I made a minor change in the indoor balanced vertical this evening and it was a good improvement.
Until now it had been a couple of rooms away fed by a 40' length of RG-58 50 ohm coax. There was a significant noise issue and a number of birdies that swamped a number of frequencies. And, some electrical buzz would run for 30 seconds on and a minute off. Gave me 2/3rds DX time. I replaced the RG-58 with CAT5 ethernet cable of about the same 40' length. At each end is a 110 to 50 ohm balun. The 50 ohm side goes to the antenna and the receiver. The CAT5 cable is a nominal 110 ohm impedence. Additionally I use a 450 to 50 ohm balun on the antenna. I really could have just used a 450 to 110 ohm transformer if I had such a beast, but no... What it did was to pretty near remove all the noise and birdies. I can listen to weak signals now and the noise is under them. Some problem noises simply vanished and none are really a pest right now. 1330 was unuseable most of the time but WSPQ-1330 Springville, NY has been fading in and out. The noise would have buried it before the cable change. 1140 was equally unusable, but now it's clear. I have to say I am very pleased with using CAT5 ethernet cable instead of coax. Noise and signal ingress is much less. It's also cheaper and much easier to put connectors on the ends. I have tried it to connect a ferrite loop in my truck but it really didn't help reduce the ignition noise. I think I'm stuck with that until I swap the 350 Chevy V8 for a Cummins 4BT diesel. For those who may not have seen the vertical antenna article, it's here: http://www.am-dx.com/vertical.htm Craig Healy Providence, RI _______________________________________________ IRCA mailing list [email protected] http://montreal.kotalampi.com/mailman/listinfo/irca Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org To Post a message: [email protected]
