A Worthy Antenna

[mlucitt]

What works for me is a FM dipole antenna. A better explanation would be the folded up piece of 300-Ohm twin-lead antenna wire that used to come with every FM radio and stereo receiver in the 1970's. That freebie is long gone and you may not even be able to find one these days, but you can make one easily enough.
https://tinyurl.com/4pamfn62
That link to an ebay auction gives the dimensions, 72" vertical and each 'arm' of the dipole is 28". The wire inside the twin-lead should form a complete loop. I tape mine to the inside of a picture window and get great reception in the direction looking out of the window.

 

[J!m]

Maybe I just buy that?

I have something similar on the 880 now. It came with a Nakamichi receiver I flipped. Not as nice as the link- just a wire loop.

But I have a huge attic with nothing but mouse crap and insulation in it. Probably 30-40 feet long. I’d like to pick up in all directions too, since there is a good station on Long Island we all like and a decent classical NPR station to the north. PLR in New Haven always comes in fine but the talking…

 

[Lazarus Short]

UPDATE - On the advise of a fellow over on AK, I reconnected the Radio Shack antenna, reduced the gain setting to "1" (of 3) and fiddled with the rabbit ears so that the tuner barely registered five bars. Success! It sounds great, just about as good as the Rotel tuner in the main system. I should have known I was overloading the tuner's front end.

 

[mr_rye89]

My old (big) TV antenna that covers the VHF low band works great for FM. Being a log periodic type, it’s highly directional. In Jim’s case he would probably need a rotator or two antennas

 

[J!m]

I just want an Omni up high. That’s gotta be better than the wire taped to my office wall.

 

[mr_rye89]

Maybe a J pole?

https://www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html

It’s omnidirectional. I have one made from 1/2” emt, a bracket, hose clamps, an so239 and bit of 12ga wire, it’s tuned to 144-ish mhz and kerchunks all 2m repeaters within 60 miles. One can be tuned for FM broadcast

 

[FredR]

We should add a HAM radio page to this site someday.

Mark, K4MLL

YES! KD6AR

 

[FredR]

What works for me is a FM dipole antenna. A better explanation would be the folded up piece of 300-Ohm twin-lead antenna wire that used to come with every FM radio and stereo receiver in the 1970's. That freebie is long gone and you may not even be able to find one these days, but you can make one easily enough.
https://tinyurl.com/4pamfn62
That link to an ebay auction gives the dimensions, 72" vertical and each 'arm' of the dipole is 28". The wire inside the twin-lead should form a complete loop. I tape mine to the inside of a picture window and get great reception in the direction looking out of the window.

Live in the city, folded dipole works great. Easy to make yourself.

 

[FredR]

My main antenna some years ago when I working toward DXCC.

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/msq-kt36xa

32 foot boom.

http://www.arrl.org/dxcc

 

[e30m3mon]

My main antenna some years ago when I working toward DXCC.

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/msq-kt36xa

32 foot boom.

http://www.arrl.org/dxcc

We had a basic tri-beam on a 40' tower, but over the years some of the elements rotated...nobody wanted to go back up there and fix all that. Ended up taking the thing down when we sold the house.

 

[FredR]

We had a basic tri-beam on a 40' tower, but over the years some of the elements rotated...nobody wanted to go back up there and fix all that. Ended up taking the thing down when we sold the house.

I did the same when I left California.

 

[FredR]

Unfortunately I spilled beer on my DXCC certificate.

 

[J!m]

I drive right by the AARL facility every day, to and from work.

Old (original, I presume) brick building out front and a large modern building behind it.

 

[mr_rye89]

Someday I'd like a tower with a tri-bander beam. I'll live with my 270-someodd ft long horizontal loop for now.....It actually works great on 40/80 but it ought to be up higher......

 

[FredR]

I drive right by the AARL facility every day, to and from work.

Old (original, I presume) brick building out front and a large modern building behind it.

Yes, the brick building was ARRL HQ until they outgrew it. Some history for those interested.

http://www.arrl.org/inside-w1aw

 

[Lazarus Short]

This may be the last step - I really prefer passive antennas, so I dug out a set of rabbit ears (minus all the electronic gee-gaws), mounted them on a glass base which used to serve for a desk pen and made the connection: four bars, good sound. It looks better too.

 

[Lazarus Short]

The weather is cooling - raining all day - not fit to be out, but the nice thing is that the FM reception is excellent!

 

[WOPL Sniffer]

Maybe a J pole?

https://www.hamuniverse.com/jpole.html

It’s omnidirectional. I have one made from 1/2” emt, a bracket, hose clamps, an so239 and bit of 12ga wire, it’s tuned to 144-ish mhz and kerchunks all 2m repeaters within 60 miles. One can be tuned for FM broadcast

J Pole ????

Hows about a stripper pole???


HUH?

 

[Gepetto]

This may be the last step - I really prefer passive antennas, so I dug out a set of rabbit ears (minus all the electronic gee-gaws), mounted them on a glass base which used to serve for a desk pen and made the connection: four bars, good sound. It looks better too.

Hopefully the classic vintage brown globe type rabbit ears Laz. Haven't seen a set of those in many years.

 

[Lazarus Short]

Hopefully the classic vintage brown globe type rabbit ears Laz. Haven't seen a set of those in many years.

Sorry to disappoint, but I used what I had on hand, a more modern version of rabbit ears, but they work well.