Fences and gutters as antennas?
David J. Kanter
I have a portable shortwave radio (Sony 7600G) and live in a large
city. I'm surprised how well the whip antenna works, but am curious to see how
far I can go with this portable.
On a whim, last night I took the radio into my apartment's gangway,
and using alligator clips, hooked the antenna to a long chain-linked fence,
and then gutter. The fence runs maybe 100 feet, north-south. The gutter is
about 40-50 feet, and runs vertical. Both certainly measureably improved
reception over using the whip antenna IN THE GANGWAY, but nothing quite so
drastic compared to where I normally keep the radio (I only tested the
5900kHz-6200kHz band).
My question is, how good are chain-linked fences and gutters on brick
apartment buildings, in the city, as antennas? The thing is, both fence and
gutter are in a gangway, which is more cramped than the courtyard, which is
where my radio faces.
Thanks,
David J. Kanter
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. USA
djka...@nwu.edu
GDerrin260
David, I have used many things as antennas. I have used a gutter, though
it was tricky connecting it to aluminum, in rural Minnesota.
I used a fire escape on my apartment building in Lynn, Mass. (worked very
well indeed).
In a trailer, I ran a long insulated wire suspended by wooden, stand-up
T-squares about eight inches above the roof.
The goal is to experiment. Remember, the longer antennas tend to work best
at low frequencies and vice versa. My only question is: Doesn't a long
antenna overload your receiver? If you want to hear WBZ every 10 or 15
khz, just come to my house near Boston and attach a long antenna to most
receivers! Good luck!
Ray Wilson
David,
How about a Slinky? Let it dangle out one of your windows... Let me
know how it does for your reception.
Ray
Greg White
On Wed, 5 Jun 1996, Ray Wilson wrote:
> Date: Wed, 05 Jun 1996 08:47:23 -0400
> From: Ray Wilson <n3...@voicenet.com>
> Newsgroups: rec.radio.shortwave
> Subject: Re: Fences and gutters as antennas?
It will put a lot of bounce in the reception.
Nicholas Evancik
GDerrin260 (gderr...@aol.com) wrote:
: David, I have used many things as antennas. I have used a gutter, though
--
an enormous screen door or window is'nt too bad either.
Nicholas Evancik
f600...@bcfreenet.seflin.lib.fl.us
David J. Kanter
In article <5...@pbu60.rhesys.mb.ca>,
cha...@pbu60.rhesys.mb.ca (Charles Mikelson) wrote:
>I use the metal screens in my apt. I just attach an alligator clip
>to the screen and connect it to the external antenna jack it works
>great. I thought I'd try what I could after reading the message
>you posted.
>
>Charles
>
>
I'ce tried this, but clipped to the whip antenna. Do you think plugging it
into the external antenna jack would be any different? If so, are there
alligator clips that have a clip on one end and a phone jack on the other end
(basically, how did you do the setup)?
Charles Mikelson
T E I X E I R A
My grandfathe used the 110v outlet (D A N G E R! ! !) for an antenna.
Do not try this unless you know what you are doing. He would use one
side only of the outlet. If you use both you will be in a world of hurt.
He claimed it worked well.
Jonathan Helis
I've seen ads in magazines and newspapers many times for a product
that does just that, plug it into an electrical outlet and it makes
the home's electrical wiring an antenna. They advertise this thing
for TV, FM, and every other band you can imagine. I've never bought
or used one, so I don't know how it works.
Remy Friess
T E I X E I R A <teix...@ccnet.com> wrote:
>My grandfathe used the 110v outlet (D A N G E R! ! !) for an antenna.
>Do not try this unless you know what you are doing. He would use one
>side only of the outlet. If you use both you will be in a world of hurt.
>He claimed it worked well.
>
>
It may work fairly well on condition the power lines are not underground.
I used to do that too with my old vacuum-tube radio and it worked well on
LW, MW as well as SW.
Now I have moved house and I don't do that anymore. I don't think it's
any good on solid-state radios anyway.
What I do sometimes however is connect the antenna socket to the central
heating system of the house, which is all made of copper and which pulls
in a nice signal strength
Ross Archer
djka...@nwu.edu (David J. Kanter) wrote:
[Regarding using a window screen/door screen for an antenna]
>I'ce tried this, but clipped to the whip antenna. Do you think plugging it
>into the external antenna jack would be any different?
For my Sony 7600G, the signal is usually significantly stronger
attached to the *center conductor* of the antenna jack than it is
to the whip. Your mileage may vary.
How to try it is to go to Radio Shack and get a solder-type plug
(often 274-286A, if you have standard 1/8" antenna jacks) and
remove the plastic outer coating. I then use a wire with alligator
clips on both ends -- one end on the window screen and the other
on the center conductor. The reception goes up dramatically from
the built-in whip. For comparison, you can just clip the alligator
clip to a thin part of the whip. If you compare "whip" vs. antenna
jack, I'd be interested in your results.
Tinpan
>T E I X E I R A <teix...@ccnet.com> wrote:
>>My grandfathe used the 110v outlet (D A N G E R! ! !) for an antenna.
>>Do not try this unless you know what you are doing. He would use one
>>side only of the outlet. If you use both you will be in a world of hurt.
>>He claimed it worked well.
>I've seen ads in magazines and newspapers many times for a product
>that does just that, plug it into an electrical outlet and it makes
>the home's electrical wiring an antenna. They advertise this thing
>for TV, FM, and every other band you can imagine. I've never bought
>or used one, so I don't know how it works.
I bought one, and tried it cause my Rabbit Ears on my TV didn't get
the job done, in the apartment I was in...
The little Gizmo provided worse reception than the Rabbit Ears....
Don't waste your money, If you really want to try one, I will send you
mine, for free...
Tinpan
Roger Basford
<rossa...@earthlink.net> writes
>djka...@nwu.edu (David J. Kanter) wrote:
>
>[Regarding using a window screen/door screen for an antenna]
I missed the original posting but in a handbook for the British Mk123
transmitter/receiver which was used for covert communications there are
several drawings of improvised antennas using metal bed frames, wires
taped around the walls of a room and using the outer braiding of TV
antenna coaxial downlead. The rig was also supplied with a small pull-
out wire antenna almost identical to the one supplied wth Sony RXs
nowadays.
I've used a wire fence as a counterpoise earth against a long wire for
transmitting and provided it's reasonably insulated, say by being
mounted on concrete posts, it'll probably work OK as an RX antenna.
Roger Basford, G3VKM
*///////////////////////////////////////*
* e-mail: Bas...@g3vkm.demon.co.uk *
* Roger Basford, Haddiscoe, Norfolk U.K.*
*///////////////////////////////////////*
Bas...@g3vkm.demon.co.uk
From: Roger Basford <Bas...@g3vkm.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Fences and gutters as antennas?
Organization: Home
Roger Basford, G3VKM
--
|Fidonet: Bas...@g3vkm.Demon.Co.Uk 1:377/51.2
|Internet: Bas...@g3vkm.Demon.Co.Uk
|
| Standard disclaimer: The views of this user are strictly his own.
Ty...@oconee.em.slb.com
From: ty...@oconee.em.slb.com (Tinpan)
Subject: Re: Fences and gutters as antennas?
Organization: Schlumberger
kb5...@popalex1.linknet.net (Jonathan Helis) wrote:
Tinpan
--
|Fidonet: Ty...@oconee.Em.Slb.Com 1:377/51.2
|Internet: Ty...@oconee.Em.Slb.Com
Daniel Grunberg
in a posting to rec.radio.shortwave
Date: Fri Jun 28 16:37:19 1996
Roger Basford <Bas...@g3vkm.demon.co.uk> said:
>I missed the original posting but in a handbook for the British
>Mk123 transmitter/receiver which was used for covert
>communications there are several drawings of improvised antennas
>using metal bed frames, <snip>
When I was growing up in Brooklyn, one of my teen-aged ham pals had
a World War II surplus, Mark II tank transmitter (with English and
Russian markings, yet). The Mark II came with a variometer, (i.e.
a variable inductor) and a metering scheme, that made it easy to
load up short lengths of wire at 3 to 8 Megacycles (not yet MHz).
Loading eight or ten feet of wire stretched across a bedroom/ham
shack was very handy for us City folk, because, at the time, many
landlords of rent controlled buildings could and would charge
additional rent for running outdoor antennas. Eventually my friend
became curious enough to try loading up things other than his usual
nine feet of hookup wire. One day, he was running 75 watts into
his Mark II's final tube, and he loaded-up his steel bed frame.
My friend had forgotten that his inner-spring mattress was
inductively coupled to the single turn of steel that was the bed-
frame. The coupled radio frequency energy scorched his bedspread.
(;-))
--
Dan Grunberg Kensington, Maryland USA
T E I X E I R A
A local Ham W6QWK was recently the "Fox" in a T-Hunt here in
Fremont, CA. From an article in "73" magazine he used a tree.......yes a
real live tree as an antenna. He dorve 2 spikes in to the tree and
used a tuner. When the people in the T hunt found the sight the whole
tree was radiating. He also used a 70cm rig to jam the 3rd harmonic
and the actual transmitter was buried.
Don AC6TG
Roger Basford
In article <4r7099$7...@freenet-news.carleton.ca>, Daniel Grunberg
<ce...@FreeNet.Carleton.CA> writes
>
>Loading eight or ten feet of wire stretched across a bedroom/ham
>shack was very handy for us City folk, because, at the time, many
>landlords of rent controlled buildings could and would charge
>additional rent for running outdoor antennas. Eventually my friend
>became curious enough to try loading up things other than his usual
>nine feet of hookup wire. One day, he was running 75 watts into
>his Mark II's final tube, and he loaded-up his steel bed frame.
>My friend had forgotten that his inner-spring mattress was
>inductively coupled to the single turn of steel that was the bed-
>frame. The coupled radio frequency energy scorched his bedspread.
>
Dan,
Perhaps there should be a contest for the weirdest antenna used by SWLs
or amateurs. I can remember seeing a "beer-can vertical" used by a
station in the Persian Gulf in a magazine some years ago for example.
The best one I can contribute is a local urban legend. The local hams
used to hold a regular Sunday morning net on 160 metre AM. One of the
hams was a signalman on the railways and if he was on duty at the time
of the net he would load up one of the telegraph wires as an antenna. As
he had a nearly straight run of 7 miles into the town where the rest of
the Net were he put in a pretty good signal with only ten watts DC
input!
73, Roger G3VKM
T E I X E I R A
I suspect the loading up of bed springs is an "Urban Legand". It is
quite possible to do...........