{"id":43930,"date":"2020-06-19T12:22:58","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T16:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=43930"},"modified":"2020-06-19T12:22:58","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T16:22:58","slug":"bills-first-dx-contest-using-a-panasonic-rf-2200-and-a-hombrew-diode-loop-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/06\/bills-first-dx-contest-using-a-panasonic-rf-2200-and-a-hombrew-diode-loop-radio\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill’s first DX contest using a Panasonic RF-2200 and a hombrew diode\/loop radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following guest post:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

My First DX Contest<\/b><\/h1>\n

by Bill Hemphill, WD9EQD<\/b><\/p>\n

Being a recent new member of NJARC<\/a>, this is my first time competing in this contest.\u00a0 I have always been a big fan of BCB DXing and have recently got back into it \u2013 especially with the amateur radio bands being in such poor conditions.\u00a0 The acquisition of a couple of Loop antennas plus two Panasonic RF-2200<\/strong> radios have just enhanced my enjoyment.<\/p>\n

For the contest, I used two completely different radios.\u00a0 First was the RF-2200 and second was a spur of the moment creation.<\/p>\n

The RF-2200 was its usual good performer. While the RF-2200 has a beautiful built-in rotating bar antenna, I enhanced it with the 27\u201d Torus-Tuner Loop Antenna<\/strong> as made by K3FDY, Edmund Wawzinski.\u00a0 I think I had picked this antenna up at one of NJARC\u2019s swap meets.\u00a0 So I wish to thank whoever it was that was nice enough to bring it and sell it at the meet.\u00a0 I have really enjoyed using it.\u00a0 With this setup, I was hoping that I might be able to pull in Denver, Salt Lake City and maybe even a Mexican station, but it was a complete bust on them.\u00a0 But I did have a nice surprise in receiving the Cuban station Radio Enciclopedia on 530 in addition to the usual Radio Reloj time signal station.\u00a0 Following is photo of it in operation:<\/p>\n

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

Originally, I had thought that my second contest entry would be done with a 1962 Sony TR-910T<\/strong> three-band transistor radio.\u00a0 This radio has a fairly wide dial along with a second fine-tuning knob which would be a big help.\u00a0 I would have again used the 27\u201d hula-hoop antenna.<\/p>\n

But I made the nice mistake of running across Dave Schmarder\u2019s Makearadio website:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/makearadio.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Dave\u2019s site is a wonderful resource for creating your own Crystal, Tube, and Solid State radios as well as Audio Amplifiers and Loop Antennas.\u00a0 While going down the rabbit hole of his site, I ran across his Loop Crystal Set, #19 Crystal Radio:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/makearadio.com\/crystal\/19.php<\/a><\/p>\n

What grabbed my attention was the wood frame loop antenna which is similar to one I had acquired a couple of years ago at a ham fest<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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

It was a really nicely constructed, nice swivel base.<\/p>\n

I replaced the tuning capacitor with one that has a 6:1 ratio.<\/p>\n

At this point I started thinking that I could create something similar with my loop.<\/p>\n

I randomly grabbed a diode from my parts box.\u00a0 Not sure what the exact model is.\u00a0 (I later found out that it was an IN-34 which is what I was hoping it was.)\u00a0 Then quickly soldered the diode, a resistor and capacitor to a RCA plug:<\/p>\n

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

I then proceeded to use some jumper cables and just clip it to the tuning capacitor on the antenna base:<\/p>\n

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

The RCA plug was then the audio out (I hope) from the radio.<\/p>\n

I quickly realized that I did not have a crystal headset or any headset that would reproduce any audio.\u00a0 So I used an old Marantz cassette recorder to act as an amplifier.\u00a0 Fed it into the mic jack and then tried to listen to the monitor out.\u00a0 Bingo \u2013 I could pick up or local station on 1340 really weak.<\/p>\n

So I then fed the audio from the Marantz into a Edirol digital recorder.\u00a0 Now I was getting enough audio for the headphones plus could make\u00a0 a recording of the audio.<\/p>\n

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

At last I was receiving some signals.\u00a0 To boost the audio some more I removed the resistor from the circuit.<\/p>\n

I found out the I could only tune from about 530 to 1350.\u00a0 I probably needed to clip the lead on one of the loop turns, but I really wanted to see how it would do at night.\u00a0 I spent several hours and was just totally amazed at how well it performed and how good the audio was.\u00a0 The hardest part was when there were very strong signals on the adjacent frequency.\u00a0 What I found really interesting was that it was not linear in its tuning.\u00a0 At the low end of the band the stations were more spread out than at the higher end.\u00a0 This made tuning fairy easy at the low end and very touchy at the high end.\u00a0 I was able to hear a couple of Chicago stations along with Atlanta and St. Louis.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s photo of it in action:<\/p>\n

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

I have created an audio file of the station ID\u2019s heard with the diode\/loop radio.\u00a0 The audio file is on the Internet Archive at:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/bcbstationidsondioderadio<\/a><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/archive.org\/download\/bcbstationidsondioderadio\/BCB%20Station%20ID%27s%20on%20Diode%20Radio.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

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

I had a lot of fun in the contest and especially enjoyed trying something really different with the diode\/loop radio.\u00a0 Now I have a whole year to try to think up something really creative for next year\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n

\n

Absolutely brilliant, Bill! I’m so happy to see that your ham fest homebrew loop<\/a> has served you so very well in a contest. I love how you pulled audio from your homebrew, make-shift diode radio as well–using your audio gear in a chain for amplification obviously worked very well. <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Bill!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares the following guest post: My First DX Contest by Bill Hemphill, WD9EQD Being a recent new member of NJARC, this is my first time competing in this contest.\u00a0 I have always been a big fan of BCB DXing and have recently got back into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[373,713,5935,433,3,26,746],"tags":[8606,6954,3226,617,145,5361,1031,4359,8607,4357,2639,2643],"class_list":["post-43930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-am","category-contests","category-dx","category-mediumwave","category-news","category-radios","category-recordings","tag-27-torus-tuner-loop-antenna","tag-bill-hemphill-wd9eqd","tag-contest","tag-crystal-radio","tag-dx","tag-dx-contest","tag-dxing","tag-homebrew-mag-loop-antenna","tag-k3fdy","tag-mag-loop-antennas","tag-panasonic-rf-2200","tag-rf-2200"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-bqy","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":43124,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2020\/05\/panasonic-rd-9820-antenna-coupler-operating-instructions\/","url_meta":{"origin":43930,"position":0},"title":"Panasonic RD-9820 Antenna Coupler Operating Instructions","author":"Thomas","date":"May 3, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who shares a PDF copy of the Panasonic RD-9820 Antenna Coupler we recently mentioned in a post. He notes that he can't remember how he found this manual, but thought he'd share it. Click here to download the RD-9820 manual as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Accessories"","block_context":{"text":"Accessories","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/accessories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/RF-2200-Antenna-Coupler-1024x848.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/RF-2200-Antenna-Coupler-1024x848.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/RF-2200-Antenna-Coupler-1024x848.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":33579,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/08\/bill-tweaks-his-am-loop-antenna-for-optimal-mediumwave-performance\/","url_meta":{"origin":43930,"position":1},"title":"Bill tweaks his AM loop antenna for optimal mediumwave performance","author":"Thomas","date":"August 17, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD), who writes with the following update to his previous post: As you may remember, back in May, I picked up a beautiful home-made loop antenna. It was 25 inches on a side with 23 turns of wire. My initial testing showed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/loop-calculator-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/loop-calculator-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/loop-calculator-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":31920,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2018\/05\/bill-scores-a-homebrew-lw-mw-magnetic-loop-antenna\/","url_meta":{"origin":43930,"position":2},"title":"Bill scores a homebrew LW\/MW magnetic loop antenna","author":"Thomas","date":"May 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill (WD9EQD) who shares the following: I went to the Warminster Amateur Radio Club (WARC) hamfest [yesterday] in Bucks County, PA. For some time, I have been thinking about making a loop antenna for AM DXing. It was my lucky day. When I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Mag-Loop-Antenna-Homebrew-1-777x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Mag-Loop-Antenna-Homebrew-1-777x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Mag-Loop-Antenna-Homebrew-1-777x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":22477,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/radios-with-rotatable-am-antennas\/","url_meta":{"origin":43930,"position":3},"title":"Radios With Rotatable AM Antennas?","author":"Thomas","date":"November 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Mario Filippi (N2HUN), who writes: With your broad knowledge of radios, wondering if you can add anything to this list of portable radios, past and present, that have 360 degree rotatable directional AM ferrite antennas. Reason is I am looking for an AM portable for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Panasonic RF-2200 sports a rotatable AM\/MW antenna","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Panasonic-RF2200-MtMitchell-3-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Panasonic-RF2200-MtMitchell-3-1024x576.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Panasonic-RF2200-MtMitchell-3-1024x576.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51178,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/12\/airspy-hf-discovery-shortwave-portables-having-fun-with-the-airspy-youloop\/","url_meta":{"origin":43930,"position":4},"title":"Airspy HF+ Discovery & Shortwave Portables: Having Fun with the Airspy YouLoop!","author":"Thomas","date":"December 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Bill Hemphill, who shares the following guest post: YouLoop Antenna Fun by Billy Hemphill WD9EQD Like many listeners, I live in an antenna restricted community.\u00a0 While I have strung up some hidden outdoor wire antennas, I have found that they didn\u2019t really perform that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-06.15.01.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-06.15.01.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Screen-Shot-2021-12-14-at-06.15.01.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":23937,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/02\/video-juan-touts-panasonic-rf-2200-performance-filter-shapes\/","url_meta":{"origin":43930,"position":5},"title":"Video: Juan touts Panasonic RF-2200 performance & filter shapes","author":"Thomas","date":"February 4, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor,\u00a0Juan Pablo Carlino, who writes: Hi. I own one RF-2200 after buying it in eBay in March 2008. Since then it became my favourite portable radio and as everybody [has commented], its a pleasure to hear MW with it. I explain this due to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/RF-2200-Tuning.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/RF-2200-Tuning.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/RF-2200-Tuning.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43930\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}