Hi all,
I recently ordered an AFREDI SDR-net and following suggestions for some of you on the WUNCLUB chat Saturday I'm going to try the outdoor long wire antenna when I get the radio. The room the radio will be in is in the southeast corner of the house with a window in the south wall. My location is San Angelo, Texas (West Texas).
1. Should I run the antenna along the south side of the house or around the corner and along the east side? Our neighbors are to the east and west and the air conditioner is also on the east side of the house.
Generally, I'd try getting the antenna as far away from the house as quickly as possible, to reduce pickup of QRM generated by devices inside the house. Random wire antennas, especially short ones, are not intended to be directional (although they can have directional characteristics).
2. What gauge of wire would be best? Stranded or solid?
Stranded for sure, solid wire will fatigue and break. #14 is the most common gauge used, but I have used #16 as well.
3. I'm concerned about the wire breaking when closing the window. Drilling is not an option at this time.
You may be able to run the wire under the window and still be able to close the window tightly enough. You'll want to secure the wire outside before bringing it in, and you should think about some sort of lightning protection. There's some gas discharge type arrestors, for example.
I'd suggesting bringing in the signal via coax, rather than the actual antenna wire, to minimize pickup of QRM generated inside the house. Since you can't drill a hole, normal sized coax won't likely fit as well under the window. As this is a receive only application, you may be able to get away with using a very small diameter coax like RG-174.
Thanks for all the help and I hope to be contributing here in the near future.
Kent