End fed antenna help

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I'm trying to receive only in the below 30mhz space. I have a long piece of wire (currently 71 ft), a nooelec 9:1 balun or unun (depending on who you ask) and an SDR.

I want to set up an end fed antenna, but I'm not really sure where to put it. I could maybe go from a second story window to a tree, but would the drop from the antenna into the house (to the balun) be considered as part of the length of the antenna? Does it matter?

I also considered chucking the wire over the peak of my roof and running the wire inside down the side of my house. Would that work?

Also what do people use for isolators? I see them in the diagrams and YouTube videos. I think I get the purpose, but what are they?
 
An end fed wire will work in almost any configuration. Start at your entry spot and run the wire to wherever it is convenient.
They are not "isolators" they are insulators.....in electronics there's a difference

Insulators are used to keep BARE wire from grounding out on objects that are earth grounded.....ie: trees, etc. Using INSULATED WIRE kind of negates the use of insulators but they do make a convenient tie off point.

Does your radio have a built in tuner? If not, pick up a cheap MFJ tuner used and put it inline so you can tune your longwire for better efficiency.
 
Receive only.

As high and as straight as possible - while keeping the 'radiator' / antenna wire as far away from anything conductive or metallic as possible.

Out of your window to a tree sounds good.. Over the house sounds OK as long as not near the aluminum siding, copper flashing, or gutters, for example.

The 'feedline' from the receiver to the balun, the coax(ial) cable can be near conductive materials without a problem.

What frequencies are you interested in?

Good luck! Let us know what you hear.
 
So I threw a wire up in a tree and started tuning around 9 mhz and I did hear stuff. Mostly languages I did not understand ( Italian and Spanish maybe?)
 
So I tried using the antenna again today along with a ham it up convertor. About the only thing I could get was WWCR (assuming that's what it was, both frequencies came up in Google) on 2 different frequencies. One was playing what sound like the Alex Jones show and the other one was playing a religion based talk show. I hopped through 2-30 mhz looking for anything I could find.

The wire right now goes from a tree branch maybe 25-30 feet off the ground, to a 2nd floor bedroom window, down the side of the house and over to my window.
 
So I tried using the antenna again today along with a ham it up convertor. About the only thing I could get was WWCR (assuming that's what it was, both frequencies came up in Google) on 2 different frequencies. One was playing what sound like the Alex Jones show and the other one was playing a religion based talk show.
Could be worse.
The first station I ever heard on a curbside 5-tube short wave set
was Radio Tirana, Albania. [shocked]
I love maps, yet I was suddenly all like, "Where the F is 'Albania'?".[rofl]
 
So I tried using the antenna again today along with a ham it up convertor. About the only thing I could get was WWCR (assuming that's what it was, both frequencies came up in Google) on 2 different frequencies. One was playing what sound like the Alex Jones show and the other one was playing a religion based talk show. I hopped through 2-30 mhz looking for anything I could find.

The wire right now goes from a tree branch maybe 25-30 feet off the ground, to a 2nd floor bedroom window, down the side of the house and over to my window.
Sounds like you have yourself a classic "inverted L" :) Don't forget to add the +125MHz to your frequency of interest when using the up-converter. (I forgot all the time.....)

When time permits, listen for the WWV Digital Time broadcasts on 5, 10, & 15 MHz (10,000W) and 2.5 & 20 MHz (2500W). Information here. Even with a modest receiver and antenna, you should be able to dig out the ticks. Fort Collins, Co. may be far away - but 10,000W is a LOT of RF power.

Good luck !
73
Jim, WQ2H
 
Sounds like you have yourself a classic "inverted L" :) Don't forget to add the +125MHz to your frequency of interest when using the up-converter. (I forgot all the time.....)

When time permits, listen for the WWV Digital Time broadcasts on 5, 10, & 15 MHz (10,000W) and 2.5 & 20 MHz (2500W). Information here. Even with a modest receiver and antenna, you should be able to dig out the ticks. Fort Collins, Co. may be far away - but 10,000W is a LOT of RF power.

Good luck !
73
Jim, WQ2H
So I did forget the offset at first 😔 but I was able to correct it in short order. I will check those out.
 
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