Got my Drake R8 new toy this week and I need some ideas on what antenna(s) to hook up to it.
I am dumb as a rock on fancy technical terms so if you can help with using layman's terms that will help me out.

Thanks as always
Bruce

Quoted from E.Ham.net

Depends how much one is willing to spend and what bands are of interest... If there is space, multiband dipole. A trap inverted Vee.

Since you unfamiliar. I would suggest a simple inverted Vee cut for 80 meters and see what happens. The vee would be inexpensive and somewhat resonant throughout most ham bands...

BTW: What does the manual recommend?

Chas

Hi Bruce;
Well, here is a YouTube video I made of my multiband fan dipole.
I use this one for both transmit and receive. It is dirt cheap and works very well.

Everyone has their favorites but "Cheeeeep" is my favorite, LOL.

The video shows you how to calculate the lengths for any frequency you wish to operate.

This antenna has survived the Winter and 70+ mile per hour winds and ice and still works
great.
I am currently building and videoing my newest wire antenna which is called a Cage/Fan
dipole.
It will be strung at 145' and will be 240 feet long. I'm really into 160 meters but it will also
work on 75 and 40 meters.
Best of all, these antennas are perfectly matched at the operating frequency and do NOT need
an antenna tuner.
I pump 1500 watts PEP into this one and it really performs.

Cheers,
Pete, K7PP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXqSY5JKQzs

Lots of possibilities depending on what you want to listen to. Indoor or outdoor? Can be a simple random length antenna
to an active antenna. You can tie to a gutter system or metal roof if stealthiness is required. I have a Drake SW8 as a bedside radio and ran very small wire out the window up the outside wall and tied it to our metal roof, it works pretty darn well. Not as good as my 160 m loop but I can still hear. Lots of ideas, build your own or buy ready made? Hope this gives you a few ideas..73, Alan

Bruce,

What kind of yard do you have, and can you put up an outside antenna?

What frequencies do you want to listen to? Antennas become a bit more
critical above 10 or 15 MHz. Tell us what you have for antenna space,
and whether you want an indoor or outdoor antenna.

Pete

Three 200' towers with various curtain arrays between them and rotary Log Periodics on top would be a start

But other than that Pete asked the important question.

Carl

Whatever antenna you decide upon, keep lightning protection in mind since you don't want to fry your new R-8. This time of year my antennas stay disconnected and grounded when not in use.

This one is probably available:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Woodpecker_array.jpg



I'd just put up 50 feet of wire and try the various antenna inputs to see which works best. A decent ground is probably a good idea too. Ditto on the lightning protection.

Tony

Thats certainly not your average broadside array. Sure glad that thing is off the air, I hated the ole woodpecker.

As already asked - what do you want to listen to - and how much space have you got (and trees?) I use just a (short!) longwire that is strung on TV masts from one end of the house to the other, about 55feet with a transformer at the near end to coaxial cable down to the receiver. Works very well, cover all frequencies up to 30MHz. Any long wire as high as possible and preferably away from your house with its electrical noise sources will work. A matched antenna cut for a specific frequency will leave you deaf for other frequencies.

Since it sounds like you're just getting started, I would second a long wire run away from the house as far as possible. Most of us have a lot of electronics which generate RF noise, so getting the wire away from the house will help.
Try that for a while and see if you like it enough to invest a bit more. I don't have an R-8, but I've found that my older Drake receivers really like to see a 50 ohm match antenna. the simplest way to do this is to buy a small antenna tuner and use that between the antenna and the radio. tune for max signal for each band of interest.
Let us know how you do
Ed

Thank you all for the good ideas.

I set it up yesterday with a 6 foot random wire antenna and did some DX'ing this morning while still dark out. 700 WLW and 750 Atlanta came in clear as a bell. It pulled in small local stations better than my big dog consoles too.

I want to try and get some Left Coast stations eventually.

The Drake has 4 types of antenna hook ups on the back 2 coax cable ones and 2 wire ones, the dif being the low or high ohm setting.

Lots of buttons and dials to work and what the heck is 'RTTY' on the band selection ?
Taking a lightning strike on an outside line scares me but I may be able to run a long line in my attic if I can figure how to drop the wire to the main floor here.

Cheers
Bruce

Bruce,

RTTY is radio teletype and although it is not that commonly used anymore this setting may prove useful for using with a computer to decode various data modes.

As you begin searching out weaker stations you will find that using the narrower bandwidths will be very useful. You can go down to the 1.8 Khz. setting in synchronous AM mode under very tough conditions. Passband offset is also your friend under these conditions. Right now I have my R-8 on 3.885 Mhz. AM using 2.3 Khz with passband offset set for USB to avoid interference on 3883 and it does a great job of making most of the annoying stuff disappear.

Finally, for broadcast band DXing a directional loop antenna will also help you as you start trying to pull out a single station from a crowded frequency. You can build one or there are a number of commercial products available. The R-8 is small enough you can take it (and a loop) outside to get away from some of the local noise in your house. I have a Drake SPR-4 with the AL-4 loop that often spends time in our gazebo.

Rodger WQ9E

Best antenna I have ever had here in the US. is the PAR EF-SWL.
It uses a 9:1 balun tranformer and you can run 50 ohm coax right to your receiver.
I set mine up as follows.
I took a 8" ground rod and drove it into the ground about 25' away from the house. The balun/matchbox is mounted on the end of the rod. The grounding wire is attached to the ground rod and rg 58 is run to the house. I just drilled a hole through the window frame. This antenna cuts out or reduces the electrical hash from your house. It will pick up things that you have never heard before. it uses a 45' piece of wire that you can use as a vertical/sloper/inverted v.
I was in the process of putting up a 250" delta loop because I heard it was quiet antenna. I tried the PAR antenna first, and my plans for the delta loop are history. Its great for am dxing, shortwave and the ham bands. Its absolutely great. Don't take my word for it. Go to eham and look at the reviews. This antenna is so easy to put up and just a great receiving antenna.

sorry, typing mistake. I use an 8 foot ground rod, not 8"

Thanks Wireless 12

I just ordered on of these Par EF-SWL's so will see how it works one it gets here.

I am really dumb on this installation stuff so I hope its got some instructions.
Do you disconnect the antenna feed when not in use or a storm is near ?

Disconnecting the antenna is the best protection against damage from this input but a GOOD antenna surge suppressor is also a good idea (unless you are very diligent in disconnecting the antenna during storm season when the set is not in use).

I live in the central area of IL and this time of year all antennas are disconnected and grounded when not in use. I also installed good quality whole house AC line protectors at the mains entrance for the house and outbuildings. There is no 100% protection against lightning damage but a little prevention greatly reduces the odds. I think Drake is either now (or soon will be) out of the receiver repair business since they are now part of Blonder Tongue so you really want to minimize the need for parts/service.

Rodger WQ9E

The par antenna comes with good instructions. I have a lightning zapper on mine outside the house. Universal Radio had these type of things several years ago. The antenna wire part(45' long) has a pl259 male connector which goes into the so239 female on the transformer/balun box. So it takes all of about 8 second to disconnect the wire outside your house.

You can put a 3 foot jumper lead of coax to the back of your radio. Keep it disconnected at the jumper,
that way you don't wear out the connector at the back of the radio. So make it like this

a) rg 58 coax from the antenna comes in the house and ends in a male pl259 connector
b) 3-5 foot rg 58 coax with pl 259 male connector on each end- one end goes to back of radio antenna connection
c) get a so 239 double female barrel connector. Its about 2" long with the female socket on each end.
d) connect the male plug from A above in one side and the other male plug from B above in the other side.
this makes it real easy to connect or disconnect without messing at the back of the radio all the time.
The point I would like to stress the most is to mount the little balun (9:1)/transformer 20 -25 feet away from your house. This is also where you should put the ground rod (4-8 feet into the soil) This way you keep the ground and transformer away from the electrical "footprint" of interference inside your house

Forgot to mention, I always keep my antenna disconnected in side the house at the point of the double barrel
female connector. I connect it only when I am listening to the radio. Takes about 8 seconds

I have an R8B and use an inverted-L antenna, sometimes incorrectly called a 'long wire'. The key to using this type of antenna is designing it for low noise reception. To achieve this result the vertical wire (not coax) which comes down from the end of the horizontal wire should be located at the far end of the antenna, NOT near the house. The antenna runs from a short pole on the house to a distant tall pole (you could use a tree) about 75-ft from the house. However the near end of the horizontal wire is not connected to the top of the short pole on the house. Instead there is about 20-ft of rope which acts as a spacer. There is also an inline insulator between the end of the wire and the rope. The rope goes to the top of the short pole instead of the wire. This helps to prevent the horizontal wire from picking up noise radiated by the electrical appliances and other devices in the house. The vertical wire of the 'L' is connected to the far end of the horizontal wire at the top of the tall pole and runs down to a junction box near the ground at the base of the pole. Inside the box is a balun transformer or more correctly and un-un. It's easy to make one yourself or you can buy it online. The lower end of the vertical wire connects to the input of the balun and the output is connected to R-56U coax which runs on the ground back to the house and the receiver. Also at the junction box is a heavy gauge ground wire which goes to a ground rod close to the box. It is necessary to use a short grounding wire in this way to be an effective RF ground for the antenna system. Running the coax lead on the ground to the house prevents it's shielding conductor from picking up noise, as it might if the coax was suspended in the air. You could also bury the coax in the ground so it won't be in the way for lawn mowing and other activities. That's why I used R-56U coax which is suitable for in ground use. I've used this antenna system for several years and found it to be much quieter than the usual method for building an inverted-L. Almost any wire will pick up enough signal for the receiver but it's the noise level that makes the difference for hearing the weak stations.