New to HF radio 1st radio 1st post Question about an antenna

[tom129]

Hello Guys This is my 1st post So i hope its in the right section .

Im new to HF radio Having only stuck to UHF AND VHF in the past

Anyway i recently got an
Realistic DX394 HF Scanner + HF Long Wire Antenna from ebay and received it the other day .The only thing i am able to receive is shannon volmet on 5.505USB and i cant seem to get anything else not even 11.175usb (USAF) my mate can but he has an outdoor antenna a big 16 foot thing.

The wire antenna i have is drapped under my bed as im on the 3rd floor as a flat and cant really have it outside

Is there any good indoor antenna i can get or shall i stick with the wire ?


thanks guys

EDIT: Post moved to scanning and short wave listening forum. *Panteneman*

[JamesA]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Try hanging the wire out of your window, should work much better hanging down from the 3rd floor.

[Andy]

Good advice from James, Tom - but also have a look at the s-meter on your receiver. If its showing much above s5 and you can't hear anything, you might have a high local noise level and it is hiding the signals. High noise level is the biggest problem these days.

[5thElement]

You should be able to hear at very least the shortwave broadcast stations...say tonight for example, tune through 7mhz-10mhz in 5khz steps on AM and you're guaranteed to hear broadcast stations from around the world, stations such as the voice of russia, china radio international etc etc

Dangling the wire out the window will surely help aswell

I've also got the DX-394 and i think it's a great receiver considering the price.

p.s

Have you tried 5.450mhz USB for the RAF Volmet?

[tom129]

You should be able to hear at very least the shortwave broadcast stations...say tonight for example, tune through 7mhz-10mhz in 5khz steps on AM and you're guaranteed to hear broadcast stations from around the world, stations such as the voice of russia, china radio international etc etc

Dangling the wire out the window will surely help aswell

I've also got the DX-394 and i think it's a great receiver considering the price.

p.s

Have you tried 5.450mhz USB for the RAF Volmet?

Hello thank you for the reply i can get alot of SW radio stations even had voice of america at one time .When on shannon volmet the Meter jumps from 3 to 5 and keep jumping on 11.175usb i could only just hear some yank pilot in the back ground over the mega static

[tom129]

i hung it out of the window can get raf volmet now gona put it round the tree outside later on wish me luck \:D/ \:D/ \:D/ \:D/ \:D/ \:D/ \:D/

[5thElement]

How long is it?

[tom129]

its about 80 feet

[5thElement]

Cool, should perform not too badly then i'd imagine

[JamesA]

Yeah should pick up a lot with that, let us know what you manage to sort out and how it works.

[bigbassman]

Just noticed this post.Make sure that the little ATT switch on the back is set to 0db and the 'Lo Z' socket is the best one to use,in my experience,if you're using a long wire.