Subj : Antenna
To : Ben Ritchey
From : Andrew Ball
Date : Mon Jul 04 2005 10:46 pm
Hello Ben,
BR> I have a weather radio that get's poor reception so
> I'd like to extend and/or complement the telescopic
> indoor antenna with an external antenna.
Your copper wire may help. If not, you could look for a weather radio that has
an external antenna jack. I use an inexpensive hand-held scanner and get good
results with the supplied rubber duck. It has a BNC connector though, so I
could position an external antenna somewhere convenient and run coaxial cable
into the house. If you're just too far from any of the VHF FM NOAA stations,
perhaps long-wave is an option. I inherited a small transistor radio that has
LW coverage (unusual in the U.S. I think) and find that I can also receive
weather radio that way.
BR> Full wavelength for a frequency of 162.5 MHz is
> exactly 6 feet (remainder less than an inch)...
300 / 162.5 = 1.8461538m (roughly 6ft). Without knowing how your radio's
internal antenna is wired (what loading coil is used etc.) it's non-trivial to
use these numbers in a meaningful way. There's velocity factor to be taken
into consideration too. At least it's a receiver, so antenna measurements are
perhaps less critical.