[HCRA] Longwire antenna for shortwave listening

[Peter]

Hi Bob,

Since this long wire is being used for receive only, length is not too much 
of a concern but the longer the better.  The type of wire is unimportant so 
use whatever you have handy and insulation will make no difference.  I would 
run a coax from the long wire to the radio.  At the long wire end of the 
coax, leave the shield unattached (just trim it at the end) and solder the 
center conductor to the long wire antenna end.  The only concern on the 
installation may be proper grounding for lightning protection.  They make a 
type of barrel connector that has a ground lug on it which can be run to a 
ground rod, 4' rod is OK but 8' one is better.  This would be placed just 
before entrance to the house.  As an added precaution, you might place an 
A/B switch just inside the house with one of the positions wired both shield 
and center conductor to ground and the other position wired to the receiver.

The antenna wire should have insulation somehow incorporated into each of 
the ends.  Usually this is done without purchasing an insulator special to 
accomplish this by just cutting a small length maybe 3/4 to 1 inch off the 
end of a piece of 2-1/2" diameter ABS or PVC plumbing pipe and looping the 
wire through the cutoff piece and wrapping and soldering it to the end of 
the long wire.  The other side of the cutoff piece can be looped through by 
the line that will hold up the wire.  This method is better than tying the 
line that will hold the wire up directly through the wire end because when 
the rope is wet, it will act as a conductor and affect the antenna 
electrically.

I think I covered most of the things needed to be done.  Maybe someone else 
will have something to add.

73 de KI1I,
Peter



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Lafleur" <BobL at ctrenaissance.com>
To: <hcra at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, December 19, 2004 2:46 PM
Subject: [HCRA] Longwire antenna for shortwave listening


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-------Hampden County Radio Association-------
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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
------Hampden County Radio Association-------
An ARRL Special Services Club for over 50 years
------------http://www.hcra.org------------
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