curing bad radio reception

[boarcity]

my current vans always had sh/tty radio reception. i renewed the roof aerial....no good, twice ,,still no good. then i had the idea-maybe the aerial needs to be higher than the ladders to work well.

View attachment 8107 . to prove the point i made up a long aerial using a 4ft bamboo cane with bell wire wrapped around it [bottom end of wire goes into place of the original whip aerial

RESULT! Great reception i can hear stations many miles away clear as a bell now

 

[Clisty1989]

Better way would be to expose the wire of the aerial and run a copper wire from it to the ladders on the roof, if done right the ladders will act as an aerial and improve signal

 

[Jimroot]

Have you tried this^

A whip antenna is the standard omni directional radio antenna

 

[Clisty1989]

Ive used the principle before. Was a infantry signaller for 4 years, used to use barn roofs, or anything big and metal to boost signal on HF radios. Used to listen to bbc radio on it when not using it so should work in theory

 

[Dave B]

Clisty you would know about coiling a few metres of insulated wire around a pole of some sort to make a small pole act like a few metres of arial

I have done one with about 30m of wire round a broomstick wrapped really tightly

It is in effect a 30m aerial..if it's already high enough on a roof to avoid obstacles you will be able to get any pirate station for miles crystal clear

That is how the pirate radio aerials were done on our estate lol

I have used my ladders as an aerial in the past effectively

 

[Clisty1989]

Clisty you would know about coiling a few metres of insulated wire around a pole of some sort to make a small pole act like a few metres of arialI have done one with about 30m of wire round a broomstick wrapped really tightly

It is in effect a 30m aerial..if it's already high enough on a roof to avoid obstacles you will be able to get any pirate station for miles crystal clear

That is how the pirate radio aerials were done on our estate lol

I have used my ladders as an aerial in the past effectively

True, just thought it would be less obvious and draw less attention, and takes seconds to rig up, plus im lazy and its easier

 

[Jimroot]

Unless the ladder was vertical I can't see any advantage over the bamboo whip antenna

Plus you'd have to remember to decouple each time the ladder was off?

 

[Dave B]

Lazy scaly :rofl:

 

[Dave B]

Unless the ladder was vertical I can't see any advantage over the bamboo whip antennaPlus you'd have to remember to decouple each time the ladder was off?

Surface area

If you are only getting a slight signal reach your skinny aerial a bigger surface area would catch more of the weak signal due to the size of it

 

[Clisty1989]

Unless the ladder was vertical I can't see any advantage over the bamboo whip antennaPlus you'd have to remember to decouple each time the ladder was off?

All to do with the area of metal and the way radio ways travel. The science is a nightmare and will give u a headache. In my attic the theory fills 3x A4 notebooks!

 

[Clisty1989]

Lazy scaly :rofl:

Arent u ex reme? And you calling me lazy lol

 

[Jimroot]

My anntena is ripped off so I'm gonna rig up something soon myself

so if I rig it up to my 12triple I'll be able to get radio Moscow ? And a bamboo whip I'll be stuck with Dudley FM? ;-)

 

[Dave B]

Reme and then reserves lol

The reserves was queens regiment which is infantry so we must be just as lazy /emoticons/tongue.png

 

[Clisty1989]

Not quite, managed to get from lands end to gloucester with a "washing line" antenna. Youll get between 10 & 30% improvement depending on weather, and whats in the way of the main mast

 

[Clisty1989]

Reme and then reserves lolThe reserves was queens regiment which is infantry so we must be just as lazy /emoticons/tongue.png

4 years infantry (rifles), reserve RE. Scaly for both, although did do other courses too. Did use an 18 bay bridge as an antenna too.

 

[Jimroot]

I used to use forks jammed into portable TVs, always seemed better than what they replaced... I suppose they're back in the cutlery draw now post-cable tv.

 

[Dave B]

4 years infantry (rifles), reserve RE. Scaly for both, although did do other courses too. Did use an 18 bay bridge as an antenna too.

I always liked the idea of being a scaly

Seemed interesting

We were rifles too but i did have a few months in Hornsea on the gimpy before i left

 

[Clisty1989]

I always liked the idea of being a scalySeemed interesting

We were rifles too but i did have a few months in Hornsea on the gimpy before i left

Sigs is one of those jobs which takes a lot of concentration. Having 2 conversations at the same time, whilst trying to pass info from one convo to the other, usually when wet, cold, tired and in the ****. Frazzled my brain so much i can barely keep track of a convo with the mrs

 

[Dave B]

I just switch off when mine talks anyway mate

 

[Clisty1989]

I just say im half deaf from the loud bangs. Im not but ive managed to convince her

 

[Dave B]

PARDON