated in
plastic. Is this OK to use or should I use bare wire? Is solid or
stranded better?

Is there anything special I should do when running the wire into the
house to the receiver? There are a lot of flourescent lights in the
house so I'm worried about them creating too much noise... Should I
terminate the single wire outside and bring it in via coax or something
like that? How do I go about this?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bob Lafleur, NQ1C
Bob_lafleur at technologist.com