Ham Radio Forum

Hello everyone and happy New Year! This is my first post here, and I'm
quite sure it wont be my last.

I am very green to this hobby. I have always been fascinated with DX
radio and finally have the time and money to get involved in it. I
started BIG. I just bought an R8B for my first receiver. I live in a
small condo in Northern Arizona (Flagstaff) I am surrounded by tall
mountains and the elevation at my house is 8,200 Feet.

I am looking for the best antenna for my buck at around $200.00. My
main listening interests are utility stations. This antenna must be
able to withstand winds of 60 mph +, and not be too much of an eyesore. I'm leaning towards the Wellbrook 1530.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.

Chad

The answer to your antenna question depends on several factors. A Wellbrook 1530 loop is a good solution where there isn't space or suitable supports for a 50 to 100 foot wire antenna and there will be no need to transmit, because it can't be used for transmitting. A 50 to 100 foot wire 30 or more feet above ground generally will out-perform a Wellbrook loop, and if suitable supports such as trees, buildings, etc. already exist, is considerably less expensive.

Wellbrook loops do have one advantage in addition to their small size in that they have two sharp directional nulls and they sometimes can be rotated to reduce pickup from a local noise source (or two local noise sources if they happen to be in opposite directions). Of course, that sharp directivity can be a disadvantage where someone wants to be able to receive signals from those two directions.

Wellbrook loops use an untuned, broadband amplifier to increase the strengths of received signals. That amplifier can be over-driven by strong signals on any frequency throughout the frequency range of the loops. The result is cross-modulation splatter and reduced sensitivity throughout most of the receivable spectrum. Because of that, they are not a good alternative where high-power transmitters such broadcast transmitters or ham radio transmitters are not more than several miles away.

Another issue may be shipping cost. They are manufactured in the U.K. Wellbrook may have a U.S. distributor now, but a few years ago when I considered buying one they had to be shipped from the U.K. and there was significant shipping cost in addition to the purchase price.

Gene