Thanks to all who have answered this one for me. Can somebody explain how to and why we should ground antennas? If memory serves, when I have touched an antenna wire to a ground, like plumming say, the signal went away entirely. So, what am I missing?
Thanks again. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Max Robinson Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 23:55 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Antenna construction question Hi William. You could fill an entire library with books written about antennas. What you describe is known as a loop antenna. However the length you had would have been very good for frequencies from 10 to 50 kHz, and the efficiency would fall off at higher frequencies. Also the orientation is important. For AM broadcast the box should have been oriented vertical and rotated for best reception of the particular station. I have tried making loop antennas out of that telephone wire and they never worked very well. I think the insulation used is very lossy at radio frequencies. After all, the stuff was never intended to be used for radio work. A loop antenna is optimum for only one frequency. It is possible to make them tunable by connecting a variable capacitor, commonly known as a tuning condenser to the loop. When you get up to short wave, above 3 MHz, a length of wire strung along an outside wall is best. Anything from 6 to 30 feet. If you are in a single family house you can string wire in the attic. That gives you good length, gets it out of sight, gives a little height which is always helpful, and doesn't require climbing trees or on the roof to install. Regards. Max. K 4 O D S. Email: m...@maxsmusicplace. <mailto:max%40maxsmusicplace.com> com Transistor site http://www.funwitht <http://www.funwithtransistors.net> ransistors.net Vacuum tube site: http://www.funwitht <http://www.funwithtubes.net> ubes.net Music site: http://www.maxsmusi <http://www.maxsmusicplace.com> cplace.com To subscribe to the fun with tubes group send an email to, funwithtubes- <mailto:funwithtubes-subscribe%40yahoogroups.com> [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Stephan" <wstep...@everestkc. <mailto:wstephan%40everestkc.net> net> To: <blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com> Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 5:23 PM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Antenna construction question >I hope this is topical here. I'm thinking about buying myself one of those > continuous coverage radios that are made by Grundig, I'm looking at a > satellite actually. So, I think I need an antenna. If I can avoid it, > I'd > rather not install one out of doors, though I guess I could if there was > no > other way around the problem. Anyway, at one time, I build an antenna > using > four way cable like you'd use for running a telephone circuit. Basically, > I > had a hundred feet of the stuff, and spliced the ends of two of the cables > so thaqqt I in affect had four hundred feet. Then, I very carefully > coiled > the spliced cable flat inside a clean pizza box, then placed the cardboard > top over the coil to hold things in place. I used to put this in a window > when I lived in a highrise, and it seemed to work, though reception was > very poor because we were very near electrified rail yards. So, my > question(s), is this a worthwile antenna to try and use? And, if so, do I > want to use fourway telephone cable, or the type of cable used to connect > the actual telephone instrument to the wall jack? If anybody has other > suggestions for easy-to-build antennas, I'd appreciate hearing them. > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > ------------------------------------ > > Send any questions regarding list management to: > blindhandyman- <mailto:blindhandyman-owner%40yahoogroups.com> [email protected] > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://www.acbradio <http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_ page&PAGE_id=33&MMN_position=47:29> .org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=33&MMN_ position=47:29 > Or > ftp://ftp.acbradio. <ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/> org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio <http://www.acbradio.org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday> .org/news/xml/podcast.php?pgm=saturday > > Visit The Blind Handy Man Files Page To Review Contributions From Various > List Members At The Following address: > http://www.jaws- <http://www.jaws-users.com/JAWS/handyman/> users.com/JAWS/handyman/ > > Visit the archives page at the following address > http://www.mail- <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/> archive.com/[email protected]/ > > If you would like to join the JAWS Users List, then visit the following > address for more information: > http://www.jaws- <http://www.jaws-users.com/> users.com/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > blindhandyman- <mailto:blindhandyman-help%40yahoogroups.comYahoo> [email protected]! Groups Links > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
