Re: An Antenna Question

Hi Joe, 

A long wire would be good for the hf bands, and a counterpoise would 
certainly help matters. Capacitative coupling to your body will make 
a useful counterpoise whilst using the radio hand-held. You could 
also try holding the radio with the rubber duck held against a 
central heating radiator, or some other metalwork, to improve hf 
signals. Although these "antenna systems" can carry a fair bit of 
noise from other electronic equipment, it's easy enough to 
experiment. The Miracle Whip makes an excellent little receiving 
antenna, and there is now a variant with BNC rig connector. Hf 
signals can be peaked quite markedly with the tuning knob on the 
Miracle Whip, and long wires can be croc-clipped onto the end of the 
whip section and again tuned for maximum signal strength. As before, 
a countepoise can be used to improve signal strength. You could also 
try home brewing a simple antenna tuning unit, using just a handful 
of cheap components. 

Regards

Voi 





--- In [email protected], "Joe" <jmp883@...> wrote:
>
> Just got my VR-500 a few weeks ago and am really enjoying it.  Been 
> mainly listening to the local VHF-Lo/VHF-Hi/UHF public safety bands 
and 
> the local railroads.
> 
> The main reason I bought the VR-500 was because it is a hand-held 
> receiver that can do USB/LSB, as well as listening to everything 
else 
> in the radio spectrum except cellular.  I've always wanted to 
listen to 
> the USB utility stations but I didn't (or couldn't) want to spend 
the 
> money on a desktop receiver.  
> 
> So now I have this great little radio and am wondering is there a 
> favorite brand of aftermarket antenna that will work for USB 
receiving 
> or would it be better to concoct my own homebrew long wire?
> 
> Thanking you all in advance,
> Joe
>