A dipole aerial for short wave listening 

hi, just beginning in the radio hobby... as a kid i listened a lot to the radio... MW LW SW also FM and AM. Now something woke up this old interest. Watching your videos and other RU-vidrs this old interesent is starting to become a main interest. A few years back i bought a studybook to become a licenced operator... That book is stil lying ont the shelf never started to learn... No... i am not a pirate... i am listening on the 11 meter and somethimes i give a shout in the air. Yes CB Radio is fun... but more fun when the skip is rolling in! Or propagation is right! a month or two ago i bought my first CB radio. As kid in the 80's friends had them in the tractors and we played with the CB's... FUN!!! I love this movie about the dipole antenna!!! and started to calculate for a dipole for the 27MHz... 468:27=17.3 17.3:2=8.6 (17.4x30.5=530.7) to make it easy: 531:2=265.5 meter each side... But the number: 468 how is that calculated or is it a standard in the antenna build???

After watching 20+ videos on the SW antenna topic this is the only really useful one. Thank you

I admire all valve radios and admire your skill and ability to repair them.

Hi. My name is Jodie. I really liked your vid. I live in Queensland Australia. I have a Kenwood R-1000 with 2 G5RV antennas one running south-west to north-east and other south-east to north-west , and there were 2 stations I loved to listen to were HCJB Quito Ecuador the voice of the Andes, and Radio Dubai. Unfortunately they don't exist anymore.

Love those old radios,I did own a few some years ago including an old radiogram.Fond memories indeed.

Thank you for a great explaination. All the best to you.

Thanks for a very useful bit of information👍

Yet another good video, Thanks Ray

I am reacquainting myself with the world of Shortwave listening after many years. I have purchased an SDR - RTL to help bridge the technological divide. I had planed on a dipole straight off. But needed to remind myself of the rules and principles. This video was absolutely great in assisting me. I think I can make it work well. I have a 50 ft area, of a 5ft high wooden fence that surrounds my apartment. I know its a bit short of 75 feet for a 6m antenna, but with some different directions taken by the wire I think it may work. It may not be perfect. But I can experiment with shorter bandwidths to see my results I believe. Thank you sir for your video.

Thank you so much for your videos, it really helps me get results

Hi Ray. Very useful and interesting information. Thank you for sharing and take care.

Even a single long wire will help! I just went out and added a single 5m length of thin wire to my Retekess V115, and I can get clear signals on my frequencies. I just use a test clip to attach it to my aerial.

Thank you for making that clear !..total beginner here

Just what I need for my kenwood trio r1000. Not complicated. Thank you very much. 😀

You have the best ghost stories bro!!! Thumbs up 👍

That's wonderful my friend.I hv subscribed to your channel here.!!!!!

Thanks to your video, I was able to make one a few months ago and it works great.

Should the general orientation be north- south or east-west? Your information is gold thanks for the generosity.

Relevant knowledge has no age limit mate. I'm still using my bamboo fly fishing rod. Keep on talking.

Brilliant !. Thank you Ray. Had been looking all over You Tube for just this type of of antenna . There are scores of Ham antenna videos, But i am not ready for that yet. I just wanted to listen to SW stations on my Grundig 750 i just bought, But the stock pull out antenna has a lot of fade in and out . This will do the trick i am sure. Thanks again From Jon in Seattle Washington USA

thank you....

Thnk u sir so simple i wil sure set up sum wt like ths antenna for my zenith r7000world receiver!

Good Job .

Good job Ray as always. Vy 73s de WA1UFO, Radio Spacejunk.

I am using a Marconi T. Speaker wire to the top floor, and then split and run in the windows in a diagonal pattern because of electrical lines along the street. Straight horizontal did not work. The lines were too noisy. I go 10 foot up, split and run in the windows diagonally for 80 feet. I've got 170 foot of wire outside my apartment. I could shorten it and I may. I am going to try a plug and make it a dipole first. Then it may get trimmed. I want to listen to all bands so I am also going to look into a tuner. Those are steep.

I use a 75 ohm TV cable 200 feet long with a single 70 foot wire and grounded shield the main purpose is to get away from the power lines which wreak havoc when your too close. and is plugged into a Realistic DX-390. I may try a dipole setup at see if it is better I am trying to catch the illusive UVB 76 buzzer. here in western Canada. I caught it only once in Feb 2014.

Great advice for aspiring SWListeners Ray, well done! May I suggest here, if the said antenna is used as intended (i.e. dipole configuration), the noise level will be much lower from being instead, used as a 'Marconi T' configuration. Am I correct in saying this or, in your experience, there's no difference in QRN levels? Your videos are both, entertaining and informative as well as, very clear to understand. Thank you!

Thanks for helpful video lesson again Ray. I get brain overload with all this and have to ask daft questions, so there was no mention of a ground rod here, do you need one?. I remember my dad just having a bit of wire going through the window into a iron pipe banged into the ground.

Great informative video. I’m interested in making a dipole for my loft space but it’s only 14 feet wide, would the Marconi T idea work for improving SW reception? Currently using a 16m sloper long wire outside but it’s a bit unsightly so would like something out of the way. Thanks.

Hi Ray. I'm enjoying watching your videos. (Your "informal" style makes for easy listening and learning!) Just a quick question: When you cut the legs of the dipole to exactly half the total length required, do you take into account the short amounts of wire which will end up twisted back on themselves at the insulators and, therefore, not form part of the overall physical length of the dipole?

Hello Sir, I just bought an Eton Satellite 750 sw radio. As I see, the 6 mhz frequencies are capted with an dipole antenna like this: 468/6mhz= 78ft, so 39 ft each side. At that length, can I also receive frequencies higher than 6mhz ? (for example, Band 31 at 9.4-9.9mhz...). Because if I do the math : 468/9 = 52ft, so 26ft each side. The way I understand it, since you need only 52 ft antenna to get the 9.4-9.9mhz frequencies, then at 78 ft (the 6 mhz antenna) would be more than enough. And the higher the frequencies, the shorter antenna will be needed, right? To simplify, with your antenna at 78 ft, it seems like I can also receive all the frequencies higher than 6mhz? But not those under 6mhz. Am I right at my supposition? Please help me....and thanks for answering :).

Hello ,,I made an inverted v dipole, yrs ago and used to pirate around 6.6 can't remember what it was called now but 15 watts used to get me everywhere ,,all over Europe and Ireland using the atu in my ts690 cheers shane

Hello Ray, thank you for the excellent video. My question is regarding the 39 wire any specific one or just any wire could make. Second question ....do I need to brade the wire ( 39) Or it should be normal wire with its cover. Many thanks ..Stay successful.

Hi great video ! I have a question... I've seen that sometimes dipoles antennas were built with insulated copper wire (electric cable). Is that non-sense ? You work with electromagnetic (radio) wave so it should not be insulated right ?

Hi Ray! Thanks for the great information! I don’t have an earth socket on my radio, where should the braided side of the coax go?

I'm putting together this ariel this weekend, just a bit more advice Could I put a switch to switch in between the coax ground and core to be able to make the ariel more flexible for short wave bands ? I'm also worried about any live static coming in, is there a way of protecting , I don't want to grab the end and get a belt

My Panasonic RF-800U radio does not have a aerial socket behind and does not have a earth socket on the rear. Should I actually modify the radio by drilling holes and bringing out aerial and earth sockets(negative of battery) at the rear of that brand new radio to be able to connect to external aerials? It does have a long 84cm telescopic aerial.

Hi...hope to get myself a HF tx rig for when I retire soon...I have an M6 ticket and would like to construct several centre fed half wave wire dipoles and use them in a mobile location...prob strung between 2 trees. If I use 50ohm coax as my feed line...do I need a balun at the dipole centre...never was able to get my head around Baluns...lot in print re having one but not much telling what they do. I will be working QRP. Nick.

I realise 75 ohm coax isnt correct, but does anyone have any experience of actually comparing 50 with 75 ohm for SWL? Is it likely to impact signal strength much on a short 5-10m run?

Another great tutorial, Ray. I'd be limited to each leg being 12' long. What band should I expect to receive? Many thanks!

Very nice aerial concept. Thank you. I had not heard widely about dipole aerials being used for SW listening and especially if old valve radio sets could use them effectively. India only had those fine copper mesh between plastic insulators (acting as capacitative hat) with a lead in wire from the mesh bringing signal to radio. On my 8 band National Ekco A731 valve radio, I have many SW bands as bandspread. But 49m is not bandspread and it is clubbed under single MSW band. Questions: 1) Will this dipole aerial help me tune other SW bands like 13m, 16m, 19m, 25m, 31m, 41m, SW 60m? and the MW? 2) When I connect the coaxial cable to the two 39 feet dipole sections, should I connect the coaxial braid to the earth socket of my tube radio? Or just leave it? My valve radio has mains power cord of three terminal and the radio chassis is earthed through the mains power cord. There is no possible of a independent earth for my radio on a RCC highrise in India. RF disturbance is grandest in India due to concrete forest that we have :) 3) Will the length of 39 feet change for SW 60m and SW 90m and MW?

Sir, coaxial cable one wire to radio antenna another to where I connect?

For reception, I'm using a 30ft horizontal length of copper wire, stung 5ft above my roof deck. One end of the wire feeds the 500ohm input of my receiver, using just the core of 50ohm coax cable. The receiver earthed via my steel kitchen sink It seems to work well between 49M and 31M. That said I have nothing to compare it to. Is it feasible to add a vertical antenna that shares the 50ohm coax cable with the 30ft wire?

Hello, Ray! I 've got a small portable radio that does FM/MW/SW (a Degen DE13--it was the last little luxury I bought before capital controls were instituted here) and I too am interested in listening to the 49m band. My radio doesn't have an aerial input, only a telescoping aerial. Could I attach the aerial you describe here to the telescoping aerial with an alligator clip? If so, what would I do with the earth part of the aerial coming into the house through the coax wire? Does an aerial like this (at the proper length) improve FM reception as well? (Great videos! Any chance you 'll be doing a video on improving MW and FM reception?) Cheers from Greece! -Angelos

What about the length of wire lost attaching it to the insulators? Not critical?

Can anyone help me. I have a small portable radio (Kaito KA500 Voyager) with an telescopic aerial. I mainly using the radio outdoors and therefore looking at using (ladder-line) as my feed-line, instead of coaxial cable. How would I attach the end of the ladder-line to the portable radio's telescopic aerial? Can I attach both wires to the telescopic aerial? Or do I need to attach one wire to the telescopic aerial, and the other wire to a ground?

What about portable radios with no earth connections

How to connect this antenna to a radio that doesnt have external antenna jack?

I'm using dacron rope (paracord) for my insulators. I tie the rope to the end of the poles, so I can stretch the aerial between to poles or trees. The new silicone self-fusing tape should work well for water-proofing the connections in the centre.

It would be alot easier if people start using meters instead of feet, since wavelenghts are in meters. If not for anything else, measurements in feet really aren't anything else than measurements in meters, recalculated. The definition of 1 foot = 0.3048 m.

A frend passed willed me a thousand foot of rgu 58 cable you bet I'm putting up. Some. I like to listen kv4li

Don't keep a transmitter next to your heart 💔