Tag Archives: Antennas

Sangean WR-22: Bill’s tale of radios and outdoor antennas

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill, who writes:

I was interested in the Sangean HDR-18 which showed up on SWLing Post. But I ended up going for the similar-looking WR-22 (here on the Sangean site) because it lookscooler. Well, yes, it also costs a bit less. Also, it trades the HDR-18’s HDRadio capability for Bluetooth streaming. Since I have a phone that canstream, and since there is as yet only one HD radio station, which streams,and which I can also get in my car, I thought the Bluetooth might be a bit more use to me.

I got the WR-22 expressly to use outdoor antennas. I had been using a CCRadio 2E for that purpose. The CCRadio actually worked better hauling it out of the house, out to the picnic table in the back yard, clear of the aluminum siding and the household electronic buzz. It’s nice to be able to use the portable as a portable.

I’d hoped the WR-22 would both stream from my phone and work on AM and FM as well as the CCRadio. It surprised me by working far better. Therein hangs a sad tale of radios and outdoor antennas.

I have a rooftop FM antenna I’d used on an old stereo. The CCRadio doesn’t have an external FM radio jack, so I could never use the FM antenna with the CCRadio.

The CCRadio does have screw terminals for an AM outdoor antenna. A few months ago, I put out a temporary one in the back yard. It’s quite modest, within the ability of anyone with a small back yard. A ground rod pounded into the ground outside the drip line of the roof, where the soil will get wet; wet soil makes for a better ground, I’m told. Then a bit less than 50 feet of insulated copper wire, looped across the back yard to a pine tree branch and then to a post we used to have a satellite TV dish on. Nothing too complicated here.

The results were disappointing. I could get signals with this antenna not quite as well as the CCRadio would do on its own on the picnic table. Oh well, maybe nothing better was possible?

Then, after I’d ordered the WR-22 through the mail, I came across a description of a different external AM antenna. I found it on two web sites, but C Crane’s own web site has a description of the thing. Here’s thearticle.

It could use the wire I’d already strung across the back yard and the ground rod I’d already planted, so why not try it? I couldn’t see how an antenna that didn’t connect to the radio directly could be any better than one that did, but hey, it didn’t cost anything to try.

Here’s how to make the antenna: String an outdoor wire somewhere SAFE, well away from anything carrying electric current, both because it can get you fried and because of radio noise. Reserve some of the wire to wind a coil at the end of the wire inside the house, near your radio. Wrap a coil in the wire near where your radio will be. C Crane says a 3 inch coil with 7 turns, another site said a few turns of 6 inches diameter; apparently it’s not too critical.

The wire continues unbroken through the coil, back out of the house again, and to your ground rod outside. It doesn’t connect directly to your radio at all. Of course you could do the wire in several pieces; have a separate coil which attaches to the aerial wire and the ground wire with alligator clips, for example. This would let you replace the different parts, experiment with different sizes, shapes, and orientations of coils, and so on.

As with any inductively coupled antenna, you get this loop to work by moving the coil around the outside of the radio until you find the “sweet spot” where it couples best with the portable radio’s internal ferrite bar.

Good heavens! It worked far better than coupling the wire directly to the CCRadio. I was astonished! I planned to put out a longer antenna- I have the space for it, if I’m careful- and a neater installation, with a neatly wound coil. I planned a program of trying different coils to see what would work best. However, I had the WR-22 on order. Since that was where I wanted to attach outdoor antennas, I decided to wait until it came in before experimenting with any new antennas.

It came in and I set it up.

To my disappointment, the coil-type outdoor antenna didn’t seem to send the WR-22 any signal at all. Before getting all antisocial about it, I hooked the external antenna to the WR-22’s AM antenna screw terminals.

My goodness, all over again! Where the CCRadio hadn’t responded to this setup at all well, the WR-22 lit up with all sorts of signals. Now, I’d read on your site that the HDR-18 coupled the external AM antenna via a coil wrapped around its internal ferrite rod. Perhaps this radio already HAS the magic coil that seems to make so much difference built in, from the factory.
It goes to show that your mileage may vary; a little experimentation with your particular setup never hurts!

I have a problem I’m sure a lot of your readers would love to have; there are exactly NO really powerful AM radio signals in my area. Today I set up several radios for a rough comparison to give you an idea of how things work here.

Tecsun PL-880, no external antenna, sitting on the “best” windowsill in the back of the house: 4 AM (Medium wave) stations.

CCrane CCRadio 2E, no external antenna, same windowsill, 8 AM stations.

Car radio outdoors, 14 AM stations.

Sangean WR-22 with the external antenna: 20 AM stations.

This was during the day. At night pretty much anything lights up on most of the AM frequencies; I expect the WR-22 will do well here, although I haven’t tried it yet.

As for FM, with the rooftop antenna, the WR-22 did well enough. I got anything I could reasonably expect to get with it. I had unreasonably hoped to get a certain second public radio network I like to switch over to when the main public radio network here goes to a pledge drive (which is approximately 11.5 months a year, it seems). Didn’t get a peep of it. I had only been able to get it with the CCRadio, twisting the antenna to a 45 degree angle to the vertical in a certain direction.

The rooftop antenna is horizontal. I read somewhere that FM signals are polarized at 45 degrees to the vertical so that they would work on both horizontal TV antennas and vertical car antennas, therefore for maximum discrimination a FM antenna that could also be tilted to 45 degrees would be helpful. I don’t know if that’s true or not. As textbook writers say when they are lazy and don’t want to do their job, building a rotating rooftop FM antenna with variable remote-adjustable tilt is left as an exercise to the reader.

If you’d like to see what I’ve received with this radio so far, click here for my
station log map.

Yellow is AM daytime signals, green is FM, red is AM nighttime signals; only about three of those so far. I just did a quick bandscan to show you so some of the identifications may be a bit shaky, but it gives an idea of the performance I’m getting.

WR-22 performance

What about the radio itself?

I have no way of measuring performance with test instruments, but with the external antennas at least sensitivity and selectivity seem to be perfectly good.

The radio comes packed in good quality materials, very well protected. It is heavy and seems very solid. I like that the remote control actually allows tuning the radio from across the room, not just switching from one memory to another. I think this is the first radio with remote I have had which allowed this.

Sound is very good. As another reviewer said of the HDR-18, the WR-22 has a loudness function to boost bass (and probably treble too). It wasn’t hard to find the setting to turn that off, and I prefer sound without it.

I found no electronic birdies anywhere in either band. Bluetooth pairing was easy and quick to my Samsung smartphone, and the sound when streaming Bluetooth is also very good.

The only thing I don’t like about the radio so far is that in switching source you have to go through all of them: from AM, push the button to go to USB to Aux 3.5 mm plug input to Bluetooth to FM and back to AM again. That’s a pretty minor irk.

I’d expected this radio to have an external power supply. The manual, in fact, says to put the power supply away from the radio in order to prevent AM interference. But my WR-22 doesn’t have an external power supply, just a power cord. Mine is the USA version; the manual describes two different versions. Perhaps the other has an external power supply.

I’m not complaining. I prefer a radio without a wall wart.

I’m happy with this set. I have no idea how it would work without external antennas, but it works beautifully with them.

Thanks, Bill, for sharing your antenna experiments and your review of the Sangean WR-22. As you’ve discovered, often finding the performance “sweet spot” of any given radio requires a little experimentation! The AM performance of the WR-22 is very encouraging!

The Sangean WR-22 can be purchased at:

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Selecting a budget antenna for urban radio listening

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Yesterday, an SWLing Post reader contacted me with questions regarding budget antenna choices for an urban apartment. He’s about to purchase an SDR, but knows that a decent antenna capable of coping with urban radio interference is a critical component.

I suggested that, since I’m no expert with urban interference, he pose his question to the SWLing Post community. Here’s his reply and request:

I know I’m a little behind some of my other radio friends, but I’m finally moving up to a software defined radio. Specifically the affordability of the SDRplay RSP and all good reviews for it have encouraged me to make the leap.

The SDRplay RSP software defined radio

I suppose it should go without saying that once I purchase an SDRplay I would like to use it, which might not be so easy. I live in a big city full of RF pollution, and most of my listening will be in a room where there’s a fair amount of electronic gadgetry.

So, without spending a lot of money, I’m curious if any of your readers might have suggestions about what I might purchase as a “starter kit” for a new SDR user in such a scenario. I also plan to take the SDRplay with me when I have forays out of the city, but I envision that some sort of long wire might be sufficient for listening out in the countryside.

I live on the second floor in an urban apartment, and have two windows in the room where I’ll be listening. There is zero chance that I can hang or attach anything on the outside of the house here. So, my most pressing question is about antenna ideas. I’ll need something inexpensive, as I mentioned, and something “off the shelf.” I don’t have the skills or tools to really “build” anything, unfortunately. So is there some less than pricy antenna or antennas I should look at? Or is there some hope of doing something with a long wire indoors?

Tecsun AN-100 portable loop antenna

And will my little Tecsun AN-100 AM loop antenna going to help me at all? I mostly plan to listen to MW and the HF bands, but I will inevitably check out signals far up the bands as well. So advise about listening to these bands is also of interest to me.

Other than that, I understand it’s important to attach the SDR to the laptop with a USB cable with ferrite chokes. And it probably wouldn’t hurt to buy some extra ferrite chokes to attach to other cables I might be using. I also plan to buy a NooElec mini-balun for use with a long wire antenna, and I already purchased a PowerMate USB knob because I still prefer to do my “tuning” that way.

So other than those basics my questions would be regarding connecting cables and adapters, and the best lengths of cable to use. Should I have some cable between the balun and SDR? I believe I’ve read that it’s better to have a longer USB cable and a shorter coax to the antenna, correct? And when it comes to using a wire antenna, are there preferences as far as what type or gauge of wire to use?

I am also interested in any general suggestions or tips from SDR users on getting started. In general, I’m pretty good with navigating through software, it’s usually the hardware issues that stump me. I’m looking to spend between $100 to $150 tops on everything besides the SDR, and I’d like to hear about peripherals, cables, adapters and connectors which when added all together won’t bust my bank.

I’m sure there’s plenty of people who read this wonderful blog who have plenty of useful knowledge regarding SDR listening on a budget. And I hope a few could share a little of their experience and collected wisdom on this topic here, for me and for others considering turning their computers into receivers…

Indeed. I appreciate this reader’s question, since many listeners live in environments with heavy radio interference. While we’ve published a number of posts touting the virtues of magnetic loop antennas, I don’t think we’ve ever looked for solutions at or below $150 US. While this may be a challenge, I’m also certain there are a number of readers who’ve found solutions to this problem.

So, Post readers, what might you do–or have you done–in similar circs? Please feel free to comment, and let’s explore inventive and affordable solutions for this reader!

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The AAA-1C: An affordable loop antenna amplifier kit

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I recently stumbled upon the Active Antenna Amplifier (model AAA-1C) by LZ1AQ. At 87.00 EUR, it’s a pretty affordable and flexible solution for those who would like to design or use a loop antenna.

According to the website, it packs a lot of features:

4 remotely switched modes (Loop A, Loop B, crossed parallel loops A&B and dipole)
Each mode can be switched immediately
Good sensitivity and a flat frequency response
High dynamic range
Protected input from strong signals
High immunity to local noise with balanced amplifiers and balanced feed line
Balun transformer coupling for common mode noise reduction
Extensive documentation manuals with detailed description how to build your own small antennas

The amplifier is described as a kit because you must mount the board, wire up the antenna and set up remote switching yourself. It appears the SMT board comes pre-populated, though so I’m not sure if any actually soldering is required (perhaps someone can verify).

AAA-1C kit components

Click here to download the mounting instructions (PDF).

I’m tempted to purchase one this winter for use on mediumwave.

Click here for more info about the AAA-1C at LZ1AQ’s website.

Have any SWLing Post readers built and used this amplifier? Please comment!

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Useful Services for Shortwave DX’ers

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I’m always tinkering, experimenting…trying different antennas and set ups and what not. But, the downside is, I don’t have the patience or a lot of technical skills to hand build stuff, so I have to buy it pre-made.

Like most, I don’t like throwing my money at a crap product. I have found two different folks who make some quality stuff that I wanted to share with the rest of you. I make ABSOLUTELY ZERO $$ from referring anyone to these two folks, but since quality products, good customer service and sometimes, customization are hard to come by, I wanted to share these.

User “lowbander” on eBay makes longwires and dipoles. They come in stock 80 feet lengths with a 9:1 balun and a way to shunt common mode noise to ground. And unlike many longwires/dipoles, lowbanders products come with quality belden coax as well. So you order from him. you’re all set to plug and play

His dipoles and longwires range from $49 to $59, I do believe. Do you need a custom length? Want something shorter or longer then 80 feet? Send him an Ebay message and he’ll take care of you.

Do you need something other then the stock PL259 connector on your cable HE an likely help with that, let him know!

http://ebay.to/28KVp1g

My next find is Craig at K1CRA.COM. It’s mainly a store geared towards ham operators, but he also has a service useful to DX’ers.

He sells RG58 cable for 25 cents a foot, that’s right. 25 cents a foot. It’s the cheapest I’ve found anywhere. For those of us needing cable for our antennas going to our radios, this is a good option. For $8, he can put pl259 connectors on each end. Need something other then PL259’s? Put an order through and add comments on what connections you need and he can do that…I’ve had him do PL259s, 1/8th” (3.5mm) headphone jack types and BNC male connectors on cable for me

https://www.k1cra.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=DAVISRG58C-U

Select how many feet you want by changing the quantity.. say you want 25 feet? Make the quantity 25. The option to add the connectors is a bit down the page, with a checkbox.

Both lowbander on eBay and Craig at K1CRA ship via USPS priority mail. I had lowbander send me a package from Kansas City on a Friday and I had it here in Alaska on a Tuesday!

I have probably close to $500 worth of Lowbanders antennas and Around $150 worth of product from K1CRA.com stuff

I live in an area far from most of anything now, so finding good quality products at an affordable price from people you can trust is hard, and I just wanted to share these two.

Paul Walker is located in Galena, Alaska and is a regular contributor to the SWLing Post. Be sure to check out Paul’s YouTube channel and SoundCloud channel where everything he logs is recorded and posted. Click here to read his other contributions on the SWLing Post.

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Guest Post: Building a magnetic loop antenna & broadband amplifier for your SDR

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave Gahimer (K9ZCE) for the following guest post:

Small Magnetic Loop Antenna with Broadband Amplifier for SDR Reception

by Dave Gahimer (K9ZCE)

Those with limited space, or antenna restrictions, might find a small 1 meter loop antenna a solution.

My son lives in an apartment. One Loop leaning against a wall gives him acceptable reception with the SDRPlay RSP on the ground floor–2nd or 3rd level flats should have very good reception.

Ten meters off the ground outside should give reception equal to any SWL antenna. We all with SDRs fight the image problem. Normal resonate ham band antennas show too strong reception of unwanted bands/stations. Did I mention noise? Loops are well known for –6 db noise reduction.

Then there is the possibility of SDR chip damage from your 1.5 KW station! In researching Loops we came across LZ1AQ. A Brilliant design /engineer (http://www.lz1aq.signacor.com/). Deep reading sometimes, but a great understanding of what makes a good receiving loop antenna.

Those who chase DX know that sometimes fading is caused by the signals’ polarization changing in the Ionosphere. Having both vertical and horizontal loops, and the ability to combine both signals diminishes this fading problem. Being able to filter the powerful, commercial FM transmitters diminishes image problems. Clipping strong signals at the antenna from very near powerful antennas/transmitters could save the SDR receiver from damage.

The LZ1AQ broad band Amp solves all these problems. http://active-antenna.eu/amplifier-kit/.

My son Ted and I built three, one meter loops from soft ½ inch copper plumbing tubing. One for his apartment, two for my crossed loops antenna. We weather proofed the Copper from corrosion by coating with outdoor clear spar varnish. We shaped the circle by drawing the tubing around a round glass top patio table.

The soft copper loop in held by white PCV plastic plumbing pipe. 1” or 1.25 inch schedule 40. Be careful to check that the PVC is schedule 40, thick wall. The thin wall pipe is not strong in the wind and will crack when you try to drill it.

Drill up to a 3/8 hole for the ½” copper tube to go through, then file out to fit. Here are some photos (click to enlarge):

Check out these links (all courtesy of LZ1AQ) to acquaint yourself with the loop construction and amplifier installation:

http://active-antenna.eu/tech-docs/2_ActiveAA_Mount_20.pdf

http://active-antenna.eu/tech-docs/1_ActiveAA_DandS_20.pdf

http://active-antenna.eu/tech-docs/3_ActiveAA_Antena_11.pdf

Many SDR receiver owners have seen improved noise and Image reduction by placing the plastic cased SDR unit on a small shielded/ grounded case.

The Amp needs 12VDC from in the shack. The Amp has two relays that you can switch, from in the shack, to select Vertical or Horizontal loops, or a dipole. The loop amp connects back to the shack via a shielded Cat 5 cable, Make sure you get shielded CAT 5 to reduce noise pickup. Make sure you provide an adequate good Ground below the antenna, less noise pickup and lightening protection.

Have fun!
Dave, K9ZCE
Retired from EE Dept @ Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Terre Haute, Indiana

Thank you so much, Dave!

Readers: yesterday I saw Dave’s loop antenna photos on the SDRplay RSP Facebook page. I was fascinated by his horizontally/vertically oriented loops and asked if he would write up a short guest post. He kindly obliged in a matter of hours!

If you have an antenna project you’d like to share, please contact me. So many SWLs and ham radio operators live in areas with restrictions and pervasive RFI–projects like Dave’s can revive one’s radio life!

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GODAR antennas

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN), who writes:

[Check out] this site I came by accidentally, small company, USA made antennas, most are OTA TV but he has a few shortwave antennas, quite reasonable. […] Also has old vintage pics. A little of this and that on the website, quite interesting company. He sells on Ebay too.

GODAR USA

Thanks for the tip, Mario. I love supporting mom-and-pop manufacturers like Godar. It appears–based on his eBay rating–that Michael Godar has very satisfied customers and produces quality antennas.

Thanks for the tip!

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Guest Post: Jerry’s Mediumwave DXing Powerhouse Mini FSL Antenna

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jerry Popiel, for the following guest post:

A MW DXing Powerhouse Mini FSL Antenna

by Jerry Popiel

In late February 2016 I completed construction of a modified version of Gary DeBock’s excellent 3 inch Mini FSL design (click here to view).

This new antenna is nothing short of a AM DXing powerhouse with unbelievable sensitivity for receiving stations across the entire AM Bandwidth both day and night. The tuning of stations is razor sharp and it has stunning nulling qualities. Consultation assistance was provided from DXing experts Steve Ratzlaff and Gary DeBock on the project.

Construction Details:

The Antenna was constructed using 9 – 100 mm Ferrite Bars wound on a 2.75 inch diameter x 4 inch styrofoam cake dummy form custom made by in Vancouver, B.C. Canada – ([email protected]) for $3.50 plus shipping.

The Coil wire consisted of 38 turns of high gain 660/46 Litz Wire. (Note: As can be seen 38 turns of the thicker Litz Wire left only 5/8” of room on each side of the Styrofoam Form to wire wrap the coil to the ruler frame. A longer Form ie 5” long would work much better for this build).

The insulation spacer used was 2 layers of 1/8 inch Aerotape self adhesive tape which also helped hold the 100 mm Ferrite Bars onto the Styrofoam Coil Form. Inductance measured 356 uH using a DM 4070 Meter which is well within the requirement of over 300 uH for AM Band Reception.

Side View Of 9-Bar FSL Antenna with 2.75” Diameter Styrofoam Cake Dummy.

Because of the extra thickness of high gain 660/46 Litz Wire which is a bit too big to solder to the inside terminals of the Tecsun PL-380 Radio, a 2 Position Terminal Block was superglued to the outside of the Ruler Frame to act as an interface connection point.

2 Position Terminal Block Superglued To Back Of Antenna Frame

Testing Results:

Both daytime and evening AM station captures have been spectacular. Stations as far away as KKOB / 770 kHz Alberquerque, New Mexico 1130 Miles from here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada have been received. Country music station WSM / 650 kHz in Nashville, Tennessee 1082 miles distant is a daily evening pickup.

Station KKOB / 770 kHz Alberquerque, New Mexico 1130 Miles distance.

Station WSM / 650 kHz in Nashville, Tennessee 1082 miles distance.

Two Stations Received At 600 kHz 90 Degrees apart at the same time:

The amazing Nulling and Razor Sharp Tuning quality of this FSL was demonstrated when 2 stations at 600 kHz were received at the same time by rotating the Radio with attached FSL 90 degrees. In the North / South direction Station KSJB / Jamestown, North Dakota (219 miles distant) was received with a strong signal strength of 50 / 23. Then by rotating the Radio 90 degrees to the East / West direction Saskatoon, Saskatchewan station CJWW (442 miles distance) was captured with a similar strong signal strength of 44 / 24.

600 kHz Station KSJB / Jamestown, North Dakota.

600 kHz Station CJWW / Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Daytime Reception of 600 Watt Station 137 Miles Distant:

A major daily AM reception capture during the afternoon illustrating the amazing sensitivity of this antenna is 600 Watt station KKXL Sports Radio 1440 kHz (137 miles).

All Indoor Reception – For Now!

Due to winter conditions here in Winnipeg, all of the amazing station reception captures in this report were done inside the House facing towards the South window. Fortunately the red ruler platform sides can he used as handles when pointing the radio in the direction of best reception. Exciting times are ahead to see how well this mini 3” FSL will perform outdoors for likely even better AM DXing.

Summarizing:

The design of this new FSL Antenna attached to the Tecsun PL-380 Ultralite radio by Gary DeBock is a major breakthrough in AM DXing since the Radio is attached to the FSL. This new FSL Antenna needs to be constructed to be really appreciated. The application described here requires a bit more skill to construct and is also heavier than the original construction – but at least it is portable. For beginners Gary’s original 3” FSL Heathkit Design is highly recommended and can be reviewed in his You Tube Video posted at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY9u8MReGjk

Thanks,
Jerry Popiel
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Thank you, Jerry! It’s amazing what performance you and Gary DeBock have gotten out of these homebrew FSL antennas! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your construction details and performance notes!

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