Hi Tracy. I started out as an SWL in 1958 when my dad was gifted a British-made Pye radio by a sea captain. It came with a 100' wire, and had 8 bands from LW to 4 SW. I had many years of listening pleasure and donated it to my Scout Troop in Nova Scotia in 1997 when I left there. Your video worked well and was very informative. Thanks again.
5 Stars. This was one of the best informational videos I have ever seen. I really liked the static picture format showing results instead of a much longer meandering video like we have all sat through to get the information. Great job! As to content, thank you very informative. I purchased the EF-SWL after watching your video. I don’t have my license yet but I do have a Tecsun S-2000 Portable radio FM / MW / SW - SSB / AIR band radio for which I have been trying to find an external antenna. This should be perfect for me.
I recently bought this antenna for use with my portable sw radios. This antenna allows for many configurations for experimentation which is what I enjoy doing. I'm still in the process of comparing it with my original random wire set up. I also grew up listening to sw on my uncle's Realistic radio that you showed at the beginning.
A very useful video. Thanks. I have a lot of success with a SW loop antenna for my listening as well as an active loop antenna. I have limited funds for radios and antennas and find the Tecsuns and my own long wire and random wire antennas are perfect for economical SW listening. Keep the videos coming.
Thanks for this info. I'm a former RAF radio tech but have since forgotten much of the antenna theory. I also like your clear articulate Englsh, I can't say the same for your American neighbours, I give up on trying to understand many of them. All the best from Australia.
Great test. I would consider putting up a separate antenna if I had a dedicated receiver in order to eliminate antenna switching, etc. My experience has been with SWL receivers that a length of wire strung up in trees does the trick! Thanks Tracy!
Thank you Chris...I agree 100%...I could just see myself blowing up the EF-SWL if I had it connected to the main rig in my shack. Truth is, I did that with a couple of Par antennas by transmitting on the wrong band years ago. That's the primary reason I switched to HyEndFeds. They don't do that.
Another thing to take into cosideration is SNR. You may get the same signal or even a bit lower, but if the antenna is quieter, it may provide better SNR. Thanks for the video.
As a ham I agree with your thoughts as well. I don't feel like the money and effort would gain me anything. The slide show was very well done and interesting. Got the information across without video. I also use the FT897 and love it.
Good video Tracy! The slideshow worked well. My only complaint is that I can't use the cold weather here in Indiana as an excuse not to go out and play radio when you do videos like this in Canada! : )
The weather is Indiana is pretty much identical to the weather here in southern Ontario Stuart. Now the winter weather in Northern Ontario and anything west to to the Rockies : that's a different story. I wouldn't be going out that either if I lived there.
My wife and I are studying for our ham license in the US, and for us the listening antenna may make sense since the entry level technician license doesn't allow for much on the HF bands.
Hi Tracy , I am Gary VE3NCV from the shores of the great lakes in Ontario. I love your radio. I have the FT 897 as well with the auto tuner mounted on the side. Great radios
Thanks for the comparison Tracey. I have the EF-SWL antenna that I use for SWL. I've often wondered about using it as a separate receive antenna for HF. Good comparison though the bands. I'm glad you chose to present the video as you did. It turned out great. Thanks for all you do for the hobby. K8RDG.
Every time I see one of your videos you are in your true element which is....the harsh elements of Canadian cold weather...I definitely can't complain of Upstate NY's cold weather too much!
I found this video very helpful. As a HF listener only using a loop antenna and an ICOM IC745 HF Transceiver, I have been looking for some frequencies to try. Thank you! Patrick from Albuquerque
Good job Tracy, thanks for a great job on the video. I think the slideshow worked well also. With all that is going on in the world. information is key to getting the truth without the crazies and TV junk. I lost most of my antennas in the last 6 weeks dew to ice storms so when i am in the SWL bands a antenna just for that is impossible for me to do. great test and info. 73s from Wisconsin...N9XCK...Dan
Hi Dan, it is great to hear from you. I am sorry to hear about your antennas. Hopefully you can get them back up again soon. Hang in there during these strange times. 73 my friend.
Great video / slideshow. Thanks for posting. My own experiments with similar setups ( inverted V against end fed random wire), gave me one interesting difference. They both performed equally well in signal strength but the dipole had less noise ( QRN). I put that down to the fact that being a 'balanced' design is quieter than a random wire. Good fun!
Thank you for your comment! Interesting results you had. If you are referring to a classic longwire, then the wire is exposed to a lot of QRM as it makes its way to the shack. That would certainly result in noisy reception.
I guess Im asking the wrong place but does someone know of a trick to get back into an instagram account? I somehow lost my account password. I would love any tips you can offer me.
@Noah Jagger Thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm trying it out atm. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Great video ( shame about the shoot, but the talk over/ talk through was A++++++) really informative, great to use what we studied for being put to use these days , 9/10 the 4 figure sets do it all now ,,, loved it
Were both antennas the same height and oriented the same direction. I also have the Parr self but havent used it for a while. I'm finding 2 antennas and diversity monitoring is outstanding. Good video
Thank you! The OCF was at 25 feet and the EF-SWL was at 20 feet. Both were oriented in the same direction. I'd like to try using diversity reception one day.
That's right. Those 2 different antennas make different lobe patterns that are not going to be pointing equally at any one target station's direction even if you could get them parallel, same height and isolated from other nearby various materials. Oh. I think that's what you just said. LOL!
I have a 40M Inverted V that works very well, on 40M. I had a rather large reel of double strand, Bell Wire, fully insluated, copper. I ran a length of this to the attic above the garage, the length of the house, out through the roof vent and to the backyard fence. This was originally intended for nothing more than SWLing. I found the antenna to radiate exceptionally on 14 & 28/29MHz. In fact, I worked Venezuela 🇻🇪 and Argentina 🇦🇷 on 28 MHz USB yesterday, and tonight worked the Cayman Islands 🇰🇾 29MHz FM. All this with minimal SunSpots. Nice this happened while the Virus 🦠 has us all at home.
Thanks for the advice and information. Watching from Kentucky “ The Bluegrass State “. Home of Kentucky Fried Chicken 🍗. Great information,… thanks again .
With many of your examples, the directionality or lack of it of the antennas had a HUGE effect on the differing readings. A complete diagram of your antenna site, antenna placement and such would have sufficed. Also, a single graph of the listed solid signals would also have sufficed. de KQ2E
At the 4:00 mark of the video, you can see both antennas are aligned parallel to one another, negating antenna direction as a significant factor. I should have made mention of that.
Live w/o my license now... re-up is to intrusive... Now happy with. A portable receiver, and a cell phone/ printer to document . Now antennas are 3. each #1 ten meter #2 7meter # 3 3.5 meters.(hand wound for storage). This scheme by passes. The need for a tunner....es ...as I'm partly crippled and 72 years. I just toss the antenna out my autos window at a clear spot. Hook up to auto's chassis for ground.😊😊😊
Thanks for the video it’s was an interesting comparison, I imagine it could also be the directional properties of each antenna. As I understand it an end fed directivity is off the end of the antenna as in a beverage antenna and with an off centre dipole is off the side of the antenna.
I hope some day you would show comparision of tuned dipole at 20m vs this antenna on a faint signal. I hope you make a comparision not on S readings but perseived S/N ratio. Maybe you can ask a co-ham to taransmit a qrp signal tone and do some SNAD analysis. Thanks anyways nice video VU2INL
I have the situation of having several rigs and receivers monitoring different ranges simultaneously so having dedicated antennas has advantages. I actually think in the case of a permanent install (as in my case) I would prefer a longer wire than your test antenna uses (traditional thinking - longer wire gives greater signal capture).
Hi Tracy, Very useful information. Shame about the lose of the audio. FB with the talk over during the slideshow. Hope to get you in the log one day. 73 WB3BJU
Thank you for your thoughts on Short wave , I am in the middle of setting up my Ham band radio and love listening to SW. I started out in Africa (Kenya) when I was 15 (In 1953) and setup a Ex military TX and RX, took my ham test and passed, but could not learn Morse at that was Mandatory, But this was Africa and as a teenager I made it work and got dozen of contacts even made up my own call sign.. However now I finally am going to get back into Ham radio and am looking for all the help I can get. I have bought a radio FT-991A and made a few j-pole antennas and am looking at HF but my Geography is not very large,( * I thought of a off center fed Antenna) so I am looking at my choices carefully with very low budget. Please don't do the Maths, Yes I am old fart, but I can still climb up on the roof, yes fallen twice but that wont stop me. I am yet to take my test but I have been in the TV , Satellite and Radio business all my life so I should be able to get on with the program. Any ideas ? john R
Hi John, thank you for sharing your experience! For a home location with not a lot of space, at the very least consider a 20 meter dipole of endfed antenna, or one that will cover 20-15-10 meters. HyEndFed sells a nice short 3 band model which has 40 meter coverage. Good luck!
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir Than you for your feedback and advise, I was very interested as I replayed your video of how you compared the results. One other question that worries me... I have my TV antenna close to the end of my wire antenna and I don't want to "Fry" its masthead amp, Is there any chance it will?. I am not worried about RFI as I wont be using both TV and Ham radio at once. Thanks again, 73 ... john R
Hi John, the truth is I do not know the answer to your question. I would definitely try to keep the endfed antenna as far away from the TV antenna and preamp as possible.
For receive, almost anything will do. It doesn't have to provide a perfect match or be long or massive. Most of us are limited by external noise from modern gadgets now, so there's not a lot of point putting up a huge, highly sensitive array. It's a different matter on TX though.
Some presentations work better with narrative format then adding the radio station and atmospheric noise when comparing antennas. The S meter worked well as a comparison of antenna receive performance.
You did a good job of rebounding after finding out your audio was gone. Do you have a suggestion for a good base transmitting receiving antenna? I have room. I have an end fed half wave antenna that covers 80-10 meters. I am not sure if I am getting the best performance out of it. I need to do more adjusting the height and SWR a little bit yet. I don't have anything to compare it to except for my mobile unit with the Shark Distributing whips which I am well satisfied with.
Thank you for leaving a comment! Get the high end of the antenna just as high as you can get it, away from other objects if at all possible. If the antenna is a good one, it should provide decent results at heights of 30 feet or more. Experience has taught me HyEndFed antenna are a great choice. Yes, they are expensive.
My Pixel PRO Magnetic Loop antenna ( now DX Engineering) has made SWL listening enjoyable again in the city as compared to my 20M dipole because of a machine shop next door. City dwellers should consider a magnetic loop such a a Mag Loop 30 $50 due to the electrical noise.
im new to ham stuff so some of the terminology isnt there for me but that seems really good .... ur presentation seems good even though ur mic crapped out pictures very informative thank you :)
Nicely presented Tracy. I wonder how well a receive wire would do at home with all the man made noise about. I’ve often thought of trying a dedicated RX loop myself. 73
Hi Tim, nice to hear from you! The reason the EF-SWL has 3 external connections is to give a way to mitigate QRM via grounding. Line isolators would help, too. 73 from VE3TWM.
Great video. Perhaps you should make a small table showing results for each measurement. Also, I wonder if feeding this dipole with an open line feedline would have produced better results on receive and transmit. You already have a tuner on your radio.
I enjoy all the informative videos you have posted over the years. Thank you. I wanted to ask about your LDG FTL Meter, and your satisfaction using it. I use a Yaesu FT857D, and most times struggle miss having a large meter in addition. thanks for any comments LDG FTL Meter. 73s
@@garys.7846 I appreciate that Gary S. I'm saving my pennies and going to go with the LDG FTLmeter. I like the big display and the backlight. Thanks for the referral. 73.
I have the EF- SWL antenna. I found it abit tricky to get the local noise out of the line. I configured it as a sloper. Sadly hf aero, which is what I chiefly listen to, is all but non-existent for now w/the virus outbreak.
Hello fellow Ham'ers, Good video man... I'm sure the bands maybe a little more active due to the current events .. Hope all are good, stay safe, wear a mask (anykind will help imo) if you have to go to local grocers , the life you save maybe your own or a loved one ... take care
Thanks good information,l use a swl antenna 105 ‘ from 2nd floor house (reciever only)to my shop and G5RV Antenna from my roof chimney to shop( icom 7300)l often wondered if there is much of a difference. I might just use my spare G5RV for my icom R75 from our bedroom for night listening.Paul VA7ZZT
Can any of you SW experts suggest a great NON-AC antenna for my pitiful little SW Texsun PL660. I mean, I didn't spend $125 on the receiver to spend another $300 on an antenna for it and I don't want to have to hang 200 feet of wire from the trees in my back yard to get decent Short Wave reception. Any suggestions? A manufacture and model number would be great!
Can I buy a radio that will enable me to tune into the 915Mhz audio signal transmitted from my BAUM wireless headset cradle so I can listen to the audio from my Fox HDMI port adapter
Buddipoles are great for rapid portable deployment but they have to be tuned for specific frequency ranges. They also cost a lot more than the SWL antenna shown in this video.
Hi! Where’s a good online place to shop for shortwave antennas? Hyend.com? Really liked your video. I don’t have an antenna tower yet but looking for a way to improve radio reception, including those for the aircraft band. 73’s from Kris KD7MHB
What would you think for using it for SWL on SDR? I’m new to ham and just starting to listen to VHF/UHF on an RTL-SDR powered by a Raspberry Pi while studying for my first ticket and I’m looking for an antenna to tune in the HF bands.
Hi Brandon, I would not hesitate to use the EF-SWL with a general coverage HF receiver like an SDR. It's a good choice, especially where space is limited.
I saw you have the FC30 tuner. do you think it could tune the hyendfed in 40m? it only provides acceptable swr under 7.100 and it gives high swr alert over that with 50w+ (40,20,10 triband hyendfed)
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir Ok .a loop like this for exemple .www.ebay.fr/itm/Gain-eleve-Low-Noise-MLA-30-100kHz-30MHz-Loop-Active-Short-Wave-Receive-Antenne-/174204274465?gclid=Cj0KCQjwyPbzBRDsARIsAFh15Jbqhqe4IPan3ZB6URDp_9eaVD34nfK22-flAZnlIH0srZFgwEEhvxIaAmY-EALw_wcB&var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=709-53476-19255-0&campid=5338666530&toolid=10044&customid=Cj0KCQjwyPbzBRDsARIsAFh15Jbqhqe4IPan3ZB6URDp_9eaVD34nfK22-flAZnlIH0srZFgwEEhvxIaAmY-EALw_wcB. THANK YOU. 73'S FROM FRANCE
The other option for your video loss of sound would be to add a talk over as you have done for this video, result, video with audio albeit not the original soundtrack. Good video nonetheless.
Very good video , I am a SWLer. I think you did a enformative piece on the product ! I am looking in to buying one . 73 and think you very much Sir .
Nice clear pronunciation, so often the T is ignored, the pace and delivery I would rate as ‘the best’! We are blessed with your content.
Thank you very much!
What bothers me is when people pronounce the "T" in "often", because the T is silent.
Hi Tracy. I started out as an SWL in 1958 when my dad was gifted a British-made Pye radio by a sea captain. It came with a 100' wire, and had 8 bands from LW to 4 SW. I had many years of listening pleasure and donated it to my Scout Troop in Nova Scotia in 1997 when I left there. Your video worked well and was very informative. Thanks again.
Thank you for your fascinating comment! Now that's a rig with a great history 👍
5 Stars. This was one of the best informational videos I have ever seen. I really liked the static picture format showing results instead of a much longer meandering video like we have all sat through to get the information. Great job!
As to content, thank you very informative. I purchased the EF-SWL after watching your video. I don’t have my license yet but I do have a Tecsun S-2000 Portable radio FM / MW / SW - SSB / AIR band radio for which I have been trying to find an external antenna. This should be perfect for me.
Thank you very much for your comment. It's a good antenna, I think you'll like it! And you can use it with a tuner and 5 watts output.
I recently bought this antenna for use with my portable sw radios. This antenna allows for many configurations for experimentation which is what I enjoy doing. I'm still in the process of comparing it with my original random wire set up.
I also grew up listening to sw on my uncle's Realistic radio that you showed at the beginning.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
A very useful video. Thanks. I have a lot of success with a SW loop antenna for my listening as well as an active loop antenna. I have limited funds for radios and antennas and find the Tecsuns and my own long wire and random wire antennas are perfect for economical SW listening. Keep the videos coming.
Thank you very much for your comment! Good DX to you on the SW bands.
Thanks for this info. I'm a former RAF radio tech but have since forgotten much of the antenna theory. I also like your clear articulate Englsh, I can't say the same for your American neighbours, I give up on trying to understand many of them. All the best from Australia.
Thank you and 73 from VE3TWM in Canada! 🇦🇺🇨🇦
Great test. I would consider putting up a separate antenna if I had a dedicated receiver in order to eliminate antenna switching, etc. My experience has been with SWL receivers that a length of wire strung up in trees does the trick! Thanks Tracy!
Thank you Chris...I agree 100%...I could just see myself blowing up the EF-SWL if I had it connected to the main rig in my shack. Truth is, I did that with a couple of Par antennas by transmitting on the wrong band years ago. That's the primary reason I switched to HyEndFeds. They don't do that.
Outdoors On The Air Ooops!! Is your email on QRZ?
Very helpful video. The slideshow worked well. Thanks. I am an inactive AC1IH but your encouragement will make me move!
Glad to hear you are on the move, Amit! 73 from VE3TWM.
Great video..learned alot ..more than a boring classroom..thanks for the passion of teaching help us radio lovers.
Thank you!
Another thing to take into cosideration is SNR. You may get the same signal or even a bit lower, but if the antenna is quieter, it may provide better SNR. Thanks for the video.
Excellent point!
As a ham I agree with your thoughts as well. I don't feel like the money and effort would gain me anything. The slide show was very well done and interesting. Got the information across without video.
I also use the FT897 and love it.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, I appreciate it!
Good video Tracy! The slideshow worked well. My only complaint is that I can't use the cold weather here in Indiana as an excuse not to go out and play radio when you do videos like this in Canada! : )
Well you know what that means, Stuart...no more excuses 😀
The weather is Indiana is pretty much identical to the weather here in southern Ontario Stuart. Now the winter weather in Northern Ontario and anything west to to the Rockies : that's a different story. I wouldn't be going out that either if I lived there.
My wife and I are studying for our ham license in the US, and for us the listening antenna may make sense since the entry level technician license doesn't allow for much on the HF bands.
Good luck with your exams!
Hey, stuff happens. The slide show was fine. It is always good to check out receive-only antennas. Thanks!
Thank you for the feedback, David!
Hi Tracy , I am Gary VE3NCV from the shores of the great lakes in Ontario.
I love your radio. I have the FT 897 as well with the auto tuner mounted on the side. Great radios
Hi Gary, we are both in the 897 fan club.
Thanks for the comparison Tracey. I have the EF-SWL antenna that I use for SWL. I've often wondered about using it as a separate receive antenna for HF. Good comparison though the bands. I'm glad you chose to present the video as you did. It turned out great. Thanks for all you do for the hobby. K8RDG.
Thank you very much!
Every time I see one of your videos you are in your true element which is....the harsh elements of Canadian cold weather...I definitely can't complain of Upstate NY's cold weather too much!
So it seems 😂
Great video! Love this info for the receive/SWL community. Good stuff! Cheers!
Thank you!
I found this video very helpful. As a HF listener only using a loop antenna and an ICOM IC745 HF Transceiver, I have been looking for some frequencies to try. Thank you!
Patrick from Albuquerque
Thank you for your comment, Patrick!
Good job Tracy, thanks for a great job on the video. I think the slideshow worked well also. With all that is going on in the world. information is key to getting the truth without the crazies and TV junk. I lost most of my antennas in the last 6 weeks dew to ice storms so when i am in the SWL bands a antenna just for that is impossible for me to do. great test and info. 73s from Wisconsin...N9XCK...Dan
Hi Dan, it is great to hear from you. I am sorry to hear about your antennas. Hopefully you can get them back up again soon. Hang in there during these strange times. 73 my friend.
WTG as always. Great information
It was a pleasure to meet you in the Burlington ham fest.
L.
Thank you, Len. It was a pleasure meeting you, too!
Great review. I think the slide show approach was probably a better/faster way of presenting the results anyway.
Thank you!
Great video / slideshow. Thanks for posting.
My own experiments with similar setups ( inverted V against end fed random wire), gave me one interesting difference.
They both performed equally well in signal strength but the dipole had less noise ( QRN).
I put that down to the fact that being a 'balanced' design is quieter than a random wire.
Good fun!
Thank you for your comment! Interesting results you had. If you are referring to a classic longwire, then the wire is exposed to a lot of QRM as it makes its way to the shack. That would certainly result in noisy reception.
I guess Im asking the wrong place but does someone know of a trick to get back into an instagram account?
I somehow lost my account password. I would love any tips you can offer me.
@Skylar Kylo Instablaster ;)
@Noah Jagger Thanks for your reply. I got to the site on google and I'm trying it out atm.
Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Noah Jagger it did the trick and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy!
Thanks so much, you really help me out!
Great video ( shame about the shoot, but the talk over/ talk through was A++++++) really informative, great to use what we studied for being put to use these days , 9/10 the 4 figure sets do it all now ,,, loved it
Thank you!
Were both antennas the same height and oriented the same direction. I also have the Parr self but havent used it for a while. I'm finding 2 antennas and diversity monitoring is outstanding.
Good video
Thank you! The OCF was at 25 feet and the EF-SWL was at 20 feet. Both were oriented in the same direction. I'd like to try using diversity reception one day.
Once again Tracy, you got me thinking about trying something new! Great video and Thanks.
Thank you!
My impression is that we were looking at directional attenuation on some of those tests.
That's right. Those 2 different antennas make different lobe patterns that are not going to be pointing equally at any one target station's direction even if you could get them parallel, same height and isolated from other nearby various materials. Oh. I think that's what you just said. LOL!
@@AlioMcDavis That's why the results were so unpredictable....too bad
Thank you for your information. It clearly explained, over my head but seance I’m new to swl in time I’ll understand.
You're welcome! Keep at it and you'll start to connect the dots.
Tracy, tnx for the video, it went very well with no audio the comparison was very interesting. 73 Ed
Thank you, Ed! 73 from VE3TWM.
Hello, good video shows what can be done, a hobby is always fun, thanks from Rotterdam,
Thank you from VE3TWM in Canada!
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir keep up the good work, 73 Rotterdam
Nice comparison, Tracy. Thanks.
Thank you!
I have a 40M Inverted V that works very well, on 40M. I had a rather large reel of double strand, Bell Wire, fully insluated, copper. I ran a length of this to the attic above the garage, the length of the house, out through the roof vent and to the backyard fence. This was originally intended for nothing more than SWLing. I found the antenna to radiate exceptionally on 14 & 28/29MHz. In fact, I worked Venezuela 🇻🇪 and Argentina 🇦🇷 on 28 MHz USB yesterday, and tonight worked the Cayman Islands 🇰🇾 29MHz FM. All this with minimal SunSpots. Nice this happened while the Virus 🦠 has us all at home.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Thanks for the advice and information. Watching from Kentucky “ The Bluegrass State “. Home of Kentucky Fried Chicken 🍗.
Great information,… thanks again .
Always nice to hear from my friends in KY. Thank you for your comment!
With many of your examples, the directionality or lack of it of the antennas had a HUGE effect on the differing readings. A complete diagram of your antenna site, antenna placement and such would have sufficed. Also, a single graph of the listed solid signals would also have sufficed. de KQ2E
At the 4:00 mark of the video, you can see both antennas are aligned parallel to one another, negating antenna direction as a significant factor. I should have made mention of that.
Live w/o my license now... re-up is to intrusive... Now happy with. A portable receiver, and a cell phone/ printer to document . Now antennas are 3. each #1 ten meter #2 7meter # 3 3.5 meters.(hand wound for storage). This scheme by passes. The need for a tunner....es ...as I'm partly crippled and 72 years. I just toss the antenna out my autos window at a clear spot. Hook up to auto's chassis for ground.😊😊😊
Thanks for the video it’s was an interesting comparison, I imagine it could also be the directional properties of each antenna. As I understand it an end fed directivity is off the end of the antenna as in a beverage antenna and with an off centre dipole is off the side of the antenna.
Thank you for your comment!
I hope some day you would show comparision of tuned dipole at 20m vs this antenna on a faint signal. I hope you make a comparision not on S readings but perseived S/N ratio. Maybe you can ask a co-ham to taransmit a qrp signal tone and do some SNAD analysis. Thanks anyways nice video VU2INL
I have the situation of having several rigs and receivers monitoring different ranges simultaneously so having dedicated antennas has advantages. I actually think in the case of a permanent install (as in my case) I would prefer a longer wire than your test antenna uses (traditional thinking - longer wire gives greater signal capture).
I agree with you.
Great video all the same. Going out this afternoon to instal a random longwire with 9>1 unun around my tiny garden.
That's the spirit!
Hi Tracy,
Very useful information. Shame about the lose of the audio. FB with the talk over during the slideshow. Hope to get you in the log one day. 73 WB3BJU
I'm looking forward to that contact, Don! 73 from VE3TWM.
Great video on testing with wire Antennas on the receive Side of the Spectrum !!
Thank you!
Thank you for your thoughts on Short wave , I am in the middle of setting up my Ham band radio and love listening to SW. I started out in Africa (Kenya) when I was 15 (In 1953) and setup a Ex military TX and RX, took my ham test and passed, but could not learn Morse at that was Mandatory, But this was Africa and as a teenager I made it work and got dozen of contacts even made up my own call sign.. However now I finally am going to get back into Ham radio and am looking for all the help I can get. I have bought a radio FT-991A and made a few j-pole antennas and am looking at HF but my Geography is not very large,( * I thought of a off center fed Antenna) so I am looking at my choices carefully with very low budget. Please don't do the Maths, Yes I am old fart, but I can still climb up on the roof, yes fallen twice but that wont stop me. I am yet to take my test but I have been in the TV , Satellite and Radio business all my life so I should be able to get on with the program. Any ideas ? john R
Hi John, thank you for sharing your experience! For a home location with not a lot of space, at the very least consider a 20 meter dipole of endfed antenna, or one that will cover 20-15-10 meters. HyEndFed sells a nice short 3 band model which has 40 meter coverage. Good luck!
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir Than you for your feedback and advise, I was very interested as I replayed your video of how you compared the results. One other question that worries me... I have my TV antenna close to the end of my wire antenna and I don't want to "Fry" its masthead amp, Is there any chance it will?. I am not worried about RFI as I wont be using both TV and Ham radio at once. Thanks again, 73 ... john R
Hi John, the truth is I do not know the answer to your question. I would definitely try to keep the endfed antenna as far away from the TV antenna and preamp as possible.
Really interesting. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for our comment!
For receive, almost anything will do. It doesn't have to provide a perfect match or be long or massive. Most of us are limited by external noise from modern gadgets now, so there's not a lot of point putting up a huge, highly sensitive array. It's a different matter on TX though.
Thank you for your comment. There are ways to combat the noise so keep trying.
Some presentations work better with narrative format then adding the radio station and atmospheric noise when comparing antennas. The S meter worked well as a comparison of antenna receive performance.
Thank you, George!
Great comparison, thanks!
Thank you!
You did a good job of rebounding after finding out your audio was gone. Do you have a suggestion for a good base transmitting receiving antenna? I have room. I have an end fed half wave antenna that covers 80-10 meters. I am not sure if I am getting the best performance out of it. I need to do more adjusting the height and SWR a little bit yet. I don't have anything to compare it to except for my mobile unit with the Shark Distributing whips which I am well satisfied with.
Thank you for leaving a comment! Get the high end of the antenna just as high as you can get it, away from other objects if at all possible. If the antenna is a good one, it should provide decent results at heights of 30 feet or more. Experience has taught me HyEndFed antenna are a great choice. Yes, they are expensive.
My Pixel PRO Magnetic Loop antenna ( now DX Engineering) has made SWL listening enjoyable again in the city as compared to my 20M dipole because of a machine shop next door. City dwellers should consider a magnetic loop such a a Mag Loop 30 $50 due to the electrical noise.
Thank you for the testimonial! I'm really interested in getting a loop for myself one day.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir My only regret is that I took about six months after delivery to finally put it up....😀
im new to ham stuff so some of the terminology isnt there for me but that seems really good .... ur presentation seems good even though ur mic crapped out pictures very informative thank you :)
Thank you and hang in there! You'll be up to speed in no time.
It's fine! Great video and hope your doing well! Take care
Thank you!
Nicely presented Tracy. I wonder how well a receive wire would do at home with all the man made noise about. I’ve often thought of trying a dedicated RX loop myself. 73
Hi Tim, nice to hear from you! The reason the EF-SWL has 3 external connections is to give a way to mitigate QRM via grounding. Line isolators would help, too. 73 from VE3TWM.
Great video. Perhaps you should make a small table showing results for each measurement. Also, I wonder if feeding this dipole with an open line feedline would have produced better results on receive and transmit. You already have a tuner on your radio.
Interesting ideas, Tom!
I enjoy all the informative videos you have posted over the years. Thank you. I wanted to ask about your LDG FTL Meter, and your satisfaction using it. I use a Yaesu FT857D, and most times struggle miss having a large meter in addition. thanks for any comments LDG FTL Meter. 73s
Thank you for your comment! Generally speaking, I like the FTL-meter. It can be tough to find a spot for it on my desk, though.
I found a reasonable (i.e, cheap) Chinese knock-off of the LDG display on ebay, but it doesn't have a backlight.
@@garys.7846 I appreciate that Gary S. I'm saving my pennies and going to go with the LDG FTLmeter. I like the big display and the backlight. Thanks for the referral. 73.
I have the EF- SWL antenna. I found it abit tricky to get the local noise out of the line. I configured it as a sloper. Sadly hf aero, which is what I chiefly listen to, is all but non-existent for now w/the virus outbreak.
Thank you for sharing your experience!
Great video. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you!
Any antenna can be use for swl and other things just not one type of antenna
Hello fellow Ham'ers, Good video man... I'm sure the bands maybe a little more active due to the current events .. Hope all are good, stay safe, wear a mask (anykind will help imo) if you have to go to local grocers , the life you save maybe your own or a loved one ... take care
Thank you, stay safe!
I agree. Thanks for the well done demo. KC3BXZ Joe 73
You're welcome and thank you for your comment! 73 from VE3TWM.
Thanks for sharing
You're welcome!
Thanks good information,l use a swl antenna 105 ‘ from 2nd floor house (reciever only)to my shop and G5RV Antenna from my roof chimney to shop( icom 7300)l often wondered if there is much of a difference. I might just use my spare G5RV for my icom R75 from our bedroom for night listening.Paul VA7ZZT
Thank you for sharing your experience, Paul!
I typically use a shortwave radio
I have a 160 meter doublet. I doubt that any short wave receive only antenna will beat it, unless I would put up something even longer then it.
I agree.
Can any of you SW experts suggest a great NON-AC antenna for my pitiful little SW Texsun PL660. I mean, I didn't spend $125 on the receiver to spend another $300 on an antenna for it and I don't want to have to hang 200 feet of wire from the trees in my back yard to get decent Short Wave reception. Any suggestions? A manufacture and model number would be great!
Go with the Vibroplex EF-SWL. It's only 45 feet long and will bring your receiver to life.
thx again tracy, keep well 73
Thank you and 73 from VE3TWM!
Great info
Thank you!
Can I buy a radio that will enable me to tune into the 915Mhz audio signal transmitted from my BAUM wireless headset cradle so I can listen to the audio from my Fox HDMI port adapter
Try a wide band SDR.
Worked out fine
Thank you for the feedback!
I have a Grundig satellite radio and was wondering if a buddypole would do the job?
Buddipoles are great for rapid portable deployment but they have to be tuned for specific frequency ranges. They also cost a lot more than the SWL antenna shown in this video.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir I already have one thats been sittin in my closet for some time and ready to sell it. Thanx for your response
Hi! Where’s a good online place to shop for shortwave antennas? Hyend.com? Really liked your video. I don’t have an antenna tower yet but looking for a way to improve radio reception, including those for the aircraft band. 73’s from Kris KD7MHB
Thank you for your comment, Kris! 73 from VE3TWM.
What would you think for using it for SWL on SDR? I’m new to ham and just starting to listen to VHF/UHF on an RTL-SDR powered by a Raspberry Pi while studying for my first ticket and I’m looking for an antenna to tune in the HF bands.
Hi Brandon, I would not hesitate to use the EF-SWL with a general coverage HF receiver like an SDR. It's a good choice, especially where space is limited.
A good pole (inverted V) di-pole well oriented do the job perfectly, that's my opinion.
Thank you for sharing!
I'm getting into SWL only and want a good all-band antenna. Do you think the EF-SWL would be about as good as anything else for this?
The EF-SWL offers terrific performance in a fairly short (45') package. It gets a thumbs up from me.
I saw you have the FC30 tuner. do you think it could tune the hyendfed in 40m? it only provides acceptable swr under 7.100 and it gives high swr alert over that with 50w+ (40,20,10 triband hyendfed)
Yes it will. You can try adjusting the length of that antenna, too.
Still images are fine. It's not like your subject is running around...
Good point.
how abt the SNR? I heard that OCF dipoles have much noise. Whats your experience?
I don't have the space to put up an OCF at home. When I've used them in the field, I have not found OCF's to be noisy.
I AM SWL FROM FRANCE I LIVE IN APPARTMENT .WHAT ANTENNA I CAN BUY FOR INTERIOR ? 73'S
Try a magnetic loop...or do what I do and go to a park 😀
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir Ok .a loop like this for exemple .www.ebay.fr/itm/Gain-eleve-Low-Noise-MLA-30-100kHz-30MHz-Loop-Active-Short-Wave-Receive-Antenne-/174204274465?gclid=Cj0KCQjwyPbzBRDsARIsAFh15Jbqhqe4IPan3ZB6URDp_9eaVD34nfK22-flAZnlIH0srZFgwEEhvxIaAmY-EALw_wcB&var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=709-53476-19255-0&campid=5338666530&toolid=10044&customid=Cj0KCQjwyPbzBRDsARIsAFh15Jbqhqe4IPan3ZB6URDp_9eaVD34nfK22-flAZnlIH0srZFgwEEhvxIaAmY-EALw_wcB.
THANK YOU. 73'S FROM FRANCE
Den er god og jeg vil meget gerne købe sådan en.
The other option for your video loss of sound would be to add a talk over as you have done for this video, result, video with audio albeit not the original soundtrack. Good video nonetheless.
Thank you! I'm always learning when it comes to video editing.
Wait you had a picture of a iCOM 7300?
I thought they were an enemy of the state?
Uh oh...I hadn't heard that.
@@OutdoorsOnTheAir Ray Novack says everyone has one kg6mn
super
Merci, Claude!
Antenna tuner will give much the same results