Shortwave Radio Comes Home At Last

Radio opportunities at Sainsbury's? Oddly enough, yes.

We are always happy to get your mail, electronic or snail. One topic that comes up regularly is aerial wire. What's best?

Well, it should be strong enough to support its own weight. Here in the hardware aisle, I'm looking at a steel-cored washing line for 3 quid. It has a very thick plastic coating and looks as if it will stand up to anything.

My Scandinavian chum has allowed an HF radio in the kitchen as long as there are not wires everywhere. OK.

The plan is to replace her washing line with this steel-cored one, bringing in the end nearest the house through a neat little hole in the window frame. The insulation seems tough enough to deal with this, a few cable clips tidy the line to her specifications and the termination is made to the WIRE input on the AR7030. Voila!

As dusk falls, we get the Radio Sweden MF power-house on 1179. During the day, it was fair on 9705 - the usual 6065 was fading.

Finland (she says, it's all foreign to me) is good-readable (to her) on 11735. And the antenna for all this is our little secret. Not perfect but great for domestic harmony.

And not for transmission. Although it would be interesting to see what happens to the SWR plus laundry. Blanket coverage?