question about antena

[Etam]

Hello all,
Thank you in advance for any help. I am considering buying a antenna. I have not much info about it, so I did some google seach and I ran into this:https://www.sainsonic.com/tecsun-an05-shortwave-antenna-2.html
Has anyone used this kind of shortwave antenna before? What should i pay attention to?

 

[JimB]

The Tecsun AN05 is just 23 feet of wire in a plastic case.
It will work exactly the same as any other 23 feet of wire.
If you cannot buy 23 feet of wire for less than $6, then by all means buy this antenna.

Other things which you need to consider are:

What type of receiver are you going to connect this antenna to?
If it is a cheap domestic quality receiver which has a shortwave band or two, then the antenna may cause more problems than improvements.
All the extra signals will overload the mixer stage of the radio, and although the radio may appear to be more "lively" most of it will be noise and spurious signals.

Where are you going to install this antenna?
If it is inside a room/apartment, it is likely that all you will hear is more electrical noise from whatever other equipment is in the apartment.

JimB

 

[cowboybob]

Has anyone used this kind of shortwave antenna before?

Yes, with some degree of satisfaction, but, as JimB notes, you could just buy yourself some 26 ga. wire of what ever length and string it around your room (or house).

Your call on the ready made one. All things considered, that might be the best (if not the cheapest) way to go until you get a better handle on how these things work and how you can "tune" an antenna (for signal strength).

What should i pay attention to?

Antenna length, followed by orientation.

Antenna length determines resonant frequency. That means the antenna's "output" is strongest when the transmitted signal's wavelength is similar to that of the antenna. Google "1/4 wavelength antenna" for further explanation.

Antenna orientation has a similar effect on output. Google "radio direction finder" for a basic understanding of the concept.

There are always "extra" signals from any antenna, in varying levels of strength. While it is true that a poorly designed radio may have difficulty separating these signals, the increase in signal strength is worth it. With any luck, that alone might encourage you to get a better radio and become more involved with the shortwave bands (where all the "Hams" hang out).

73s,

Cowboybob, K4NFF

 

[stevez]

I live close to several powerful AM broadcast stations. A good sized antenna on my moderately priced/ancient SW receivers (one a Knight, the other a National) does in fact pull more stuff in -some quite annoying. I fixed some of this problem by making a broadcast band filter - that blocked the AM band but passed most everything 2 MHz up. That might be a solution if the antenna causes some of those problems.