long wire, short wave antenna

[Reece]

Glenn, there are many ideal ways to make antennas more efficient for one band or another, but practically speaking, a random length long wire, fit into the space you have for it, will work just fine for general shortwave listening. Make it an inverted L: that is, lead in wire up from your receiver location and then stretch the wire horizontally across the garage to the other end. If possible, don't parallel electrical wiring to avoid interference pickup. Almost any wire you have will do. Most practical and durable would be stranded insulated wire about 14 gauge, available by the foot at home centers.

As a test, you could run a long extension cord in the proposed antenna location and see how that works as an antenna.

You could also run your antenna outside under the eaves if the design of the garage permits.



Reece