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For the Longwire {Random Wire} Antenna to Coax Cable "Connection" - - - Think 'Matching Transformer' !

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RHF

unread,
Sep 20, 2005, 1:53:35 PM9/20/05
to
For One and All,
.
For the Longwire {Random Wire} Antenna to Coax Cable "Connection"
- - - Think 'Matching Transformer' !
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortwave-SWL-Antenna/message/5343
.
RF Systems Magnetic Longwire Balun (MLB)
http://www.universal-radio.com/catalog/antsup/1484.html
http://www.rys.nl/rfsystems2.html
.
Palomar MLB-1 Magnetic Longwire Balun
http://www.palomar-engineers.com/MLB-1/mlb-1.html
http://www.antennex.com/palomar/page_6.htm
.
Universal Magnetic Balun UMB - by WellBrook
http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/UMB.html
- - - How to Rig a Longwire Antenna using the UMB
http://www.wellbrook.uk.com/longwire.html
.
WiNRADiO WR-LWA-0130 Long Wire Antenna Adapter
http://www.grove-ent.com/WR0130.html
http://www.winradio.com/home/lwa.htm
.
Longwire / Random Wire Antenna Matchers
for Shortwave Listener (SWL) - by RF Junkie
http://www.geocities.com/qrp_baluns/LM.html
* SWLZ Longwire {Random Wire} Antenna Impedance Matcher with
"F" Connector for RG6 (RG-6) Coax Cable Feed-in-Line
http://www.geocities.com/qrp_baluns/SWLZ.html
* Hooking-Up the SWLZ(F) as a Low Noise Inverted "F" Antenna
http://www.geocities.com/qrp_baluns/APP-SWLZ.html
Application Note - For Using the SWLZ Antenna Matcher
* RadioShack RG6 (RG-6) Coax Cable Info
RG6 COAX CABLE => http://tinyurl.com/cmroy
* RadioShack "F" Adapters
"F" ADAPTERS => http://tinyurl.com/af9tj
.
For a Complete Random Wire Antenna with Matching Transformer
Check-Out the Par Electronics End Fed - Shortwave Listener
(EF-SWL) Antenna with Balun - just add the Coax Cable
and Ground Wire (and your Radio) .
http://www.parelectronics.com/swl_end.htm
http://www.grove-ent.com/ANT8.html
.
.
READ - Magnetic Longwire Balun - Not Really a Balun
- by John Doty
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/antenna/feed/magbal2.html
.
READ - Magnetic Longwire Balun - a Con or Not ?
- via HardCoreDX.Com
http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx/antenna/feed/magbal1.html
* Gives marvalous reception in a noisy environment.
* An expensive solution. (Ian Smith)
* Mixed results. (Andrew Clegg)
* Just a con? (Dave Kenny)
* No, it's not a con. (Brian Underdown)
* Works great on lower frequencies.(Wian Sianstian)
* Misleading ads - and a very expensive solution. (Don Moore)
.
.
iane ~ RHF
.
All are WELCOME and "Invited to Join" the
Shortwave Listener (SWL) Antenna eGroup on YAHOO !
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortwave-SWL-Antenna/>
SWL ANTENNAS GROUP => http://tinyurl.com/an6tw
.
Some Say: On A Clear Day You Can See Forever.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Shortwave-SWL-Antenna/message/502
.
I BELIEVE: On A Clear Night . . .
You Can Hear Forever and Beyond, The BEYOND !
With a Shortwave Listener SWL Antenna of your own making.
"If You Build It {SWL Antenna} You Will Hear Them !"
.
.
. .

nm...@wt.net

unread,
Sep 20, 2005, 5:04:54 PM9/20/05
to
The links are groovy and all, but actually in the real
world, it's fairly rare to need impedance matching
for a random or long wire, to a coax center pin.
Only with very short wires, might it really be worthwhile.
But with any wire say, 50 ft or longer, the use of
impedance matching is usually totally unneeded for
any decent HF radio. The chance of a mismatch
lowering the actual s/n ratio is slim. I almost never use
matching on random wires to any of my radios. It's just
not needed. You have such a high overall signal level
that losing a bit won't hurt you. For sure on the lower
bands. If I were to wanna match a random wire, I would
use a random wire tuner. IE: MFJ 16010, or whatever it
is... "I have owned one since the late 70's". Using a tuner
can reduce image problems in cheaper radios.
On the high bands, sometimes a tuner can help to peak
things up, but even still it's unlikely to actually increase
the s/n ratio much when using a random wire to the center
pin only. Test it and see. Only when the atmo noise level doesn't
drop when unhooking the antenna is there a problem.
If you hook up the antenna, and the noise increases, even
slightly, it's really as good as it's gonna get, unless you just
want to pump up the S meter. If you end up actually needing
matching on many bands, you gotta really dead front end.
Just mentioning this in case some read the title, and think it's
actually required for good reception. I've run a jillion random
wires of various length with nothing more than sticking it in
the center pin of the radio. Never had a problem with lack of
signal, unless the wire was super short.
MK

dxAce

unread,
Sep 20, 2005, 5:37:27 PM9/20/05
to

nm...@wt.net wrote:

It'll sure make a difference if you're into DX'ing.

dxAce
Michigan
USA


cuh...@webtv.net

unread,
Sep 20, 2005, 6:07:49 PM9/20/05
to
Kook Art Bell on Sunday night (or was it Saturday night?) gave out a
www.smeter.net (or something like that) wbsite.The Kook said you can
listen to some Shortwave radio at that website and the Kook also said
you can click on a link on his (Kook) website and see some of his
antennas.Personally,I believe that Kook is mostly about show and tell
and no substance concerning his Shortwave stuff.Pagan Love Song movie is
on tv now,I saw that movie when it first came out.
cuhulin

cuh...@webtv.net

unread,
Sep 20, 2005, 6:11:04 PM9/20/05
to
Groovy??????
cuhulin

RHF

unread,
Sep 20, 2005, 8:17:56 PM9/20/05
to
Cuhulin,

Art Bell must be reading my old posts here and other places.

OnLine Listener Test of a Remotely-Controllable
Kenwood R-5000 Receiver via the S-Meter.Net
LISTEN HERE => http://www.smeter.net/slc/slc.php

Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
From: "RHF" <rhf-newsgro...@pacbell.net>
Date: 17 Jan 2005 08:04:29 -0800
Local: Mon, Jan 17 2005 9:04 am
Subject: How I Heard . . . KGO 810 kHz AM Radio form 745 Miles Away
LINK => http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kenwood-r5000/message/987

How I Heard . . .
.
[ Another "On Topic" Post 'originated' by RHF ]
.
KGO 810 kHz AM Radio form 745 Miles Away from the
comfort of "My Shack" in OK-Land, Cali-4-Ni-A ;-}
[ Hey may be this counts as a 1490 Mile Round Trip :<]
.
Sounds Strange... But It Is True !
.
VIA - Remotely-Controllable Kenwood R-5000 Receiver
that is located about 13-Miles North of Salt Lake City
LISTEN HERE => http://www.smeter.net/slc/slc.php
- provided by Your "Remote S-Meter" WebSite
.
TIP - Actually a Remote Controlled Receiver like this
can be "Used" to 'help' Identify a Questionable Signal
and also to 'aide' in Confirming (Validating) a Mystery
Signal Heard at your location. {A Second Source}
.
just for the fun of it ~ RHF
.
All are WELCOME and "Invited to Join" the . . .
Kenwood R-5000 (R5000) Communications Receiver
Group on YAHOO !
.
R5000 => http://groups.yahoo.com/group/­kenwood-r5000/
.
NOTE - The Kenwood R-5000 (R5000) Communications Receiver
is the last and the best Full Coverage Receiver by Kenwood.
.
.
. .

cuh...@webtv.net

unread,
Sep 20, 2005, 11:38:40 PM9/20/05
to
I have an old Universal Radio catalog around here somewhere that dates
back about six or seven years and on one of the pages in the catalog is
an article (with pictures) of a hand held Kenwood radio with an
accessory camera attachment thingy.Two or more Kenwood radios like that
with the accessory camera thingys and the radios can send
pictures/videos to other same same Kenwood radios anywhere in the
World.Sort of the forerunner of cell phones with built in cameras,I
guess.
cuhulin

Brian

unread,
Sep 21, 2005, 2:06:10 PM9/21/05
to

<nm...@wt.net> wrote in message
news:1127250294.6...@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I've been using the Palomar MLB with 82ft of random wire over my house with
a dedicated ground on my R-75 for a couple years now. The MLB makes a
dramatic difference in the noise level while increasing the signal strength
anywhere on the SW spectrum. Seems like a lot of people are missing out on
some good dx and a generally more pleasant to listen to radio because they
have not tried this minor purchase. All I have to do is try a direct
connection to the radio's center pin and the degradation of performance is
large- under any atmospheric conditions.
Brian


David

unread,
Sep 21, 2005, 2:21:04 PM9/21/05
to

You're not matching the wire to the radio. You're matching the wire to
the coaxial cable. It makes a huge difference.

nm...@wt.net

unread,
Sep 26, 2005, 12:55:02 AM9/26/05
to
>You're not matching the wire to the radio. You're matching the wire to
>the coaxial cable. It makes a huge difference.

But still rarely enough to improve the actual s/n ratio. But
in my original post, I was implying the use of the random
direct with no coax used. Unless there is a reason to remote
the feedpoint, IE: to escape a noisy house, there is little
need to use the coax feed. But even with the coax feed,
the chances of coax loss reducing the s/n level on HF is pretty
rare for a decent radio. But of course, this will depend on the
coax used also. Most of mine is 213, which is fairly low loss,
even with a mismatch. rg-58 would not fare quite as well
on the upper bands, although I still doubt it would lose s/n unless
super long, or old, etc..
With my IC-706mk2g, and my multiple paralleled dipoles,
there is no HF frequency where it helps my s/n ratio to use
matching from the antenna to the coax, or to use my tuner.
Even on 10m, I have plenty of background noise present
when I have the antenna connected.
The only band that is improved using a tuner, is 160m.
In that case, the tuner does act to reduce MW strength to
the radio, which reduces images across 160m.
Sure, using matching will often boost the level you see to the
radio. But as long as you had background noise present
with no signal, the noise increases at the same level as the
desired signals. There is no change in s/n ratio. The meter
is just pumped up...

In this case..


>I've been using the Palomar MLB with 82ft of random wire over my house with
>a dedicated ground on my R-75 for a couple years now. The MLB makes a
>dramatic difference in the noise level while increasing the signal strength
>anywhere on the SW spectrum.

I don't know what a "MLB" is... A tuner I assume? Or maybe a
preselector?
This is unrelated to the need for impedance matching a random wire to
a coax feed.
In your case, you are either cleaning up a radio with a preselector, or
you
are using some method that provides better decoupling of the feedline.

A ground in itself means nada. Ground is a noise source actually.
But using ground as the shield connection to a coax fed random wire
can improve decoupling of the feedline.
*This* is what is lowering noise, *NOT* the improved match. Or at
least,
as far as s/n ratio on HF is concerned. If using matching actually
improves
the s/n ratio, either #1, the radio is half dead, or very cheap, or #2,
the coax
is super lossy, long length, etc... But it would have to be some
*really* dead
coax on HF. The lower the freq, the less the loss per foot. On the
lower
HF bands, the loss of coax is very low. Approaching ladder line
standards
nearly... You can have a real high SWR, and it ain't gonna kill you.
Impedance matching should *never* be confused with decoupling
the antenna from the feedline. Totally unrelated. You can have a high
SWR,
and have real good decoupling, or visa versa. Or backwards... Again the

two are totally unrelated. It's the *decoupling* of the feedline that
is what
actually benefits most SWL'ers. Not the improved match. The improved
match is overkill in 95% of the cases. Not to say it can't be used for
the
max transfer of power, but just saying it's almost never actually
neccessary
for good reception on a decent radio.

>Seems like a lot of people are missing out on
>some good dx and a generally more pleasant to listen to radio because they
>have not tried this minor purchase.

I'm not one of them. I use only balanced wire antennas. Mostly dipoles.

But also a large yagi on the upper HF bands. I can hear stuff on that
beam,
many people would likely drool over, if they are using just random
wires.
To me, a random wire is a generally poor design, and something I'd
only use as a last resort. Not saying they aren't quite usable for
general
SWL use, but they can be improved on fer sure... Just a balanced dipole

is a big improvement in general over a random wire in general
operation,
ease of decoupling, etc... And as a bonus, you don't need a ground
connection for proper operation. Anywhere. Antenna, feedline, or radio.
:)
All verticals I use, have ground radials, etc, and are also "complete"
antennas.

MK

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