External Antenna

[Hal9000]

Do any of you "Frequency Of The Week" posters regularly use an external antenna for your DXing? If so, what are you using?

 

[formula72]

Yes, I do. I have two external antennas

I have had the tecsun AN-200 loop for a few years now. It does fine, but its just not big enough to grab some of the weaker stations.

For the weaker stations, and for much more fun, I pull out my 20" PK loop. It was a bit pricey ( about $240 which included shipping ), but wow, it works great.

One of these days, I might break down and get a Wellbrook 1530 or another PK loop that covers the 3-18MHz , as i graduate up the dial into shortwave territory

 

[boombox4]

I use my PR-D5 (in my den) without aid of a loop, as I mainly do casual DX listening with it. My other radios are in another room most of the time, and when I DX with them I nearly always use an external loop, because I am surrounded by hills and the loops add a db or so, which helps with DXing. My loops are a Select-A-Tenna, an AN200, a Radio Shack loop in need of a new tuner cap, and my 1.5 ft. Crate loop.

 

[WCJ]

Use a Sangean 909X for all my DXing alternating a Terk Advantage and a long wire which was around 160' pre Hurricane Harvey now about 30' post Hurricane Delta. Shortened length due to falling limbs and the loss of an oak tree used for a tie off point.

 

[kf4rca]

I use a Select-A-Tenna.

 

[kenglish]

I use a Select-A-Tenna.

The Select-A-Tenna was very popular years ago. I think they made several versions.
TFT included one with their rack-mounted EAS receivers. We went with an outdoor antenna on ours, and the S-A-T stayed under a bench, where Vic Hamrick and I kept an eye on it. Vic finally asked if he could have it, and the boss said "OK".

 

[crainbebo]

I have a Select-A-Tenna in the apartment, but I don't use it often. Too much RFI out here and I'm in a busy apartment complex where if I go outside at 11pm, I still have to deal with people who might be curious or suspicious of my DXing activities...
Most of my AM DXing is through an SDR (Not mine) about 6 1/2 miles east of me. The SDR is north of the city of Kittitas. It runs a Wellbrook ALA-1530LN Pro and while omnidirectional, it does very well with AM DX.

No external FM antenna. Just the whip on my ATS-909X, which has worked brilliant wonders throughout last year's Eskip season, and up in the mountains. Dream antenna however? An Antennacraft FM-6 and a rotor that I can point in any direction I please. But that's when I get my first house.

 

[kenglish]

Not sure you will find Antennacraft any more, except used. Radio Shack/Tandy owned them for a few years, before going out of business. The old factory was bought by a company in southern Utah that makes retail POS furnishings, and is now making metal parts of store counters.
I had a Radio Shack FM-10 (I guess that was the number) back in the mid-70's, while in the Navy in Southern Maryland. With a rotor, I was able to get hundreds of stations, often three or four on the same frequency...depending on the direction.
I left it at my parent's for 40+ years, and it got trashed in 2012.
When I get room for a house and shop, I'd love to build a Korner 19.3 or 19.4.

 

[bulwnkl]

I have basically nothing right now. I have a Terk Tower on my Sangean HDR-18 at work, and nothing for the HDR-16 at home. My car does well, and I still have the GE Superadio my family got when I was younger. It’s a superb tuner but much harder to identify stations with only a quite imprecise estimate of frequency.

Shortly I’ll have a C. Crane Twin Coil to play with. I’m excited to see whether and how that’ll help the two Sangeans, and if it’ll do anything to improve reception with the SR.

I had a Select-A-Tenna for years, long ago. I liked it, though it wasn’t all that helpful for the good radio I had. It worked wonders with not-very-good radios.

I haven’t put up an FM antenna anywhere. I have a C. Crane FM Reflect 2 (dipole, basically) that I can now clip onto the HDR-16’s whip.

 

[jim-satx]

I use a Terk Advantage loop as well as a Kaito AN-100. A friend modified the latter so that it covers 380 - 520 kHz when I flip a switch. I use it for DXing the upper part of the LW band.

For the weaker stations, and for much more fun, I pull out my 20" PK loop. It was a bit pricey ( about $240 which included shipping ), but wow, it works great.

One of these days, I might break down and get a Wellbrook 1530 or another PK loop that covers the 3-18MHz , as i graduate up the dial into shortwave territory

Formula72 - I'm intrigued by your success with the 20" PK AM loop. I've got a 14" PK LW loop (150 - 450 kHz) that I'm really impressed with. It does a great job helping me dig out NDBs with my Sony 7600GR and Kaito 1103. It also helped with my only transatlantic LW catch - France Inter on 162 kHz back in November 2016 when I coupled it with my Sony.

 

[gr8oldies]

Well.......I have a car radio, and some nearby hills and mountains. I also have a portable Sangean AM/FM "ultralight". I do a lot of my dial spinning on the SDR network (always disclosed), some of which have great antennas.