[Lowfer] Can I expect to receive ....

[Douglas D. Williams]

As I recall, I made mine with a bunch of chokes I purchased from Mouser,
and a rotary switch to select between them. For the "C" I used an air
variable cap as well as a switch that inserted even more "C" from fixed
capacitors as needed. You could definitely hear a big increase in band
noise when you adjusted the settings properly for impedence matching. The
bandwidth of the match was narrow and the lower I went in frequency the
more narrow the match became. Of course, it was strictly for receive.
I'll see if I can scan that old article. Im afraid the quality is bad.
Hopefully, it will be readable.
73, Doug KB4OER



> On Fri, Feb 1, 2013 at 4:57 PM, WD8ARZ <wd8arz at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>> That article would be great Doug, appreciate it.
>>
>> Got to dig into my box of matcher ... I might have a one I bought decades
>> ago for below 500 khz ... can always modify one of them if need be. Have a
>> long coil stock here that hasn't been cut into yet ... hi
>>
>> Ok, will search out Argo and test it out this week. Thanks for the
>> feedback Doug.
>>
>>
>> 73 from Bill - WD8ARZ
>> http://www.radioworks.com/**ccw160.html<http://www.radioworks.com/ccw160.html>
>>
>>
>> On 2/1/2013 4:36 PM, Douglas D. Williams wrote:
>>
>>> Bill,
>>>
>>> What you have, as far as low frequency reception goes, is a 256 foot
>>> long,
>>> short (at our frequencies) random wire antenna.
>>>
>>> What you need to do, like JD and others have said, is try to match that
>>> antenna's impedance to 50 ohms at whatever frequency you are trying to
>>> receive. This can be accomplished with an L/C "antenna tuner", or an
>>> active
>>> device like JD has designed. In the past, I have constructed a low
>>> frequency L/C impedance matching device for a 260' long wire antenna,
>>> based
>>> on an R.W. Burhans article, but, though successful at impedance matching,
>>> the antenna was (mostly) a flop at LF because of all the LF QRM present
>>> near my QTH.
>>>
>>> Your situation may different.
>>>
>>> My best results at LF receiving thus far have been small active broadband
>>> or tuned loop antennas and "active whip" broadband antennas situated in
>>> the
>>> most QRM free spot I could logistically manage.
>>>
>>> Andy (KU4XR), who lives only 100ish miles from me, has, however, had
>>> great
>>> results with a long wire antenna. It's all about the local QRM and the
>>> effort you put forth to counteract it.
>>>
>>> Regarding software for QRSS reception, there isn't anything better than
>>> ARGO, simple or not, IMO.
>>>
>>> For the quickest and best results, since winter is half over, build an
>>> L/C
>>> "antenna tuner" for your wire, download Argo, and see what you can
>>> receive.
>>> I can try to help with a grainy photocopy of the old Burhans article.
>>>
>>> 73, Doug KB4OER
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>