You don't ground the antenna. You ground the ground terminal of the receiver, if it has one. That gives the antenna something to work against. Having an antenna without a ground is like trying to operate a light bulb from one wire. You always need two wires to make a complete circuit. Some types of balanced antennas, such as those for FM and TV, don't need a ground to work. Their lead-in has two wires already. Some receivers will ground themselves through the power line.
Regards. Max. K 4 O D S. Email: [email protected] Transistor site http://www.funwithtransistors.net Vacuum tube site: http://www.funwithtubes.net Music site: http://www.maxsmusicplace.com To subscribe to the fun with tubes group send an email to, [email protected] ----- Original Message ----- From: "William Stephan" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 7:30 PM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Antenna construction question > 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] > > > ------------------------------------ > > Send any questions regarding list management to: > [email protected] > To listen to the show archives go to link > http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=33&MMN_position=47:29 > Or > ftp://ftp.acbradio.org/acbradio-archives/handyman/ > > The Pod Cast address for the Blind Handy Man Show is. > http://www.acbradio.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-users.com/JAWS/handyman/ > > Visit the archives page at the following address > http://www.mail-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-users.com/ > For a complete list of email commands pertaining to the Blind Handy Man > list just send a blank message to: > [email protected]! Groups Links > > > >
