nasa trarget ssb receiver

[pjcam]

im having problems with my nasa ssb receiver
can anybody tell me what the best aerial type is
please

 

[boatbuilder]

I just put mine around a chainplate bolt. works ok for me.

 

[Sea Devil]

You really need the same sort of aerial as a full SSB transmitter. insert a couple of insulators into your back stay - One high up and one towards the lower part of the stay then run the aerial wire to the stay and fix the interior core tightly to the wire (jubilee clip) Should make it receive OK..

Michael

 

[KellysEye]

Err, I don't think that's the case, the insulators are (amongst other things) to protect you from radiation burns when transmitting and I can't think why a receiver would need insulators. I think a 30 foot piece of wire hauled up on a halyard would work fine but somebody who knows more than I should be along shortly.

 

[Sea Devil]

You could be right about the insulators.. Somewhere in the back of my mind is the concept that the rig in total is not as good as a single antenna -- but could be wrong.. Somebody will know as you say

Michael

 

[KellysEye]

[ QUOTE ]
the rig in total is not as good as a single antenna -- but could be wrong

[/ QUOTE ]
I think you're right. ISTR being told that if you can't tune the aerial to the frequency then a fixed length of 30 feet is the optimum length and thus better than 'tying' the radio to the rig.

Something that might amuse you, when I was at college in a hall of residence I had an old AM radio. I used to put the aerial wire in the earth socket of a 3 pin plug. The building's earth was a huge copper strap right round the multi storey building - the reception was amazing. But a rather stupid thing to do.

 

[Airborne473]

Some of the previous answers are quite correct. The only time you need to split your stay and fit insulators is if you are transmitting RF power. This is not what a receiver does.
Just get a long length of insulated single core wire and haul it up a halyard. At the same time listen the station(s) that you like and see when the signal is at the best strength. Then measure that.
Cut the wire to that length plus the length required to run it to the receiver and run it through the boat to the base of a chosen stay. Then tape it to the stay with sufficient wraps to keep it aerodynamic and sightly and then run it through the boat so its all nice and tiddly.

Brian
An ex-Radio Electronics Officer, MN

 

[SimonJ]

I just have a few feet of (insulated copper) wire attached to any convenient point on deck. I find my Target receiver works effectively on any length of aerial as long as it gets a "look" outside whether or not it is connected to a bit of rigging!

 

[TigaWave]

They work 10 x better when you get 4-5 miles offshore....in a marina with lots of electrical noise they can be frustrating, but clear and switch off most electrics and they work fine on a length of wire.

Try making sure all other boat electrics elevctronics are switched off and see if it gets easier to tune into stations...

 

[Budgie]

I use my NASA receiver primarily to pick up weatherfax and RTTY. We have used the system in Spain and Portugal successfully to pick up Northwood and Hamburg.

For an aerial I use the supplied piece of aerial wire wrapped about 30 times around a chainplate which comes through the cabin. This is apparently known as an inductive loop aerial, and I got the idea from a thread on this website. The setup is quite effective, but suffers from "noise" in a marina. For best reception I switch off mains power and the fridge.

I tried using the NASA aerial, but found no significant improvement.

I gained a very slight improvement by attaching the earth to the boat anode system.