AM Antenna Lens I miss spoke in the video about the length of the 22 gauge wire. It is 40 feet that is wrapped around the Styrofoam not 75. My mind was alrea…
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25 replies
  1. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    For this antenna coil all you really need is the right length wire and
    tuning capacitor for the frequencies you want to cover. This one is easy,
    just make it look neat. THANKS!

    Reply
  2. joernone
    joernone says:

    Rick, Great demo. Everytime I view one of your vids I feel like I’m again
    watching the old “Mr. Wizard” tv show. Guess I’m giving away my age here.
    As always, terrific job. John

    Reply
  3. Jeep Cherokee
    Jeep Cherokee says:

    Nice design, but I wouldn’t call it a “lens”; that is kind of a misnomer.
    What you made (and I sure you already know this), is a resonate circuit,
    which is functioning as a phased parasitic element. I love these antennas,
    since you can take an almost worthless transistor radio, and pick up some
    stations that you would never dream was possible. I also use a version of
    this type of loop for the 160m HAM band — tunes with 4pf-8pf and has VERY
    sharp tuning. 73 de NV6R

    Reply
  4. billybonewhacker
    billybonewhacker says:

    wow thats pretty neat. i love antenna add ons. i made an active antenna
    that uses a mpf102 transistor and 9 volts it works very well.ty for the vid
    God bless from Oklahoma city

    Reply
  5. jim874
    jim874 says:

    not Mr. Wizard… Rick’s voice is a dead ringer for Mr. Roger’s voice!
    Great demo of a tuned circuit, rick Jim Wa8SDF

    Reply
  6. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    I know you’ll be able to make it tune to the shortwave with using taps.
    This design has little or no effect on a straight wire. The shortwave radio
    I was using has an antenna tuning coil and that is what it was coupling to.
    For shortwave, the bigger the loop you can tune in that band the better.
    I’ll do some experimenting and get back to you.

    Reply
  7. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    As the frequency increases from the AM bands to the TV bands the
    characteristics of how the wave travels through the air changes. So what
    may work well at low frequency will not work at a higher frequency.

    Reply
  8. jim874
    jim874 says:

    Most likely a 160 or 80 meter antenna. My property is not all that big. I
    use a single G5RVjr up 70 ft in a tree, with an old Dentron tuner for my
    ham gear

    Reply
  9. opolo2112
    opolo2112 says:

    Need some help here- I live about 100 miles East of WLS 890 AM, Chicago –
    and in my house I cannot get a clear signal from WLS at all during the day
    due to RFI. Moving my Grundig S450DLX field radio around the room helps
    ever so slightly (outside, of course, is pretty good signal), but I cannot
    listen to my favorite station in my new house. Whould your antenna help?
    How about something like a RadioShack® RF Interference Filter ? Or an
    outdoor antenna? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

    Reply
  10. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    Sounds like a great setup! One of the more interesting parts of Ham Radio
    is antenna design, it real is fascinating!

    Reply
  11. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    Yes, being able to turn the antenna was a good and important tuning option.
    I miss spoke about the length of wire in the video. I added a correction in
    the “About This Video.” However if you use the 75 feet mentioned, the Lens
    will work properly, interesting error.

    Reply
  12. coolbluelights
    coolbluelights says:

    that’s such an interesting effect, I wonder if I built a coil for my
    Cathedral radio, and directly wired it into it, would that work? because
    when I want to use it, I have to hook it up to my scanner antenna.

    Reply
  13. jim874
    jim874 says:

    I use a 40ft outdoor random length up 30 ft for 4 shortwave receivers.I use
    a MFJ-901B antenna tuner with the long wire before it is fed to multiple
    receivers. As I use a particular receiver, I use the MFJ-901 to peak the
    receiver. I see no interaction between receiver front ends. Getting the
    antenna up 30ft in the air has reduced line noise. You can make a good
    stealth antenna with some of that magnet wire. Just scrape the enamel off
    the end that connects to the antenna connection.

    Reply
  14. gbowne1
    gbowne1 says:

    @AllAmericanFiveRadio There are people building their own DTV / HDTV
    antennas. Look them up on google too. The ancient UHF Bow Tie antennas work
    well. Another good choice is the UHF hoop antenna. which came out when may
    locales started adding the UHF channels… our first one was ch22 where I
    live.

    Reply
  15. byurBUDdy
    byurBUDdy says:

    I wonder what the power out put of the antenna is without hooking it up to
    the radio. Since it concentrates the single, that means more energy is
    being sent to the radio to the transistors so that the speaker can produce
    a clearer sound through the speaker. I bet you could charge a cell phone
    with it. Your converting the radio waves to electricity to actuate the
    transistors.

    Reply
  16. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    It’s possible that this type of tuned antenna could help your daytime
    reception. Google “Select-A-Tenna”

    Reply
  17. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    This method does not work with a straight wire antennas, I’m working on and
    idea. Don’t know if it will work yet.

    Reply
  18. Michael D.
    Michael D. says:

    I’ll have to try that. I should have a bit of magnet wire left after
    building that two tube set I’ve been working on. Have you tried this with a
    shortwave radio?

    Reply
  19. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    I help a friend through up wire all over his three acre antenna farm all
    the time. Its very interest stuff because he can make accurate
    measurements. Even tried out a wire Yagi, don’t remember ham band, but the
    reflector element covered about half the width of his property, even
    pointed it toward Tennessee. Antennas are a very interesting study.

    Reply
  20. AllAmericanFiveRadio
    AllAmericanFiveRadio says:

    What I did for TV was I bought an antenna amplifier from Radio Shack. For
    TV’s a loop is not practical because of the much higher frequencies.

    Reply
  21. area46241
    area46241 says:

    Why does the tank circuit lens work? That’s a very interesting effect and
    what frequency range can a lens work up to?

    Reply

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