I often use and mention my Wire Up a Tree antenna (WUT). It’s about 20 feet long and runs diagonally up a tree. It 22 gauge “magnet wire” and because of its dark color, virtually invisible. It’s located some distance from my house. I selected the location for its reduced background noise — not great but reduced. Alongside the WUT, I have a copper plated ground rod, like the ones used for grounding residential electrical systems. If the radio has an external antenna jack, then both the antenna and ground are connected. The antenna runs north – south. For more on the antenna and ground, see Antenna + Ground.
But as Yoda knowingly commented: “there is another.” It runs out a window and connects to a tree, close to 40 feet long running east – west. I hadn’t named this antenna before, just calling it my New Year’s Antenna, but “wire out a window” really sounds like “WOW” to me. The wire is 20 gauge silicon insulated stranded copper wire. There is also a ground rod. The antenna and ground connect to a 1:9 balun that feeds a coaxial cable with SMA connectors from the window to my radio desk. [The unneeded under-window cable has since been removed.]
The WOW has had a hard life, taken down by weather and falling branches 3 times, but it’s easy to repair. The insulator next to the tree is one I got when I was in high school in the 1960’s. It’s a keepsake. The other one of the pair is on the WUT.
Press Pause
This article is paused until I can deal with the interference problem that’s making the WOW antenna unusable. See: Killing the Noise: Part 3.