Short Wave Listening Antenna
by David Harvey VK2DMH on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 | 1 Comment
How do I build a shortwave radio antenna?
I would like to build a wire antenna for listening to shortwave radio broadcasts, and I would like to set up a decent antenna without spending too much.
Can you help me?
How do I build a shortwave radio antenna?
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A simple wire antenna for shortwave listening won’t be difficult or expensive. All you need do is get a long length of wire out of your window and up as high and as far as possible.
However, stay well clear of any electrical power lines, as they will KILL you!
You can run the far end of your SWL antenna to a high branch in a tree in your garden, to another building or any fixture that is high up off the ground. The rule of thumb is as much wire length, and as much height as you can manage.
30 meters or 100 feet of wire or longer would be best, and it can be insulated or un-insulated (i.e. bare copper wire). I often use twin loudspeaker wire myself, and split the two halves apart before use.
If you need to keep it low-profile, so neighbors don’t object, you can use very thin dark wire that you have unwound from a junked electrical transformer. It is very hard to see.
Some hams tack wires around the eaves of their houses, and I know that some P.O.W.s in a Japanese camp in Singapore during World War II disguised their radio listening antenna as a washing line. They hung their laundry on it and the guards never caught on. (If it had been discovered, the prisoners would have been shot.)