Re: [IRCA] Slinky EWEs vs Regular Wire
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Re: [IRCA] Slinky EWEs vs Regular Wire



Guy, Kaz and Kevin - Thanks for the replies.  Kevin good to know about
the spiral loop.  Do you have pictures to upload to dxer.ca?  Would love
to see it.  I had always believed that myth about a compressed slinky
simulating a much longer wire but the turns per foot thing makes sense.
KAZ told us that a few years ago but David Hamilton swears by his.

KAZ - Mike B. from the WTFDA also said that about slinky's, they are
toys.  

73,
Dave in Indy


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Message: 1
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:58:53 -0600 (GMT-06:00)
From: neilkaz <neilkaz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: Mailing list for the International Radio Club of America
	<irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [IRCA] Slinky EWEs vs Regular Wire (WAS: is this a good
	deal	for BOG Wire)
Message-ID:
	
<20304445.1261511933741.JavaMail.root@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
	
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Good report !! 73 KAZ who uses slinkys only as a kid's toy


-----Original Message-----
>From: Guy Atkins <dx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>Sent: Dec 22, 2009 12:17 PM
>To: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: [IRCA] Slinky EWEs vs Regular Wire (WAS: is this a good
deal	for BOG Wire)
>
>>
>> Hi Dave,
>>
>
>Kevin Schanilec on Bainbridge Island, WA recently did some careful
tests
>between his Slinky EWE and an identical one made with normal wire. The
>results really surprised him...here's what he said:
>
>-----------
>
>I am drinking a strong cup of decaf to steady my nerves because, as
>amazing as it might sounds, the wire loop won!
>
>For bare signal, the Slinky version never trailed and was perhaps 3-4
dB
>stronger on various frequencies.  This is not surprising, since the two
>Slinkys used comprise about 110 feet of wire, while the wire version
only
>has 38 feet of wire; theory says that it should be a few dB better.
>
>However, the signal was always at least as good on the wire version,
and
>often noticeably better, especially on marginal signals.  My ears time
and
>time again told me that the difference is that the wire version picks
up
>much less local electromagnetic noise - it simply gives a better
signal.
>For example, there was a weak station on 1270 that was struggling to
stay
>above the neighborhood QRM on the Slinky, but had readable audio on the
>wire.  Unless a station was doing fairly well, the wire gave the better
>signal.
>
>This is no fluke.  A couple weeks ago, when I first started this Super
>Loop nonsense, I wound two identical 16:1 matching baluns, and did the
>same testing when weak TA's were coming in.  The hets and signals on
the
>wire were often stronger than on the Slinky, again attesting to the
fact
>that the SNR on the wire is better.  I decided to wait to get the
FLG-100
>to make sure my kludged baluns weren't influencing the results, and
sure
>enough the wire won again.
>
>What's going on here? Gil steered me to the following site:
>http://www.w8ji.com/slinky_and_loaded_beverages.htm
>which includes a discussion of the fact that a Slinky, unless stretched
>VERY long, will have at least 4-6 times more conductor length than
actual
>physical length - too many "turns per foot".  Too much coiled-up
conductor
>means that signal wants to fire backwards, towards the feed point.  I'm
no
>physics guru like the web site's author appears to be, but it seems
like a
>possible explanation.  This could mean that my PVC version could be
>hand-wound with 76 feet of wire in a gradual spiral to get 2-3 more dB,
>which I may just try.
>
>----------------------
>
>Dave, I hope this is helpful before you go to the trouble to build a
Slinky
>EWE!
>
>73,
>
>Guy Atkins
>Puyallup, WA
>fivebelow.squarespace.com

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