Should have used copper sulfate to increase ground conductivity around your ground wire, just mix it with the dirt before you bury the ground wire. Don't worry about the copper sulfate because they use it in plant food fertilizer, just less. Otherwise, good setup. Enjoy!
I did something like this for MW pirate radio in high school. Stealth run of wire across the peak of the roof using the chimney that was in the middle to hold it up 10 feet or so. Basically a really wide inverted V. Running 80 watts if gave a solid full quieting NVIS coverage all over the city. Wish I still had the space to do that again. Maybe I should make a transmitting loop.
I have owned outdoor antennas since 1992, but now those days are gone because of me living in a apartment, but I still use a long wire antenna that is connected to a magnetic balun (needs upgrading) to my Satellit 750. I hope that I get a house or townhouse one of these days.
THIS CAN BE USED TOO FOR SHORT WAVE RADIO. I USED TO HAVE ONE LIKE THIS IN MEXICO AND GOT A LOT OF AM STATIONS. FOR FM YOU CAN USE THE TV ANALOG ANTENNA JUST BE SURED TO PUT A WIRE IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND (NEGATIVE POLE) AND YOULL GET A LOT OF FM STATIONS AND ANALOG VHF STATIONS TOO.
Hello! There are no silly questions. Your antenna and ground are two separate things. So on this antenna there is no ground attached to the antenna anywhere. However I do have a separate ground that consists of 20ft bare copper wire buried a few feet under ground all coiled up. That ground it attached to the ground terminal of my radio. Hope that helps!
Hello Snowbird, At first I set up this antenna as were outlined in the original Fada antenna kit. After making this video I did install a lightning arrestor outside. I felt more comfortable with it outside instead of inside. In fact, when I was about 2 years old lightning hit my parents water tank, then bounced off of it and into the attic of our home burning it down. So lightning was already in my forethought.
your antenna is miss matched to your 75 ohm cable, the antenna inpedance is around 600 ohms, you loose a lot off signal due to the cablelower inpediance, to resolve you should use a inpediance transformer (balun) 1 to 9 or 1 to 4. your set up will work, but it can work even better! 73's! :) .
@@researchandbuild1751 doesn't matter at all actually. Hams are so stupid lmao can't think outside of the little factoids they read on some simpleton ham radio book.
@@KandiKlover I'm an electrical engineer and I agree with him. Not sure why keyboard warriors feel the need to attack someone who is being helpful. SMH
Thank you for the question! My antenna works very well. I listen to KOMO 1000AM from Seattle, and I live in Fresno CA! That's over 900 miles away. I also hear other stations from Nevada, Ohio, and more. Just remember your ground wire is just as important as a good antenna for those old radios that require both a ground and antenna. I do have many street lights around that are higher than my antenna, but I do still worry from time to time.
@@travisdozier1357 The thing about grounds is that it cancels out any noise and interference along the distance the antenna cable has to travel. You could find a ground spot inside the radio, or the casing if it's metal. Remember to connect the ground insulation of your antenna wire to that ground, and run it all the way to where it connects to the roof antenna. Receivers are generally sensitive to the length of the antenna too, so you might want to look into that and see if you can tune it any further. The length being the part of the antenna that isn't insulated by the ground winding.
Should be a terminal strip on the back of the chassis marked antenna (or A) on one screw, and (G) on the other screw. Depending on the age and storage conditions, these markings may be hard to see. If your radio has a transformer, the plug in sometimes doesn't matter. Antenna inputs are always marked "A" for antenna, and "G" for ground. There may be a third screw usually marked "C", to ground the antenna during transmitting to not overload the receiver while talking or using CW. Look closely and 'safey first'!
I kind of think you know the answer but you were giving others time to figure out how the spider web got to the other home. Most people do know that a spider allows it's web to free flow when it is moving its home to another location so it allows the wind to blow the web and because it is sticky it will stick to what ever it lands on, also it will allow the wind to carry its own-self to another location by riding the web.
@rich6955 I've never had a lightning strike......yet. And I will admit that I need to install a lightning arrestor. I would not install the wire directly laying down on the roof, I would suppose it could ground out in a humid condition. The antenna kit is actually from the early 1930's. I've since taught the spider to stretch out it's arms so I can receive more distant stations hahahaha. Glad you liked the video.
Thank you for your comment, however what you don't see is the lightning arrestor that is used, and that the coaxial cable is grounded. I get 100% no noise from any appliances and it works very well :)
How well does it work? I have not had much luck at all with roof antennas or antennas strung anywhere near my house. I have had good results on AM with a 45 foot sloper located in my backyard, about 35 yards from my house, which runs to the house via buried coax. The other issue with the roof set-up is lightning especially if the wire is mounted higher than surrounding buildings or trees. By locating the antenna in the yard, this risk is lessened, although this is not possible for everyone.
+David Kirwan That's exactly how they do it. Once they have the first strand connected between 2 points they can start to build it up from there just by walking across the original strand while dangling a 2nd strand under neath them. Then they continue from there by using 2 strands, and 3 strands, and 4 strands, and so on, and so on, and so on.
I was thinking about how the spider could get a strand of web to the next house like that..it could simply inject the web strand (all sticky with that spider sticky-stuff) into the wind and would be carried over the space and stick to the next house.
Wire loop connecting eyebolt on pipe to turnbuckle will part fairly soon. Use inexpensive carabiner or chain link from same hardware store you bought eye bolts and turnbuckles from. It will last.
Does anyone worry about lighting striking the antenna ? Would the tiny ground wire really help ?PS I know the ground wire helps with reception but what about the lighting ? Thanks.
Higher is better. Vertical vs horizontal is a question of polarization and it depends on how the transmitting station has their antenna polarized. I would not worry about it.
You have a great question. I know there is an art to antennas. However I do not know too much about antennas. There is a good deal of information on the internet. I do know speaker wire will work, and no matter what it will pick something up!
Ben Franklin would be proud of your lightning rod. If you have not already changed your lash-up, consider adding some sort of lightning protection OUTSIDE. universal-radio
Great Video, I was curious what ground wire actually connects to inside of the house? Does it connect to the back of one of your radio, a surge protector, or something different. Thx
Yup, that can happen however I have an isolated power supply so the smoke stays in :) Great reminder though, I actually forgot about that issue because I never had that problem myself before.
Nice project. Im willing to bet that would work even better if you either had a variable capacitor at the feed point or turned it into a dipole rather than an "end fed" design. Looks like fun!
The other approx 12" loop AM antenna designs seem to enjoy directing their antenna towards the source. Are you limited by your design being stationary. In other words do you find you're picking up some station real well because you're pointing right at them, other stations not so well? Thank U 4 the video.
Thank you! BTW I appreciate this video-glad you made it public, and I especially appreciate you emphasizing the importance of a good reliable ground! It certainly does quell a lot of noise to allow better SWL, as well as offer somewhat of an electrical path to ground for potential lightning or high static buildup at the antenna.
@eventvista1 Hello, the ground wire connects directly to radio. I really do need to obtain a lightning arrester though. I know, bad me! These old am radio's have an antenna and ground connections. I hope that answered you question
NEC REQUIRES a lightning arrestor before the feed enters the building on any and all antennas. In the unlikely event your antenna is struck by lightning and starts a fire, your homeowners will give you the finger if you file a claim. Good luck 🕊️
Also, Mostly I am looking for radio stations nearly due north of me, which all of the described locations are, so it might be possible to make it directional
Long wire are directional along their length but only slightly as used to receive. A number of things will affect its performance height , the length of wire, how electrically noisy your area is. Longwire suffer to electronic interference. If your wanting a very directional antenna you might want to build a loop antenna they are very good at nulling out side to side stations and pulling in long distance stations . You can even purchase a loop antenna like Tecsun AN-200.hope this helps
"digital antennas" for TV are a scam (if they are priced higher than "normal" antennas), all the digital channels broadcast on the same frequencies analog TV did. Up until last night I was using a pair of unamplified rabbit ears I have had for at least 20 years, I only changed to get a wall mounted antenna, because the rabbit ears took up space on my desk.
Thank you for the invitation to help you out, however It's probably not cost effective to have me travel to where ever your located. More importantly I specialize in the radios but not antennas, it just happens that this one far exceeded my expectations. These antennas are in fact directional. Are you looking to make a rooftop antenna like the one I made?
While im here... I bought one of those round antennas for AM, with the little tuner on them, its about 8 inches around... it helps some, but would a larger one get better reception, or doesnt the size of the circle matter ?
I bet the spider began on your neighbors roof, turned on his/her spinnerette, walked down the wall, over the lawn, up your wall, anchored it then pulled in the slack with their legs.
I dont know about the wind, he/she would have to be pretty lucky to have it blow them just where they wanted to go, and dont they turn their spinnerettes on ? the wind would have to have blown them when they were already fired up to make a line, while having it already attached from where they were blown from :)
Just a word of caution. Make sure your radio chassis is not "hot". I hooked up an old radio to an earth ground one time, and either the circuit was made to have the chassis float above ground, or I had the AC plug plugged in the wrong way. Hooked up the earth ground. POOF! Let ALL the smoke out! 8-(
Sounds like a Hallicrafters radio. For some time the S-38 series was AC/DC transformerless, and if you plugged it in wrong you did have the line votage on the case and chassis. We would ckeck with a voltmeter to see if the case or chassis was charged. If it was, then we would turn the plug over, ckeck it again to be sure. Later, we used pollarized three prong plugs for safety. Those old tube radios were known as "killers".
I need the best AM long distance reception antenna, indoors or outdoors. I need Orange County (90 miles), LA (120 miles) & San Francisco (500 miles, and further if possible). I believe what I need needs to be directional such as that which is described in this video (or a similar outdoor unit that I can also move around) ... I'm looking for a SERIOUS antenna, not my own science experiment. I am a paying client. Do you have a phone number or? I'm looking for the best long distance antenna
Should have used copper sulfate to increase ground conductivity around your ground wire, just mix it with the dirt before you bury the ground wire. Don't worry about the copper sulfate because they use it in plant food fertilizer, just less. Otherwise, good setup. Enjoy!
I did something like this for MW pirate radio in high school. Stealth run of wire across the peak of the roof using the chimney that was in the middle to hold it up 10 feet or so. Basically a really wide inverted V. Running 80 watts if gave a solid full quieting NVIS coverage all over the city. Wish I still had the space to do that again. Maybe I should make a transmitting loop.
I have owned outdoor antennas since 1992, but now those days are gone because of me living in a apartment, but I still use a long wire antenna that is connected to a magnetic balun (needs upgrading) to my Satellit 750. I hope that I get a house or townhouse one of these days.
Did you ever get that antenna?
THIS CAN BE USED TOO FOR SHORT WAVE RADIO. I USED TO HAVE ONE LIKE THIS IN MEXICO AND GOT A LOT OF AM STATIONS. FOR FM YOU CAN USE THE TV ANALOG ANTENNA JUST BE SURED TO PUT A WIRE IN CONTACT WITH THE GROUND (NEGATIVE POLE) AND YOULL GET A LOT OF FM STATIONS AND ANALOG VHF STATIONS TOO.
Hello! There are no silly questions. Your antenna and ground are two separate things. So on this antenna there is no ground attached to the antenna anywhere. However I do have a separate ground that consists of 20ft bare copper wire buried a few feet under ground all coiled up. That ground it attached to the ground terminal of my radio. Hope that helps!
spider: "nice wire bro-what do you think of mine?"
🤣🤣🤣
😂
Hello Snowbird, At first I set up this antenna as were outlined in the original Fada antenna kit. After making this video I did install a lightning arrestor outside. I felt more comfortable with it outside instead of inside. In fact, when I was about 2 years old lightning hit my parents water tank, then bounced off of it and into the attic of our home burning it down. So lightning was already in my forethought.
WOW!! You are hard core!!!! What I wouldn't give to check out your equipment and really scan the airwaves!!! Keep up the great work!!!!!
your antenna is miss matched to your 75 ohm cable, the antenna inpedance is around 600 ohms, you loose a lot off signal due to the cablelower inpediance, to resolve you should use a inpediance transformer (balun) 1 to 9 or 1 to 4. your set up will work, but it can work even better! 73's! :) .
Impedance matching isnt that big of deal with receiver antennas...
@@researchandbuild1751 doesn't matter at all actually. Hams are so stupid lmao can't think outside of the little factoids they read on some simpleton ham radio book.
@@KandiKlover I'm an electrical engineer and I agree with him. Not sure why keyboard warriors feel the need to attack someone who is being helpful. SMH
Will this work as a part 15 AM transmitter antenna?
Thank you for the question! My antenna works very well. I listen to KOMO 1000AM from Seattle, and I live in Fresno CA! That's over 900 miles away. I also hear other stations from Nevada, Ohio, and more. Just remember your ground wire is just as important as a good antenna for those old radios that require both a ground and antenna. I do have many street lights around that are higher than my antenna, but I do still worry from time to time.
SO I HAVE A SHORT ANTENA COMING OUT OF RADIO ..SO WHERE DO I HOOK THE GROUNG? TO THE CHASSIE?
So cool, i love long DX!
@@travisdozier1357 The thing about grounds is that it cancels out any noise and interference along the distance the antenna cable has to travel. You could find a ground spot inside the radio, or the casing if it's metal. Remember to connect the ground insulation of your antenna wire to that ground, and run it all the way to where it connects to the roof antenna. Receivers are generally sensitive to the length of the antenna too, so you might want to look into that and see if you can tune it any further. The length being the part of the antenna that isn't insulated by the ground winding.
Should be a terminal strip on the back of the chassis marked antenna (or A) on one screw, and (G) on the other screw. Depending on the age and storage conditions, these markings may be hard to see. If your radio has a transformer, the plug in sometimes doesn't matter. Antenna inputs are always marked "A" for antenna, and "G" for ground. There may be a third screw usually marked "C", to ground the antenna during transmitting to not overload the receiver while talking or using CW. Look closely and 'safey first'!
I kind of think you know the answer but you were giving others time to figure out how the spider web got to the other home. Most people do know that a spider allows it's web to free flow when it is moving its home to another location so it allows the wind to blow the web and because it is sticky it will stick to what ever it lands on, also it will allow the wind to carry its own-self to another location by riding the web.
@rich6955 I've never had a lightning strike......yet. And I will admit that I need to install a lightning arrestor. I would not install the wire directly laying down on the roof, I would suppose it could ground out in a humid condition. The antenna kit is actually from the early 1930's. I've since taught the spider to stretch out it's arms so I can receive more distant stations hahahaha. Glad you liked the video.
Thank you for your comment, however what you don't see is the lightning arrestor that is used, and that the coaxial cable is grounded. I get 100% no noise from any appliances and it works very well :)
How well does it work? I have not had much luck at all with roof antennas or antennas strung anywhere near my house. I have had good results on AM with a 45 foot sloper located in my backyard, about 35 yards from my house, which runs to the house via buried coax. The other issue with the roof set-up is lightning especially if the wire is mounted higher than surrounding buildings or trees. By locating the antenna in the yard, this risk is lessened, although this is not possible for everyone.
re spiders, they let out a strand of silk like a kite and let the wind do the work would be my guess!
+David Kirwan
That's exactly how they do it. Once they have the first strand connected between 2 points they can start to build it up from there just by walking across the original strand while dangling a 2nd strand under neath them.
Then they continue from there by using 2 strands, and 3 strands, and 4 strands, and so on, and so on, and so on.
Spider-Man!
Nice antenna installation!!
I was thinking about how the spider could get a strand of web to the next house like that..it could simply inject the web strand (all sticky with that spider sticky-stuff) into the wind and would be carried over the space and stick to the next house.
Thank you! I'm not that knowledgeable in antennas, but I do in fact receive some great SW signals from around the world with it.
NOW IL TRY AND BUILD ONE WHEN I GET ALL MY PARTS IN?
You said it was for am broadcast radio. It seems to me that it’s also good for shortwave broadcasts as well
Side note: Spiders use wind / breeze to carry their webs over a long distance.
Wire loop connecting eyebolt on pipe to turnbuckle will part fairly soon. Use inexpensive carabiner or chain link from same hardware store you bought eye bolts and turnbuckles from. It will last.
Spiders use the wind to drift their webs.
Does anyone worry about lighting striking the antenna ? Would the tiny ground wire really help ?PS I know the ground wire helps with reception but what about the lighting ? Thanks.
Higher is better. Vertical vs horizontal is a question of polarization and it depends on how the transmitting station has their antenna polarized. I would not worry about it.
You have a great question. I know there is an art to antennas. However I do not know too much about antennas. There is a good deal of information on the internet. I do know speaker wire will work, and no matter what it will pick something up!
Ben Franklin would be proud of your lightning rod. If you have not already changed your lash-up, consider adding some sort of lightning protection OUTSIDE.
universal-radio
Oh I love your house.. ur though of spider..your voice...the speed of speech... Everything in this vedio
What did you do with the coax shield?
There is another turnbuckle at the other end too :) Did you not watch the whole video?
Great Video, I was curious what ground wire actually connects to inside of the house? Does it connect to the back of one of your radio, a surge protector, or something different. Thx
Yup, that can happen however I have an isolated power supply so the smoke stays in :) Great reminder though, I actually forgot about that issue because I never had that problem myself before.
Nice project. Im willing to bet that would work even better if you either had a variable capacitor at the feed point or turned it into a dipole rather than an "end fed" design. Looks like fun!
@BJSTV Thank you Brian! I can actually receive signals greater than the expected range of the particular radio I'm using!
The other approx 12" loop AM antenna designs seem to enjoy directing their antenna towards the source. Are you limited by your design being stationary. In other words do you find you're picking up some station real well because you're pointing right at them, other stations not so well? Thank U 4 the video.
Thank you! BTW I appreciate this video-glad you made it public, and I especially appreciate you emphasizing the importance of a good reliable ground! It certainly does quell a lot of noise to allow better SWL, as well as offer somewhat of an electrical path to ground for potential lightning or high static buildup at the antenna.
Spider made his own longwire !
Spiders can float in the air.
Hello, when I long wire antenna, I plug the earth connection; radio noise sharply. What do you think is wrong with it?
@eventvista1 Hello, the ground wire connects directly to radio. I really do need to obtain a lightning arrester though. I know, bad me! These old am radio's have an antenna and ground connections. I hope that answered you question
NEC REQUIRES a lightning arrestor before the feed enters the building on any and all antennas.
In the unlikely event your antenna is struck by lightning and starts a fire, your homeowners will give you the finger if you file a claim.
Good luck 🕊️
let's go up on the ruuf
LOL. I hear it too.
Alexander Keith me too I thought it was just me hearing it. Lol
Spiders will use wind to carry themselves! And they can climb back up to the other rooftop once they plant themselves where the wind takes them.
Also, Mostly I am looking for radio stations nearly due north of me, which all of the described locations are, so it might be possible to make it directional
Long wire are directional along their length but only slightly as used to receive. A number of things will affect its performance height , the length of wire, how electrically noisy your area is. Longwire suffer to electronic interference. If your wanting a very directional antenna you might want to build a loop antenna they are very good at nulling out side to side stations and pulling in long distance stations . You can even purchase a loop antenna like Tecsun AN-200.hope this helps
I know that this antenna is meant for analog radio broadcasts (FM, AM, SW) but I wonder how good this would be with picking up digital TV broadcasts
No good, digital antennas are waay shorter due to high freq
"digital antennas" for TV are a scam (if they are priced higher than "normal" antennas), all the digital channels broadcast on the same frequencies analog TV did. Up until last night I was using a pair of unamplified rabbit ears I have had for at least 20 years, I only changed to get a wall mounted antenna, because the rabbit ears took up space on my desk.
You never know, or maybe the wind blew him over?
Thank you for the invitation to help you out, however It's probably not cost effective to have me travel to where ever your located. More importantly I specialize in the radios but not antennas, it just happens that this one far exceeded my expectations. These antennas are in fact directional. Are you looking to make a rooftop antenna like the one I made?
How did you crimp the antenna wire to itself after looping through the insulators? (edit) How directional is the antenna?
While im here... I bought one of those round antennas for AM, with the little tuner on them, its about 8 inches around... it helps some, but would a larger one get better reception, or doesnt the size of the circle matter ?
TangerineAW well what do you think?dummy
I bet the spider began on your neighbors roof, turned on his/her spinnerette, walked down the wall, over the lawn, up your wall, anchored it then pulled in the slack with their legs.
I dont know about the wind, he/she would have to be pretty lucky to have it blow them just where they wanted to go, and dont they turn their spinnerettes on ? the wind would have to have blown them when they were already fired up to make a line, while having it already attached from where they were blown from :)
Is this antenna grounded?
I see at 3:26, you have grounded the antenna properly.
Your adjuster is called a turnbuckle.
i guess it will be much better if you increase the height of your antenna a bit more.
Just a word of caution. Make sure your radio chassis is not "hot". I hooked up an old radio to an earth ground one time, and either the circuit was made to have the chassis float above ground, or I had the AC plug plugged in the wrong way. Hooked up the earth ground. POOF! Let ALL the smoke out! 8-(
Sounds like a Hallicrafters radio. For some time the S-38 series was AC/DC transformerless, and if you plugged it in wrong you did have the line votage on the case and chassis. We would ckeck with a voltmeter to see if the case or chassis was charged. If it was, then we would turn the plug over, ckeck it again to be sure. Later, we used pollarized three prong plugs for safety. Those old tube radios were known as "killers".
Does it work with shortwave?
at least one of the ends You could hook up to the mast of H=6-30 ft. +1
Nice work.
@fadatuberadioman Thanks for the help.
Live real life videos of how people do stuff. Thanks
Yup, size matters LOL, can't believe I just said that.
What is your farthest nighttime catch with that?
Spider-Man!
I need the best AM long distance reception antenna, indoors or outdoors. I need Orange County (90 miles), LA (120 miles) & San Francisco (500 miles, and further if possible). I believe what I need needs to be directional such as that which is described in this video (or a similar outdoor unit that I can also move around) ...
I'm looking for a SERIOUS antenna, not my own science experiment.
I am a paying client. Do you have a phone number or?
I'm looking for the best long distance antenna
Did you ever get your antenna?
I think your right.
It would be helpful to know how/ if it works. just sayin'
not a good antenna . may want to pick up a antenna book lol
Where's your antenna video?