Technical Topics > Equipment
Best MWDX antenna?
RobRich:
A shielded coaxial loop. That is basically how I build my loop-on-ground antennas, though naturally much larger and with the loop "shield" connected to a ground rod.
I could use my existing hula loop as a portable easily enough, though that might look a little odd to the neighbors. ;)
~SIGINT~:
Don't the neighbours already think things are odd at your place already anyways? LOL
I would have loved to have known what some of my neighbours back at my former location thought of my antenna farm sprouting out from every corner of the house!
I got the Wellbrook loop antenna up again this afternoon. All that is left to do on this antenna now is to run the control cable to the rotator. For now it is in a fixed beam pointing to central USA which also gets me somewhat in the middle of London / Africa on the back side.
RobRich:
Congrats on getting the loop back up. :) Did it actually get above freezing for awhile today?
Thankfully my neighbors do not say much of anything about my antennas.
I got one PA0NHC miniwhip redeployed today. Went right back to the mast where I removed it awhile back.
I ran the "proper" RF ground wire from the miniwhip PCB to the mast this time. Previously I just used clamps around F barrel connectors along the coax and mast for RF grounding. Anyway.
Feedline is like ~120' of Belden PPC RG-11 to the backyard. Still needs buried, but that is a job for another day.
Four snap chokes at the base of the mast. TDK whatever mix since I already had them in parts box. The chokes are better at VHF+, but I remember the specs still showing some RF choking at HF. I have a bunch of them available.
The bias tee has an integrated choke. I have a KD9SV SV-CMC choke before the Kenwood-2000 as well.
The very bottom of mediumwave and down into longwave has that annoying area RFI that recently popped up, but mid-MW to 10m has a low enough noise floor and decent enough SNR for casual listening in the bedroom. I left my MFJ-1020B inline for added gain and preselection, though it might be removed if not really needed.
Next up might be the 18' "end-fed" vertical. It just needs a few ground radials redeployed and the feedline rerouted.
~SIGINT~:
Yup, it has been above freezing for the past several days, raining and 46 deg F today. It should hover around the freezing mark for the next week.
I am very pleased with having the Wellbrook loop back up. It is 13 db quieter than the T2FD and makes a world of difference. I can pick-up signals on the Wellbrook that the T2FD doesn’t even register.
T2FD:
Wellbrook loop:
RobRich:
Nice SNR bump on the loop. 8)
BTW, I am having to copy-and-paste your image URLs. Is your personal site perhaps blocking image hotlinking?
I am thinking about having my Kenwood R-2000 recapped and aligned; both of which are likely still factory. Likewise I could imagine the front-end Q1 amp and Q2 follower have taken considerable abuse after several years of Florida thunderstorms. I do not feel like bothering with it myself, plus I have other desktop HF receivers, but it is my favorite.
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