[Spooks] SWLing and portables

[Parrish S. Knight]

On Oct 6, 2013, at 2:43 PM, john wrote:
> If you don't notice a significant difference in background noise levels and signal strengths of stations when you attache a long wire to the receiver, there's something wrong with the radio, or the way the antenna is being attached.

OK, thanks — I’ll pull the wire back out and give it another try.

> Is it a wire that attaches  directly to the built in whip?

No.

> Most "long wires" that come with receivers aren't very long.

I haven’t actually measured this one, but it’s probably around forty feet.

> What happens if you moisten your finger tips and touch the whip? does the background noise jump up some?

It doesn’t appear to make any difference.

> Do you hear WWV at 5/10/15 Mhz at any time?

(I assume you mean Khz, not Mhz.)  I’m not getting them right now, no.  On 15, I’m picking up a faint sporadic “blooping” type noise, nothing more.  Let me try attaching the wire again and see whether that makes any difference.

Government furloughs definitely leave you with a lot of time on your hands… even with all the TV that I have to watch and the schoolwork that I have to do, I’m still a man of leisure right now, albeit an involuntary one.