Hello, I just purchased a part 15 am antenna from kenneke. It is a little alum. box with a green antenna wire on one end and a rca phono jack on the other end. I cant get much transmission range from it. Could anyone possibly help.
I connected the antenna to the talking house by attaching a rca phono male plug to a short length of rg59 f type cable.
I plugged this end into the correct side of the antenna. I screwed the other end onto the rg59 f connector on the back
external antenna port of the Talking House Transmitter. I switched the Transmitter to external.
I then drove a seven foot copper rod into the ground, attached a ground lug to it and ran a 24 foot braided wire from the
ground lug to the ground screw on the antenna. I then extended the green antenna cable from the antenna as upright as possible.
I plugged the transmitter in and tried it out. The reception was about 1/4 of the reception obtained with the six foot wire that came with the
Talking House. I hate to bother you guys but do you have any idea what I may be doing wrong.
by MRAM 1500 kHz
Well, I looked at the kenneke webpage. They show a picture of the antenna you describe but no info regarding its use.
Did the antenna come with any setup info? Would seem to me that if there is a matching network inside the little box, you'd still need to adjust the length of the "green wire" since there appears to be no tuning adjustment on the box.
Tuning is very critical. Sometimes just an 1/8 of an inch makes a big difference. If you have a receiver with a signal meter on it try increasing or decreasing the length of the green wire. Make your changes in very small increments watching for a change on the signal meter. Each time you change the length of the wire, back away from it so as not to affect the tuning. This could take a considerable amount of time depending on how far off the length of the green wire is.
As for a ground, the copper rod is great for lightning protection but for an RF ground, you'd do better with a few horizontal radials. There are lots of "discussions" about ground radials. Since it's pretty tough to install an adequate ground radial system on a typical city lot, most agree that several radials at least 10 or 20 feet long will make a difference. The radials should be arranged equal in length and opposite one another where possible. I won't go into detail because I'm sure plenty of others will add comments regarding this. Check out this sites description of a Ground Radial System.
I purchased the Talking House external antenna system. It is a small plastic box to which you attach a standard 8 foot CB type whip antenna and there is a ground connection point. The box has a tuning adjustment and built in tuning meter which really makes tune-up easy.
Good luck and let us know what if any info came with that antenna you have.
by MRAM 1500 kHz
Well, I looked at the kenneke webpage. They show a picture of the antenna you describe but no info regarding its use.
Did the antenna come with any setup info? Would seem to me that if there is a matching network inside the little box, you'd still need to adjust the length of the "green wire" since there appears to be no tuning adjustment on the box.
Tuning is very critical. Sometimes just an 1/8 of an inch makes a big difference. If you have a receiver with a signal meter on it try increasing or decreasing the length of the green wire. Make your changes in very small increments watching for a change on the signal meter. Each time you change the length of the wire, back away from it so as not to affect the tuning. This could take a considerable amount of time depending on how far off the length of the green wire is.
As for a ground, the copper rod is great for lightning protection but for an RF ground, you'd do better with a few horizontal radials. There are lots of "discussions" about ground radials. Since it's pretty tough to install an adequate ground radial system on a typical city lot, most agree that several radials at least 10 or 20 feet long will make a difference. The radials should be arranged equal in length and opposite one another where possible. I won't go into detail because I'm sure plenty of others will add comments regarding this. Check out this sites description of a Ground Radial System.
I purchased the Talking House external antenna system. It is a small plastic box to which you attach a standard 8 foot CB type whip antenna and there is a ground connection point. The box has a tuning adjustment and built in tuning meter which really makes tune-up easy.
Good luck and let us know what if any info came with that antenna you have.
Open the box and let us know what is inside. I also looked at the picture, there is no tuning knob on the outside as far as I can see. The box should be held together with screws, most of these small boxes are. More than likely there is an inductor of some sort inside. See if it is adjustable or not. There has to be some sort of adjustment.... if not the antenna is not going to be very good. You should also use a field strength meter to set the antenna up,if you had one, you could just tune for max strength. I have found that a CB field strenght meter will work for this purpose. That is what I use. Some CB meters may not work but I have found most will. At best, I wont expect anymore range with this antenna than with your talking house ten foot wire. The Talking House Transmitter has a nice built in matching network which works real good with the ten foot antenna. Im not sure how long that green wire is, if its longer than 10 feet then it will radiate more if tuned, but there has to be a way to tune it. Take the box apart and let us know what is inside. I have the Talking house external antenna and it works real good, however I have also worked with the same 102 inch whip and using simple loading coils from hand wound to variable ferrite slug tuned coils and the results are pretty much the same as with the Talking House external tuner. I thought maybe the TH tuner would be higher Q or somthing but any loading coil made right will work just as good from my experience and practice. The TH tuner box is nice though because you can just open the case and dial for max output.
Open the box and let us know what is inside. I also looked at the picture, there is no tuning knob on the outside as far as I can see. The box should be held together with screws, most of these small boxes are. More than likely there is an inductor of some sort inside. See if it is adjustable or not. There has to be some sort of adjustment.... if not the antenna is not going to be very good. You should also use a field strength meter to set the antenna up,if you had one, you could just tune for max strength. I have found that a CB field strenght meter will work for this purpose. That is what I use. Some CB meters may not work but I have found most will. At best, I wont expect anymore range with this antenna than with your talking house ten foot wire. The Talking House Transmitter has a nice built in matching network which works real good with the ten foot antenna. Im not sure how long that green wire is, if its longer than 10 feet then it will radiate more if tuned, but there has to be a way to tune it. Take the box apart and let us know what is inside. I have the Talking house external antenna and it works real good, however I have also worked with the same 102 inch whip and using simple loading coils from hand wound to variable ferrite slug tuned coils and the results are pretty much the same as with the Talking House external tuner. I thought maybe the TH tuner would be higher Q or somthing but any loading coil made right will work just as good from my experience and practice. The TH tuner box is nice though because you can just open the case and dial for max output.
The SStran has several assembly options, depending on how you want to run the transmitter. Consult the assembly instructions and then check to see how your unit is assembled. For an external antenna with it's own tuning coil I believe you take the output right off the fianl buffer amp and skip the internal matching network all together.
For those who haven't seen the inductor in the Talking House, it 's a simple autotuner that seems to work pretty good!
I'm pretty sure the external antenna connctor bypasses the auto tuner completely.
Here is the original Talking House post
http://part15.us/node/1139#comment-3688
with these photos
Top View
Back View
Close Up
Is there a slug tuned inductor in the Kenneke Antenna box with a threaded shaft you can adjust? Many of Kenneke's products come with a user name and password to access the docs in a private section of their web site. On of the kits I bought there had all the assembly instructions on line, behind the member log-in. Did the antenna paper work have any info like that?
Experimental broadcasting for a better tomorrow!
The SStran has several assembly options, depending on how you want to run the transmitter. Consult the assembly instructions and then check to see how your unit is assembled. For an external antenna with it's own tuning coil I believe you take the output right off the fianl buffer amp and skip the internal matching network all together.
For those who haven't seen the inductor in the Talking House, it 's a simple autotuner that seems to work pretty good!
I'm pretty sure the external antenna connctor bypasses the auto tuner completely.
Here is the original Talking House post
http://part15.us/node/1139#comment-3688
with these photos
Top View
Back View
Close Up
Is there a slug tuned inductor in the Kenneke Antenna box with a threaded shaft you can adjust? Many of Kenneke's products come with a user name and password to access the docs in a private section of their web site. On of the kits I bought there had all the assembly instructions on line, behind the member log-in. Did the antenna paper work have any info like that?
Experimental broadcasting for a better tomorrow!