Ok here are some of my experiments with using chain-link fences and utility pole ground wires as antennas with my Tecsun radios.
They are mostly posted in reverse chronological order (newest first in each section - first the fences, then the utility grounds. I haven't tried much with trees yet. Also not shown here are setting the radio on top of my two Baldwin Hamilton upright pianos (where the cast iron frame is), putting the radio next to a few electrical outlets in the house (or next to the breaker box in the coat closet), or setting the radio on the bathroom floor over the water pipe leading out from the tub. Anyone got any other ideas to try?
First, the stations aided by fences:
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Here's a
partial bandscan recorded 2012-01-25 around 5:15am PST with the PL-606 on a barbed-wire fence across the street running north/south. This one is 9 minutes 25 seconds long.
Normal barefoot readings on some of the strong stations are:
540 ~ 54 dBµ ; 600 ~ 68 dBµ ; 690 ~ 60 dBµ ; 760 ~ 80 dBµ ; 800 ~ 52 dBµ ; 860 ~ 54 dBµ ; 910 ~ 70 dBµ ; 950 ~ 50 dBµ ; 1040 ~ 44 dBµ (currently off air) ; 1090 ~ 52 dBµ ; 1130 ~ 75 dBµ (not in video except possible splatter onto 1120)
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These two were recorded using the PL-606 on 2012-01-23 in the mid afternoon, with the aid of the SAT and a chain-link fence surrounding an elementary school campus just behind my back yard.
Dist Hdg ° mV/m @ 1km Watts Barefoot Select-A-Tenna SAT + Util Gnd
Freq km To RMS TX Out RSSI dBµ RSSI dBµ RSSI dBµ
CALL City of License, ST miles From @ From Hdg ERP Hdg S/N dB S/N dB S/N dB
------ ------------------- -------- ------ ---------- ----------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------
1620 207.8 10 22 39 - 40 52 - 54
WNSB415 San Ysidro, CA 15.00 10 13 - 18 17 - 22 25 (24)
1000 60.54 330.24 531.45 2,500 35 - 36 60 - 61 74
KCEO Vista, CA 37.62 150.06 782.54 3,681.155 25 25 25
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This is a
few LW signals on the PL-606 + barbed-wire fence across the street (pointing north/south) at around 2:40pm PST on 2012-01-17.
Beacon 400 ENS is 111.81 km / 69.476 mi at a heading of 163.227°. Power is unknown.
Beacon 397 SB is 148.959 km / 92.559 mi at a heading of 344.934°, and runs 50 watts.
The DGPS signal on 302 kHz is 29.871 km / 18.561 mi distant at a heading of 249.436°. Power is unknown. On the fence it indicates around 26-27 dBµ / 25 dB S/N, and barefoot it's 15 dBµ and around 22-24 dB S/N. It briefly flashes 15/25 once or twice (the lowest normally possible dBµ reading combined with the highest possible (on AM) S/N reading).
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Now here are some using utility pole grounding wires:
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Here's
KOGO on the Tecsun PL-398mp with the Select-A-Tenna and utility groundwire in my front yard. I start at 600 where the reading is 95 dBµ, tune up to 612 where it's 68-70 dBµ (and occasionally 72), then back down to 600. (I also edited part of it out to shorten the video.) Normally 600 KOGO indicates about 68 dBµ using only the stock loopstick antenna.
Distance = 12.44 km / 7.73 mi
Heading = 249.21° To / 69.15° From
mV/m @ 1 km = 726.48 RMS / 501.99 @ Fr Hdg
Power (Watts) = 5,000 TPO / 2,387.332 ERP
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Next, this is
1170 KCBQ on the Tecsun PL-606, recorded about 0.1 mi N of my house.
Distance = 14.9 km / 9.26 mi
Heading = 7.42° To / 187.43° From
mV/m @ 1 km = 2628.2 RMS / ~ 3935 @ Fr Hdg
Power (watts) = 50,000 TPO / 112,083.75 ERP
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Continued
in the next post ....
