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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Giuseppe Morlè, who writes:
Dear Thomas and Friends,
I’m Giuseppe Morlè (IZ0GZW) from Formia, in central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
This time I wanted to experiment by combining three different antennas that interact with one another through induction. In the video, you’ll see the Milk Box Loop, the SW/MW Tablet, and the Wire Coil all working together to capture very faint 40-meter signals from W2V in North Carolina and ZL3CHE in New Zealand.
This experiment is especially promising as we move into the fall season, when nighttime listening on 40 meters becomes even more interesting.
I’ll continue testing with this fun, simple, and free antenna. You can see more in this video:
Thank you all, and happy listening!
—Giuseppe (IZ0GZW)
Thank you so much for sharing another one of your antenna experiments and impressive results, Giuseppe!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Giuseppe Morlè, who writes:
Dear Thomas,
I’m Giuseppe Morlè, IZ0GZW, from Formia, in central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
I’d like to show you my antenna board for shortwave and mediumwave listening with portable receivers like the Tecsun PL-660.
The board has two distinct circuits:
A small-diameter loop with two turns for shortwave reception (3.5–18 MHz).
Three ferrite rods with 30 turns each, plus a four-turn link coil that carries the signal to the receiver for mediumwave reception.
In the video, you’ll see how the board works on its own, and then how performance improves when I connect a 15-meter wire and throw it over the balcony of my house. In that case, the signal becomes much stronger.
Tuning is done with a 900 pF variable capacitor. To listen to mediumwave, I simply disconnect one side of the shortwave loop. With just that single variable capacitor, I can tune all of the bands.
It’s a surprisingly effective antenna for small portable receivers, and it’s built entirely from recycled materials—at no cost.
I hope you enjoy it. Greetings to all the friends of the SWLing Post.
Many thanks, Giuseppe, for once again sharing your creativity with us. I’m always impressed by the antennas you design and by the performance you achieve—especially considering they’re largely homebrewed from recycled parts. That’s radio at its very best!
[Note that his video is in Italian, but you can turn on subtitles for your preferred language.]
I am Giuseppe Morlè from Formia, Central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
This time, I want to share a very simple antenna setup for listening to and attempting extreme DX on Medium Waves.
I first saw this antenna in several videos, and many DXers have used it during various expeditions.
For my setup, I used a 15-meter-long wire. At around 11 meters, I formed a small coil with 8 turns, then continued the wire for another 3 meters.
I began with some tests on my balcony by laying the wire flat along the ground for its entire length. I used my small Sony SRF-37V as a receiver. By placing the receiver within the coil of turns, I immediately noticed a significant difference compared to the built-in ferrite antenna.
In the early afternoon, I tuned into a Chinese language broadcast on 1377 kHz. You can watch a video of this experiment on my YouTube channel:
Encouraged by the excellent results, I decided to head to the tourist port of Caposele di Formia the next day in the early afternoon. I set up on the pier overlooking the sea. This time, I laid the wire in an eastward direction — towards the night, where the sun had already set, while it was still high for another two hours on my side.
Once again, I achieved amazing results.
I was able to hear the same Chinese station on 1377 kHz, but this time with much clearer audio than from my balcony, where electrical noise interfered. By the sea, the signal was clean and strong.
After a while, I tuned into VOA broadcasts from Thailand on 1575 and 1395 kHz, both with surprisingly good audio quality. You can see this second experiment here:
Sometimes, all it takes is a bit of wire and a small coil to create an excellent, ground-level antenna — in this case, oriented eastward.
I also tried using my loop cassette and a Tecsun PL-660 but couldn’t hear anything. Yet the little Sony SRF-37V proved itself to be a true “DX killer” on AM — truly impressive.
I even caught a segment of the VOA program “World Today,” discussing the Chinese economy and Southeast Asia.
As the sun set, the DX signals faded, making way for closer European and Asian broadcasters.
I will definitely return with a longer wire to see if this surprising setup can be improved even more.
A warm greeting to all the Friends who follow SWLing Post and to you, Dear Thomas.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Giuseppe Morlè, who shares the following guest post:
Dear Thomas and Friends of SWLing Post,
I am Giuseppe Morlè from Formia, a town in central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
I have built a new “Multiloop” antenna using a 40 cm diameter milk crate. The crate is very sturdy and shockproof, making it an excellent base for this project.
Construction Details
I wound three different loops on the crate:
1. A single shortwave coil
2. Two shortwave coils
3. Twelve medium-wave coils
The design includes a single coil placed between the two shortwave coils, which picks up the signal by induction and transfers it to the receiver via an RG58 cable.
The heart of this system is a 2,100 pF variable capacitor with sockets connected to the rotors. Inside the crate, I added another 18 cm diameter loop positioned just below the two main coils.
The ends of this small loop are attached with crocodile clips to the external ends of the rotor. This small loop allows me to exploit induction and, by turning the capacitor, access all decametric bands from 160 to 10 meters.
Tuning Ranges
The variable capacitor enables tuning as follows:
In the lower ranges, it covers 80 to 20 meters.
When reversed, it tunes all higher ranges from 10 to 20 meters.
This works because the small loop and capacitor couple inductively with the primary turns. By increasing capacity with cables on the rotors, the antenna can even tune up to 160 meters.
The medium-wave turns cover frequencies from 300 kHz to 1,900 kHz. Essentially, this Loop Milk Crate antenna can access a wide range from 300 kHz to 30 MHz.
Testing and Comparisons
I tested the antenna using the Tecsun PL-660 and the Tecsun S-8800 receivers. I also compared the Loop Milk Crate with my “Ferritona” antenna and found surprising results!
Some of the videos were filmed in my shack because it was too cold to work on the balcony. Other videos were shot outside, either on my balcony or on the beach in Formia.
Videos
Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoy my “crazy” constructions. Always remember, I’m not a technician—just a passionate listener who loves building with recycled materials.
Wishing everyone a year full of happiness and satisfaction!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Giuseppe Morlè, who writes:
Dear Thomas and Friends of the SWLing Post,
I am Giuseppe Morlè, IZ0GZW, writing to you from Formia, in central Italy, on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Do you remember the DICA 2 antenna? It was a small, shortened antenna with three ferrite cores inside, capable of tuning across all shortwave bands. Unfortunately, it no longer exists in its original form.
I have completely reworked the windings to enable the ferrites to also function for medium wave (MW) reception. Now, the antenna features:
• 35 turns for medium waves,
• 4 turns for shortwaves, and
• the same variable capacitor of over 1000 pF remains in use.
For medium waves, the antenna works wonderfully by induction. You simply place the ferrite core near the tube and turn the variable capacitor to achieve perfect tuning across the entire MW range.
I was genuinely amazed by its performance on shortwaves. Despite its small size, the antenna provides excellent gain, especially when a ground cable is connected to the variable capacitor’s casing.
I conducted several tests on my balcony. Initially, I thought the random ground wire simply improved the rotor’s tuning capability, but I discovered the antenna works equally well even when placed on a metal surface.
During a recent outing to Monte Orlando Park in Gaeta, I observed how the ground cable significantly enhanced both the signal strength and audio modulation. You can see this in my latest video, where I received Australian operators Greg and Grant on 20 meters with excellent signals.
The antenna’s two windings are separated and connected to the stator and rotor of the variable capacitor. On one end of the shortwave winding (the 4 turns), I’ve added a crocodile clip that can be attached or detached to switch between shortwave and medium wave operation. All of this functionality is achieved with a single variable capacitor.
I will soon share videos demonstrating all of these details and performances.
Thank you, Thomas, for your incredible activations—I follow them regularly on your channel, and they are a constant source of inspiration for me.
Greetings to you and all the Friends of SWLing Post!
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Giuseppe Morlè (IZ0GZW), who writes:
Dear Thomas,
I am Giuseppe Morlè, IZ0GZW, from Formia, located in central Italy along the Tyrrhenian Sea. I hope everything is going well for you after the hurricane and that you and your loved ones are in good health.
I’m sending you this latest loop antenna of mine, which I’ve named “Delicate” due to its small size—about 20 cm in diameter—and because it fits perfectly with the Malahit receiver inside my car.
I am currently comparing it with a larger loop antenna inside the car to see how they differ. In fact, all of my antennas—whether for VHF/UHF or CB—are installed inside the passenger compartment of my car, and I can assure you, they work very well. Even my antennas for HF listening are mounted inside the vehicle.
I also have a loaded wire antenna hidden under the car, running from one wheel to the other. It works especially well on the 20-meter band, which is my favorite band for listening.
I wanted to share with you and all of the SWLing Post readers my experiences with listening and QRP experiments.
Thanks to you and all the friends at the SWLing Post.
Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Giuseppe Morlè, who shares the following antenna project:
Dear Thomas and Friends of the SWLing Post,
I’m Giuseppe Morlè from Formia, central Italy on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
After the DICA prototype I created another one called DICA 2 The Revenge!
This other minimal antenna works differently from the prototype. It is shorter, has 3, 12 cm ferrites inside and has the sensors soldered inside in reverse on the telephone cable strap. It works coupled to a metal surface because it uses magnetic induction unlike the prototype.
In the videos you can see the differences between the prototype and the DICA 2…
and the yield on the highest ranges.
This small minimal antenna can tune listening from 3.5 to 30 MHz.
Thanks to you and greetings to all the Friends of SWLing Post.
73.
Videos
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