Author Archives: Jock Elliott

A Review of Two Medium Wave Signal Boosters

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

It was the survey that Thomas, our Maximum Leader, conducted that got me to thinking about this.

The survey revealed that portable radios were used 38.6% of the time by SWLing Post readers as their “daily driver.” I like portable radios, too, and use them frequently. Hold that thought for a moment.

I also like medium wave DXing (content DXing, really, I enjoy tuning around for unusual programs) because, as Gary DeBock once put it: “It’s a target-rich environment.” With that in mind, I was exploring the CCrane website and found a couple of items – the Terk AM Advantage and the Twin Coil Ferrite® AM Antenna Signal Booster that looked like they might help portable radio listeners who want to pull in medium-wave signals better. I asked the CCrane folks if they would like to review both products, and they sent them to me without charge.

Bottom line: they both work for boosting reception of medium-wave signals.

The Terk AM Advantage is a nine-inch tunable loop encased in plastic, and it requires no power supply. Simply place it near your portable receiver and just the dial to the desired frequency, and you could get up to a 20 dB gain in the signal you want to hear. The loop of the Terk AM Advantage inductively couples with the ferrite antenna inside your portable radio, although the unit comes with a direct wire connector that can be used with some radios.

I tried the Terk AM Advantage with my CCrane Skywave SSB on an AM that was coming in with a lot of static at my location. Without the AM Advantage, I had 3 bars of signal strength. As soon as I placed the AM Advantage close to the Skywave and adjusted the tuning knob, the signal strength increase to 5 bars, and the audio was much easier to hear with less noise.

With my Tecsun PL-880, which has a numerical signal strength meter, signal strength was 11 without the AM Advantage, but with the AM Advantage, signal strength increased to 14, and it was much easier to hear. The Terk AM Advantage definitely provides a modest boost in signal strength and clarity, is easy to use, and requires no batteries or external power supply.

The Twin Coil Ferrite® AM Antenna Signal Booster is more complicated. It consists of an antenna element that measures 8.5″ W x 2.5″ H x 1.25″D, a tuner unit that measures 3.25″ W x 4.25″ H x 1.25″ D, a small ferrite stick, and some patch cords. It comes with an AC adaptor and can also be powered by a 9-volt battery. For radios with external antenna connectors, package also includes a RCA female patch cord to two bare wire ends.

Set up is pretty easy: connect the tuner unit to the antenna element with a patch cord; connect the tune to the ferrite stick with another patch, and provide power through either the AC adaptor or 9-volt battery. (I used a battery).

Here are C.Crane’s directions for how to use The Twin Coil Ferrite® AM Antenna Signal Booster with a portable radio:

Place the Tuner Control in a comfortable location relative to your radio. Place the Antenna Element a few feet away. If the Antenna Element is placed too close to the radio, it will cause noise on your radio.
Place the Ferrite Stick on top of the radio near the center. Placement will vary depending on where the internal AM antenna of the radio is located.
For testing purposes, tune your radio to any weak AM station. It is important that the station be weak so you can clearly detect the improvement in reception.
Rotate the Fine Tune control, it will click on and the red LED indicator light will come on. Turn the Coarse Tune control knob slowly and you will likely notice a change in reception at some point on the dial. Adjust the control knob until you notice the most improvement on your signal. Now you can use the Fine Tune control for further refinement.
Move the Ferrite Stick around the radio to find the position that affects the signal the most. This position is the “sweet spot”, or the best position. Again, adjust the Fine Tune on the Tuner Control for the best reception possible. (I used rubber band to hold the Ferrite Stick in place, but the unit comes with some double-stick foam tape to hold it in place.)
Now you can orientate the Antenna Element for best reception. In most cases, the Antenna Element does not have to be adjusted again. When radio noise is a problem, try rotating the Antenna Element in the direction which reduces noise to a minimum.

And The Twin Coil Ferrite® AM Antenna Signal Booster works like crazy! With same station on my CCrane Skywave SSB, it boosted signal strength from 3 bars to full scale. With my Tecsun PL-880, it increased signal strength from 11 to 38.

In my view, although The Twin Coil Ferrite® AM Antenna Signal Booster costs twice as much as the Terk AM Advantage and is more complicated to use, it is more than twice as effective in boosting medium-wave signals.

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In which C.Crane displays a high degree of “cool”

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By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

Okay, let’s get this straight to begin with: I’m not on C.Crane’s payroll; I get nothing for what you are about to read. I have bought two of their radios with my own money, and they sent me one for review.

Today I received an email from C.Crane, headlined “How to make a shortwave antenna.” It links to an online article, written by Bob Crane, with the same title. Here’s the link.

It explains, clearly and concisely, how to make your own shortwave antenna, and it also adds some safety warnings. Check it out; it’s worth reading and maybe home-brewing your own antenna.

What makes this a high degree of cool is that C.Crane also sells shortwave antennas . . . and yet they tell you how to make your own if you so choose. Nice.

Frankly, I’ve been a fan of the C.Crane company for years. Now I am a bigger one.

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Follow-up to The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge

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By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

If the folks who participated in The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge were on trial for “having fun,” they would be found guilty and sentenced to . . . more DXing challenges!

Results

As nearly as I can tell, 13 people participated, and many had something positive to say about the experience, including they would like to do it again.

I say “as nearly as I can tell” with regard to the number of participants because some people posted the same thing multiple times . . . and there is a simple reason why. When someone posts a comment for the first time, or posts a comment for the first time with a new email address (which is one of the required fields when you post a comment), that comment is sent to moderation for approval before it is posted . . . which causes a delay. Thinking it didn’t work the first time, the commenter reposts again (and perhaps again and again) and after a while, all the posts appear, which confuses the counting process.

A variety of equipment was used: 4 GE Superadios, 2 Belka radios, a Yaesu FT950, an AirSpy SDR, a single-transistor regenerative radio, and a Sangean ATS 909-X2. Some ran barefoot (using internal antennas), some employed loops, dipoles, and even an AFA-200 from Icom.

In terms of station count, Tom Laskowski, in a neighborhood park in South Bend, Indiana, absolutely killed it with a GE Superadio, logging 69 stations with lots of colorful detail. Clearly he was enjoying himself. The total mileage of his top five stations was 1230 miles. He qualified for Chuck Rippel’s generous offer of a Superadio refurb.

13dka “informally reported” his results in miles, furlongs, and attoparsecs. From a dike at the German North Sea Coast (Riddle of the Sands?), his farthest station was 677 miles away and his top five total was 2748 miles . . . that’s 21,968.5 furlongs in case you were wondering. He used a Belka 2022 in combination with an AFA-200 active ferrite antenna (his ultra portable MW rig).

David Mappin in Filey, UK, managed to hear a station in Solt, Hungary, at a distance of 987 miles. His top five total mileage was 1965 miles. He used a Sangean ATS 909X2 with a Cross Country Wireless (CCW) Loop Antenna Amplifier with a one-meter loop made out of coax.

Everyone seemed to have a good time, even those to whom “life happened,” and could only get on for a few minutes.

So, therefore, you are all sentenced to more DX challenges in the future!

My operatives (the upstate irregulars) deep in the underground bunker at El Rancho Elliott tell me that some of the names of future challenges might include “The Midnight Ramble” and “The Grayline Sprint” . . . but these sources are unreliable.

In the meantime, thanks to all for participating, and I am glad you had fun.

PS – Some have suggested that taking station transmit power into account when figuring out scoring might be a thing to do. If you have practical ideas for doing this, post them, with examples in the comments section below. Bear in mind that any calculation of “difficulty factor” will fall on the folks recording their logs.

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Saturday, March 12, 2023: The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge

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[If you haven’t already, please check out this previous post about The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge.]

Here are the rules:

Frequency range is the medium wave band: 520-1710 kHz
10 am to 2 pm your local time today (Saturday, March 11, 2023). . . report the results in the comments to this post.
Any radio with any antenna, but must be the radio at your location (no using remote internet radios)
The listener must hear the signal in real time
The stations must be ID’ed by listening to the signal.
Your report should include:
- Your name (or Internet handle)
- Your receiver and antenna (stay with the same setup from beginning to end; if you use multiple setups, provide a separate report for each).
- Your location
- The time, the frequency, and the ID of each station heard
- The total mileage of your top five most distant stations.

A final point: this is not a contest; it is a challenge. The reward for every participant will be fun and fellowship.

Please record your results in the Comments Section to this post below.

UPDATE: Chuck Rippel did sweeten the pot, though! Check out his generous offer here.

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Gentle reminder: The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge is tomorrow!

Here are the rules:

Frequency range is the medium wave band: 520-1710 kHz
10 am to 2 pm your local time on Saturday, March 11, 2023 .
Any radio with any antenna, but must be the radio at your location (no using remote internet radios)
The listener must hear the signal in real time
The stations must be ID’ed by listening to the signal.
Your report should include:
- Your name (or Internet handle)
- Your receiver and antenna (stay with the same setup from beginning to end; if you use multiple setups, provide a separate report for each).
- Your location
- The time, the frequency, and the ID of each station heard
- The total mileage of your top five most distant stations.

A final point: this is not a contest; it is a challenge. The reward for every participant will be fun and fellowship.

UPDATE: Chuck Rippel did sweeten the pot, though! Check out his generous offer here.

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Chuck Rippel “Sweetens the deal” on The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge!

by Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

After yesterday’s post appeared, Chuck Rippel reached out to me and offered:

To whomever logs the most stations using a GE SR-I or SR-II, I will donate that person, a >free< SR-I or SR-II restoration. Includes, parts, alignment, cleaning, etc…. The winner’s only cost will be shipping. Should the winner already have a radio I restored, I have an alternate “reward” in mind.

That is a very generous offer, Chuck, and I am sure someone will be the delighted recipient.

In the meantime, there is a very slight modification to the procedure for the challenge: I will be posting a reminder about The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge on Friday, and then on Saturday, I will post another The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge blog. That Saturday blog will be the place to post your results in The Challenge . . . .in the Comments section.

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The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge

By Jock Elliott, KB2GOM

First a word of acknowledgement and thanks: it was Chuck Rippel who said (in part) — in response to this post — “We could make this interesting by restricting listening to the period 10AM – 2PM maybe 3PM.” And that got me to thinking that maybe a daylight DXing challenge might be fun.

It was Bill Hemphill, who said, responding to the same blog post:

“Every year the New Jersey Antique Radio Club has a BCB DX contest for its club members. The main purpose is to encourage the members to put into operation some of the many old am radios that they own. This year’s contest was just completed this past Sunday. For any 24 hour period, using the same radio, you attempt to log the most distant stations. The contest score is the total mileage of the ten stations that are most distant.”

Reading that, I rather liked the idea of using mileage as one way to keep score.

Combining the two ideas, the result is The Great Medium Wave Daylight DX Challenge.

Here are the rules:

Frequency rang is the medium wave band: 520-1710 kHz
10 am to 2 pm your local time on the Saturday after the post appears (Saturday, March 11, 2023).
Any radio with any antenna, but must be the radio at your location (no using remote internet radios)
The listener must hear the signal in real time
The stations must be ID’ed by listening to the signal.
Your report should include:
- Your name (or Internet handle)
- Your receiver and antenna (stay with the same setup from beginning to end; if you use multiple setups, provide a separate report for each).
- Your location
- The time, the frequency, and the ID of each station heard
- The total mileage of your top five most distant stations.