Capacity hat.

[colly0410]

I know that horizontal wires at the top of a short vertical aerial will form a capacity hat & increase the efficiency of the vertical part. Will the same trick work for a short horizontal end fed aerial if you put wires at right angles at the far end?

[G8HQP Dave]

Yes.

[Radio Wrangler]

Sometimes done on various 'Minibeams'

David

[colly0410]

Thanks for info. My back garden is 25 feet long X 45 feet wide, (it's an end terraced house with a weird shaped garden) I was thinking of stringing a wire to the fence = 25 feet then 2 X 20 feet of wire at right angles along the fence forming a horizontal T..

[G8HQP Dave]

Bear in mind that horizontal antennas don't work too well near the ground, unless you are aiming at NVIS propagation.

[Herald1360]

Well, I had to look it up.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Ve...idence_Skywave

[colly0410]

I dare not put it high up as the neighbours will moan to the mardy bum Council, my mate (Jack G8 PCN) who lives a few hundred yards away put a 2 Metre rotatable up & the council made him take it down. I'll be using it for short wave listening & I'll try connecting it up to my stereo system as I like listening to Gold radio on 999kz from Trowell Moor, it's got a little loop aerial but it's as much use as a chocolate mains dropper..

[G8HQP Dave]

For MW vertical height is what counts for local groundwave signals. A horizontal antenna may be OK for evening skywave propagation from further away.

[Station X]

I dare not put it high up as the neighbours will moan to the mardy bum Council

Just put it up and see if anyone complains. They might not even notice. The worst thing that can happen is that the council ask you to take it down.

[Nicklyons2]

Don't be too disappointed if it doesn't work very well when connected to your 'stereo' ; most of these systems with the 'loop' aerial expect a very weak signal and connecting a long wire floods the 'front end' and you get everything but all at once. It's worth a try though, but, if it doesn't work try extending the loop aerial's 'tails' and placing the loop in a window or some other less screened location. I've found the old figure 8 lamp flex (14/.0076) is pretty good as a 'feeder' for these loops for 3metres or so + the advantage of the loop is that it gives you a bit of directivity.

[colly0410]

Re # 10.

Thanks for the extending frame aerial tail leads idea, I didn't think of that, that would be an easier solution so I'll try that first. I've got loads of old twin flex in the shed. I could put the frame aerial in a plastic bag & put it outside, hopefully it'll pick up less hash out there. I'm sat here planing on how to hide the flex from SWMBO.

[AC/HL]

A few ideas here: http://www.g4ilo.com/stealth.html

[HamishBoxer]

Dont think wire aerials are covered by any planning.

[Station X]

I don't know what the legal position is in Scotland, but in England any antenna more than one metre long in any dimension requires planning permission.

[Skywave]

Planning regulations, aerials. This might help, from the RSGB . . .

http://rsgb.org/main/operating/planning-matters/

My own situation, very conveniently, is covered by this extract:

The antenna/mast has been present for four years or more and you can prove it. A confirmation letter from your neighbours is usually enough (single residential development only).

I suspect many other radio enthusiasts are similarly benefitting from that clause too.

Al.

[colly0410]

Originally Posted by AC/HL

A few ideas here: http://www.g4ilo.com/stealth.html

Thanks for the link. I'd never noticed that site before, an interesting read..

[jsbhavsar]

India did not require any permissions to put outdoor aerials during the valve radio era. Only thing was that each radio above 3 bands had to be registered with the local post office with the make, model, year details and address. A passbook was issued to each subscriber and annual fees had to be paid. (I remember last fee paid was Rs 15/- for my Dad's Philips tube radio in 1984-85 after which our young Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi removed such obligations from subscribers).

My Dad initially put his fine copper mesh aerial outside in 1968 and enjoyed quite a lot of Dxing trying to receive many other frequencies from railway marshalling yards and so on. Slowly, such aerials were either getting stolen or birds were breaking them hence were moved indoors. See attached pic which is not my family but describes what it was.

Somewhere in other forum I read on a reply that the fine copper mesh could be acting as capacitative hat which I did not follow or understand.

Today, I no longer use such copper mesh aerial (its not available and my last one I misplaced). I use a thick bare copper wire 4m long between insulators on terrace of the RCC building. I then connect a 1/18 aluminium wire to that copper wire to bring signal down to the aerial socket. Works great on SW but poor on MW. Maybe something wrong in the MW circuit of my National Ekco A731.

[colly0410]

Update..... I've extended the frame aerial to under the canopy using lighting flex as Nickylyons2 suggested. I've got hash free reception of Gold radio from Trowell Moor plus others, thanks Nickylyons2.... I've not got round to doing anything about a short wave aerial yet, I'll get round to it; honest.

[jsbhavsar]

Hi Colly0410, If you can please explain your 'loop aerial' setup under the canopy and how the two ends of that loop are connected to your radio aerial / earth sockets, that will be helpful? Eg. Loop size, wire type, turns, size of the loop etc and mechanism used to turn the loop under the canopy.
Sorry if that is too much of an information.

[colly0410]

Hi Jsbhavsar

It's the loop aerial that came with my cheap (£100 or so) panasonic stereo system, it has a short twisted wire lead in & picked up lots of interference in the house, there are two connectors on the back of the set. The loop aerial is 4 1/2 inches square with about 10 turns of wire. I took Nickylyons advice & used some old lighting flex to extend it. It is just hung on a nail under the canopy so it doesn't get wet, it has not got a means of turning unless you hang it on a different nail, I just leave it there as it picks up the stations I want. I'm surprised at how good it works..