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55cm vs 25 Metres… How Much Difference Does an Antenna Really Make?

RADIO FOR US

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How much difference can a 25 metre long wire really make to a tiny shortwave radio?

This week, we’re putting the XHDATA D219 through a simple experiment: comparing its tiny 55cm stock telescopic antenna against a 25m long wire antenna, connected with nothing more complicated than a crocodile clip.
No fancy tuner. No expensive antenna system. Just a cheap SWL radio, a very long bit of wire, and a question:

How much better can it actually get?

We’ll listen across the shortwave bands and see what we can hear with the stock antenna vs the 25m wire.

If you're interested in shortwave listening, this is a really simple experiment you can try yourself — and you don't need an expensive radio or complicated antenna system to get started.

🎙️ Radio: XHDATA D219
📡 Power: Internal batteries
🪫 Setup: 55cm stock antenna vs 25m long wire
📍 Location: Bedfordshire, UK

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Website: RADIOFORUS.CO.UK
Email: Tom@radioforus.co.uk
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#Shortwave #SWL #ShortwaveListening #XHDATA #AmateurRadio #HamRadio #RadioForUs #LongWireAntenna #Radio #ShortwaveRadio

20 Comments

@trustin.p9504 2 weeks ago (edited)

A wire and a cheap radio. Pulling in signals from all over the world......man I love this hobby.73👍

@PERVISJAYFURLONG 2 weeks ago

Happy the youngster's are taking the wheel.

@RGD-Radio 2 weeks ago

I did the same, when i first got into radio... I had a receiver, and i stapled a massive wire down my garden fence, and just aligator clipped it to the antenna..
I enjoyed listening to the 40m band mostly...
and now im licenced, I operate on it mostly :D ~
(Passed Intermediate yesterday, aswell)

@ROBERTH-b9h 2 weeks ago

Sometimes a longer antenna will pick up more noise and less signal than a shorter antenna. I enjoy taking my battery operated radios as far from power lines as possible.

@Neios9 13 days ago (edited)

Classic 😆 3:53 first radio station he hits is Kate Bush singing the words “I hear youuu”
Great channel mate. I’m a beginner and you’re really helping 👌

@andyledger2307 2 weeks ago

If you’re clipping a long wire to the telescopic antenna, you don’t need it extended - just pull enough out to clip onto and that’ll do the job. And the reason you get strong signals from Chinese stations is because most of them are knocking out 300-500 kw, quite often to drown out less powerful stations that the state does not want people to hear. The Firedrake jammer is one such example.

I have a D-219, I love it, but for serious SWL I tend to use either my Qodosen DX-286 or my Tecsun PL-680, mainly because the digital display makes it easier to accurately ID the stations.

@rossarcher6104 2 weeks ago (edited)

You might try an active loop antenna too. They tend to do best where electrical near field noise is high, like in built-up subdivisions. The secret is not just picking up more signal, but that you get more added signal than added noise. End-fed wire antennas sometimes pick up as much additional noise as added signal. Loops tend to respond to the magnetic energy in radio waves rather than the local electrical field which is where a lot of appliances and electronic devices radiate their worst noise.

@_MisterG 2 weeks ago

Another thing you could try would be to scan the bands with no signals to see if the wire pulls anything in. My Tecsun has a socket to plug the wire into, a scan mode and a meter. This way I can compare things easily, but you can manage without :)

@not_a_raver 12 days ago

This is a convoluted way to ask the classic question: “is bigger better?”

@TechWithMarc 2 weeks ago

Please note: No Toms were cloned in the making of this video.

That 7 minutes station is so clear! Just imagine the power they are pumping out!

I'm wondering if the cable trick would work better with a different gauge of cable? More surface area and all that!
Would be interesting to try this experiment again when the band conditions change! At some points in the video, you can actually hear the derderderderder pulsing of electrical interference.
This is the kind of stuff I used to do when messing around with radios before I even realised what I was doing!

Radio is all about experimenting! Even if you're not transmitting!

@moojuiceuk 2 weeks ago

I think shortwave listening could be essential in the coming months and years. Whilst you need to take what you hear from them with a pinch of salt, it's a good indicator of what is annoying foreign nations when they talk about it on air.

Personally, I do most SWL using my Yaesu FT710 given its sensitivity & reasonable antenna.

@kensmith5694 2 weeks ago

I too have done experiments like this one. I found that about 20 meters of antenna made a huge difference.
A tuned loop that is about 1.5 meters on a side also makes a huge difference and that gives you the option of adjusting the direction to improve the signal

@husamabdulzahra4375 2 weeks ago

Thank you for the effort making this video

@rosskelly8268 2 weeks ago

I am surprised by this. I am (formerly) an Australian radio amateur (formerly vk1aap), and my experience has always been that a clip-on wire makes a bigger difference than you experienced. I listen to SW fairly regularly, and I use budget DSP radios by Degen, Tecsun, and Digitech. I usually only use 5 metres, and sometimes up to about 8 metres - and I don't create loops and I don't "double back" towards the radio. I always string it all away from the radio, so the loose end is farthest away. You can actually cancel your reception (to some extent) by stringing the wire back the way it came. The phase/polarity of the signal voltages is opposite in half your wire if you run it straight back towards the radio. So I would try LESS wire - maybe only 4 or 5 metres; and that also gives you more options for easily trying different directions to run the wire when you find a particularly interesting station:)

@bsdjunkie1805 2 weeks ago

Nice to see a ham under 93 years old.

@Nathan1975Liggy 2 weeks ago (edited)

The sound when tuning Is what most of us hams and radio folk refer to as Chuffing.
73 de 2E0LIG

@tonyridlen 2 weeks ago

I love all radio bands quite impressed by the information shared in this video! KC9QVE

@RadioAwareness-PeterGy 2 weeks ago (edited)

No SSB, no party 🤭
Nothing can beat the D-808 or PL-330 for the price ❤

But yes, a long wire / random wire is always good 👍

On my 20 yr old tiny Grundig Yacht Boy (size like this one), sometimes just fur fun, I listen to 🇬🇧 VOLMETs, like those on 5505, 5450 kHz and Hams - even without SSB (!), love it 😊

@rossarcher6104 2 weeks ago (edited)

Moment-to-moment constructive and destructive phase changes can cause major fluctuations in signal strength off a long wire. Over a period of time, the longer antenna really does work better for weak signals, but not necessarily at every single moment, which is what you saw. Really fancy receivers sometimes use more than one antenna at the same time and a switching system (called diversity reception) to constantly select the stronger signal at every moment. That's not hobbyist grade stuff though the RSP-2 duo SDR supports diversity reception.

@RicardoPaulo1982 2 weeks ago

By using a cheap 7 meter long-wire (xhdata an-80) i can now listen to the Russian Buzzer from the comfort of my home office. I couldn't with the whip antena or the 2-3 meter supplied wire. the radio is an Xhdata D808