Something different - has anyone made a sw antenna for their van, and if so can you share the details.  This would possibly be something that could be assembled and removed when necessary.  I accept that the wire with a weight thrown over a tree may be ok, but are there any improvements.

Hi;

   S/w antennas, i have used a long wire  ( 50' ~ 100' ) mounted up as high as possible, and a couple of egg insulators eatch end of your wire would not go astray. Great for AM and S/W. I have also used this type of antenna to transmitt, but i then i had to use a antenna tuner to 'match' the impedance of the antenna to the transmitter. This idear has been around since the early days of radio.

Other than that there are formulars around so as to 'cut ' the antenna to the reqired length so as to match the frequency that you wish to listen to. This is VERY important when you come to transmitt, other wise you can do untold damage to your communication radio ( damage the RF out put stage ) . Once again not a problem if you have only a S/W receiver. Hope this helps

Years ago I made quite a few. A length of wire strung up in the trees worked best.

The wavelength of SW is 120 Metres to 40 Metres depending on the band.

To be honest I had all the maths and formulas at my disposal but every time trial and error worked best.

Just a long wire out the bedroom window, up along the roof and tied to a tree in the back yard.

This link may help www.hamuniverse.com/shortwaveantenna.html




Cheers