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Author Topic: Cat6 wire for RX antenna  (Read 1500 times)

Offline Jason

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Cat6 wire for RX antenna
« on: October 07, 2018, 1518 UTC »
8 wires = 4 twisted pair
What kind band range would cat6 receive?
I've been suggested to wrap multiple loops around the bedroom window, yet my issue lies in; will cat6 work for RX?
Icom_7200 
Icom_2300H
Xiegu X5105
AOR_8200  
Tripp Lite DC converter 13.8v 3/5a 
RTL SDR_SDR Console V3. 
Baofeng_UV5RQ-Retech whip
Radio Shack_PRO 404 scanner
Harris_152A V/U 10W clone
Antenna : Indoor pole mounted active loop
Antenna : Avantec_2041-3 Satcom antenna

Offline IQ_imbalance

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Re: Cat6 wire for RX antenna
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2018, 1600 UTC »
Pretty much any wire will work for receiving.  The tricks are 1) location, 2) geometry, and 3) getting a reasonable impedance match to your feedline and/or radio (doesn’t have to be exact...but you don’t want a high Z antenna trying to feed a low Z input or vice versa.

I had decent (eg better than the included whip) results with some plain old enameled wrapping wire connected to my Sony portable.  In fact, my old grinding came with an external antenna that was just a spool of 28-ish GA wire with a plug on the end.

Play around with it and have fun. Plastic thumbtacks are useful for temporary installations inside....

LOG/NE-SW unterminated BOG/DJ-130/800Mhz Yagi
AFEDRI SDR-Net ICF-SC1 SDS-200 various RTL-SDR
Central MD