[jrblasde]

Understood, thanks!

[RichG]

Hi all!
I know, I'm getting waaaay ahead of myself here.  But I have to ask.  The Philco 39-116 is one of those radios that requires a long wire antenna.  That's not going to work in my house.  Has anyone tried to use a loop antenna with this radio?  I did run across an article that replaced the broadcast coil L1 secondary with a loop antenna of 240uH. Still used capacitor 10A to tune the antenna as well as the 8 channel selector caps to tune the individual channels.  This option would only work for the broadcast band.  Still have to use a long wire antenna for SW bands.  I don't think it would be difficult to build an antenna as a loop (i.e. on an embroidery hoop) or as a spiral on a flat form.  Has anyone tried this? Any advice on using a circular loop vs a flat form spiral?  There isn't as much room in the bottom of the cabinet as you would think, especially if you want to be able to rotate the antenna and keep it above the remote receiver antenna.
Thanks,
Rich

[RodB]

I have used a 6 foot piece of old ethernet cable, then connect the eight conductors in series to get a 48 foot antenna. You can use a longer piece to get more antenna. You can coil it or string it out.

[RichG]

Hi RodB,
What a good idea to try!  I have a couple hundred feet of Cat5 ethernet cable.  I'll give it a try once I get the radio back in working condition.
Thanks!
Rich

[GarySP]

Another possibility is available IF you have carpet and baseboards. Take insulated bell wire and tuck it between the carpet under the baseboards around as much of the walls as possible; instant hidden longwire antenna. Take care and BE HEALTHY! Gary

[RichG]

Hi RodB,
Now that I've had time to think about your nifty idea, I have a question.  Did you keep the cat5 pairs twisted?  I assume you left the outer jacket intact.  I'll have to check my cable, I don't think it has any shielding. If it does, I don't think it will work.  I'll have to hit my collection of ready made ethernet cables that have no shield.

GarySP,
Yeah, I thought about hiding the wire under the baseboard, that's where I hid the telephone wire (yes, we still have a landline!).  But the location of the radio does not allow this, it's sitting on hardwood flooring.  Good idea though!!

Thanks,
Rich

[Chas]

Hmm, If the wires of a 6 foot Ethernet cable were connected end to end, that, wold indicated they are unraveled. Yielding something less 48 feet of wire. A reasonable length for a radio requiring an antenna for indoors.

Chas

[RichG]

Here's one way to connect the pairs of an ethernet cable and leave the pairs twisted.  I assume the same could be done for individual conductors and still have the pairs twisted.  In both cases, the outer jacket could be left intact.

Rich

[462ron]

Hi Rich, here is an idea that I have used for some time now involving using your phone landline. At my house there are 4 wires inside the phone line, the red and green are the ones used to operate the phone, the other 2 are dead, I suppose they are there if you decided to have a 2nd phone with different number, not sure. Anyway, I have used those 2 extra wires to connect to my radio. My phone line runs up the side of my house and then across to phone company pole. So now I have a long wore antenna that is approximately 20’ high and 60’ long and it works great. Another advantage to this setup is I can put my radio in any room where there is a phone Jack and plug into it and have instant long wire antenna! 

Ron

[RodB]

Rich,

That's how I built mine. I used unshielded ethernet cable and connected the wires the way you describe. I've even thought about using two sets of the wires maybe red and blue in series as a "transformer primary" similar to a loop antenna.

[RichG]

Hi Ron,
Good idea on using the phone line.  I'll have to check on the pairs because the former owners of the house were using both pairs.  My land line is underground, but there is enough phone cable going around the outside of the house to make a fairly long antenna though it would be nearly at ground level.

Thanks!
Rich

[462ron]

Hi Rich, it should be easy to determine which pair are used for your phone using a meter. In my case, the red and green are the active ones. I don’t know if that’s standard everywhere. In my basement where the phone line enters, I twisted the other two together and connected a .001mfd cap in series with the twisted pair and the block where all the lines in my home come back to. Then I used a piece of phone wire with the male plug from an old phone and put an alligator clip on the dead pair so now I can plug into any phone Jack in my home, clip the alligator to the antenna terminal of any radio I want and have instant long wire antenna. Doesn’t your phone line run about 20’ high off the ground and then out to the pole or wherever it connects to the phone company main wires?  As I said before, works really well!

Ron

[RichG]

Hi Ron,
I'll have to open the junction box to check on how it's wired. The other pair may be connected but is no longer in use. I guess I could check the Tip and Ring voltages.  The series capacitor would block any DC.  All utilities in my area are underground.  Though at some point, the phone lines probably go up a utility pole.  There is a huge telephone line splice box just outside my house, but there are no overhead lines going to the box, it's all underground.  Still, it's worth a try.  

Thanks,
Rich