{"id":33941,"date":"2018-09-04T08:11:36","date_gmt":"2018-09-04T12:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=33941"},"modified":"2018-09-06T08:30:36","modified_gmt":"2018-09-06T12:30:36","slug":"shortwave-antenna-options-for-apartments-flats-and-condos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/shortwave-antenna-options-for-apartments-flats-and-condos\/","title":{"rendered":"Shortwave antenna options for apartments, flats and condos"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A balcony is your friend, if you have one. Otherwise, we need to use other antenna tactics!<\/p><\/div>\n

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> contributor, Tim, who writes:<\/p>\n

I am a regular subscriber here, but until now have not formally commented. I’ve been an avid SWL since 1977.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am intrigued by your in-depth article on understanding and setting up SDR’s<\/a>. But, what about an antenna? How well will these radios work for someone who is an apartment dweller?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I live here in South Florida and am unable to erect anything outdoors. I do get pretty good reception on my Grundig Satellit 800 and Tecsun PL-880. For these, I use either an indoor slinky antenna I\u00a0bought on E-Bay; or an active indoor tunable loop antenna. This is one of the models past reviewed by you.\u00a0<\/span>It is Australian made, and covers 6-18 MHz.\u00a0<\/span>Please comment if you can on antenna usage. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank You very much!<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First of all, I’m glad you enjoy the SWLing Post, <\/em>Tim!<\/p>\n

Great question: no doubt you understand that the antenna is the most important part of your radio equation!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It sounds like you’re currently using a slinky antenna<\/a> and a portable PK Loop HF antenna<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The PK Loop<\/p><\/div>\n

You’re on the right track with a PK Loop if you live in an apartment and have no way of putting an antenna outdoors. Being a small magnetic loop antenna, the PK Loop should help mitigate a bit of the noise in your apartment building.<\/p>\n

What I love about the PK Loop is it’s small enough that you can re-position and rotate it to tweak noise rejection and find the quietest spot in your listening room. When I travel by car and even by air, the PK Loop<\/a> is a welcome companion.<\/p>\n

Before we talk about investing in a better indoor antenna, let’s make sure we cover a more affordable option first…<\/p>\n

External wire antennas<\/h2>\n

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If you have operable windows in your apartment, even fishing a thin-gauged wire out of your window–allowing it to simply hang along the outside of the building–could improve your reception significantly<\/em>. Of course, if there’s a source of noise outside of your apartment it might only make things worse, but this is at least an inexpensive experiment and the results might impress you.<\/p>\n

I actually tested this theory once and published the following results in a previous post about the PK Loop<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I had a fantastic opportunity to evaluate how well the PK Loop would perform in a typical hotel room. My buddies Eric (WD8RIF), Miles (KD8KNC) and I stayed overnight in\u00a0a hotel on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base during our\u00a0mini National Parks On The Air DXpedition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The hotel room was indeed dense with RFI.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We hooked\u00a0my Electraft KX2<\/a>\u00a0to both the PK Loop and to a simple random wire antenna.<\/p>\n

Without a doubt, the PK Loop was\u00a0much<\/em>\u00a0better at mitigating radio noise than the wire antenna we hung on the\u00a0inside<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0of the hotel window.<\/p>\n

Unlike most modern hotels, however, this one actually had operable windows, so we tossed the random wire out the window and made another comparison. In this case, the external wire antenna consistently outperformed the PK Loop<\/strong>, no doubt because it had the advantage of being outside the radio noise cloud within the hotel\u2019s walls. It goes to show that outdoor antennas\u2013even if simply hanging from a room window\u2013will almost always outperform comparable indoor antennas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, if you have a way to dangle a wire out one of your window, give this a try.<\/p>\n

How long should the wire be? I suppose it depends on how much vertical space you have below your window. For starters, I’d try to suspend at least eight feet of wire outside. If I had the vertical space, I’d try as much as 31 feet.<\/p>\n

Important:<\/strong>\u00a0First you must check to make sure your wire couldn’t possibly touch electrical lines. <\/em>Never lower a wire outdoors if the wind could blow it into an electric service entry point, power line or any other type of line or cable. You should do a thorough inspection of the site first.<\/p>\n

With that said, keep in mind:\u00a0Stealth is key!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Can you spot the wire antenna in this photo? Of course not.<\/p><\/div>\n

Use a thin wire with a black or dark jacket\/insulation. Only lower it when using it–don’t leave it out all day long. Check to make sure your antenna isn’t going to interfere with your neighbors below (like landing in their outdoor grill or flower pots!). One strong complaint from neighbors could shut down your operation permanently.<\/p>\n

Now back to loops…<\/h2>\n

If you don’t have operable windows or a way to deploy a wire antenna outside–or you’ve tried a wire antenna and results were unsatisfactory–then you will be forced to stick with indoor antennas which almost always leads you down the path of larger amplified wideband magnetic loop antennas.<\/p>\n

This is a topic I covered extensively earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Please read the post:\u00a0Indoor shortwave antenna options to pair with a new SDR.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Indoor shortwave antenna options to pair with a new SDR<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n