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Roof Antenna For AM DX?

9

954

Guest
I read somewhere that a longwire antenna laid
under the shingles makes a good antenna.

Since I will have to get a new roof this year
(thanks to Wilma) I wonder if anyone has done this.
 
Heres what I did, I had a old wire used from a antenna a long time ago in the acttic, I re strung it up there all around the rafters and all throughout the middle part of the house, then connected it to my tuner. It seems to do really well. My only problem this may be because of my tuner, but WOAI is so strong here, that on the weaker stations I can hear WOAI blowing them away. Nighttime is pretty worthless to me right now, I cant really recieve anything at night. I really would like to pick up my favorite 250 watt am radio station, but the only way I can is in my truck. but anyway that was my results.
<P ID="signature">______________
jras20</P>
 
> Heres what I did, I had a old wire used from a antenna a
> long time ago in the acttic, I re strung it up there all
> around the rafters and all throughout the middle part of the
> house, then connected it to my tuner. It seems to do really
> well. My only problem this may be because of my tuner, but
> WOAI is so strong here, that on the weaker stations I can
> hear WOAI blowing them away. Nighttime is pretty worthless
> to me right now, I cant really recieve anything at night. I
> really would like to pick up my favorite 250 watt am radio
> station, but the only way I can is in my truck. but anyway
> that was my results.
>
What I have done is take a about 500 ft of wire (about 24 guage) and tack it to the side of my house along the perimiter and make both wire ends come inside and splice these two with another one and connect it to my stereo. I can easily pick up 930 out of Oklahoma City off of this antenna in Carrollton (North Dallas).

good Luck on your experimenting
DXER1<P ID="signature">______________
"I'm a gonna go to hell when I die!" Connan O'Brien

"yay boo, yay boo, it's lots of fun to do, if ya like it holler yay, and if ya don't ya holler boo!"

Connan O'Brien
</P>
 
> > Heres what I did, I had a old wire used from a antenna a
> > long time ago in the acttic, I re strung it up there all
> > around the rafters and all throughout the middle part of
> the
> > house, then connected it to my tuner. It seems to do
> really
> > well. My only problem this may be because of my tuner,
> but
> > WOAI is so strong here, that on the weaker stations I can
> > hear WOAI blowing them away. Nighttime is pretty
> worthless
> > to me right now, I cant really recieve anything at night.
> I
> > really would like to pick up my favorite 250 watt am radio
>
> > station, but the only way I can is in my truck. but
> anyway
> > that was my results.
> >
> What I have done is take a about 500 ft of wire (about 24
> guage) and tack it to the side of my house along the
> perimiter and make both wire ends come inside and splice
> these two with another one and connect it to my stereo. I
> can easily pick up 930 out of Oklahoma City off of this
> antenna in Carrollton (North Dallas).
>
> good Luck on your experimenting
> DXER1

I'm wondering if using the perimeter of your roof as the basis for an AM loop would be effective. Obviously the directionality would be an issue, as it's kinda dificult to turn your entire house in the direction of the station you're trying to receive, but all the same... :)

(Of course, I'm the type of person who would then build four separate loops around my house and use a switcher inside to determine the direction of reception!)
<P ID="signature">______________
"Once a week, recovering illusionist Roy Horn reportedly visits Montecore, the tiger that mauled him. Though disturbingly, they’re conjugal visits!" -- Horatio Sanz
http://theradioblog.blogspot.com</P>
 
> I'm wondering if using the perimeter of your roof as the
> basis for an AM loop would be effective. Obviously the
> directionality would be an issue, as it's kinda dificult to
> turn your entire house in the direction of the station
> you're trying to receive, but all the same... :)
>
> (Of course, I'm the type of person who would then build four
> separate loops around my house and use a switcher inside to
> determine the direction of reception!)
>


That gives me an idea...

What about a large outdoor tunable loop antenna (in my case I'm thinking something like 40 to 50 feet)? Or, actually several, ranging from a low Q (audio response up to, say, 15 kHz +/- 3dB (30kHz +/- 96dB)) to a high q (audio response to 2.5kHz +/- 3dB (5kHz +/- 96dB) - say, like 7 or 8 different steps or so? I'd also want:
a battery operated remote control with which I can:
switch between the various antennas
rotate the antennas to within 0.5° increments
tune the antennas (from about 500kHz to 1750kHz or so) in 0.1kHz increments
some way to get the signal all over my yard so I can either inductively couple, or retransmit (on co-channel) to ANY radio on my 1/2-acre property without losing ANY signal strength from if you had the radio right next to the big loop
Also, what about directivity - like for example something like WISN's night pattern? Even if I had to make two loops and phase them / turn them in different directions?
Or, would it be cheaper to buy a Kiwa loop if I can find one? (when new I think they were $4000 over my budget or so.)
 
> > I'm wondering if using the perimeter of your roof as the
> > basis for an AM loop would be effective. Obviously the
> > directionality would be an issue, as it's kinda dificult
> to
> > turn your entire house in the direction of the station
> > you're trying to receive, but all the same... :)
> >
> > (Of course, I'm the type of person who would then build
> four
> > separate loops around my house and use a switcher inside
> to
> > determine the direction of reception!)
> >
>
>
> That gives me an idea...
>
> What about a large outdoor tunable loop antenna (in my case
> I'm thinking something like 40 to 50 feet)? Or, actually
> several, ranging from a low Q (audio response up to, say, 15
> kHz +/- 3dB (30kHz +/- 96dB)) to a high q (audio response to
> 2.5kHz +/- 3dB (5kHz +/- 96dB) - say, like 7 or 8 different
> steps or so? I'd also want:
> a battery operated remote control with which I can:
> switch between the various antennas
> rotate the antennas to within 0.5° increments
> tune the antennas (from about 500kHz to 1750kHz or so) in
> 0.1kHz increments
> some way to get the signal all over my yard so I can either
> inductively couple, or retransmit (on co-channel) to ANY
> radio on my 1/2-acre property without losing ANY signal
> strength from if you had the radio right next to the big
> loop
> Also, what about directivity - like for example something
> like WISN's night pattern? Even if I had to make two loops
> and phase them / turn them in different directions?
> Or, would it be cheaper to buy a Kiwa loop if I can find
> one? (when new I think they were $4000 over my budget or
> so.)
>
I guess what ever works out best I have been thinking about building another loop aimed in another direction. My main problem is dealing with Stations to the East and West of me. North and South is not a problem for me<P ID="signature">______________
"I'm a gonna go to hell when I die!" Connan O'Brien

"yay boo, yay boo, it's lots of fun to do, if ya like it holler yay, and if ya don't ya holler boo!"

Connan O'Brien
</P>
 
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