hi all, just come back into radio after a long time and I have set a station up and cut a wire for 20 meters and tuned it for the cw portion ,, I have a nice low swr where I need it and have used a dipole center and it is in a inverted v because I don't have any room for a flat top dipole , my problem is I have about s7 s8 of noise it doesn't sound electricial it seems like white noise etc , so obviously I can only hear stations above s7s8 and its annoying, any ideas if a delta loop might be quieter? im having trouble remembering the things I was taught when I did my rae course but for some reason can remember cw no problem any advise is much appreciated and gladly received, many thanks steve G0WXP

Welcome to 2018. It's got really noisy while you've been away.

I'd start by trying a Balun, or Ballum as they call it now.

yes I will do thanks chris il order a couple off the internet il get a 4.1 in case I make a delta loop and a 1.1 for this dipole. its annoying as if you cant hear them you cant work them and im watching all sorts of dx pop up on the cluster and I cant hear any of them and im only interested in dx on cw and a ragchew when I get back into it,thanks for the advice chris I appreciate it

Yes a delta loop would probably be quieter, use a good CURRENT 4:1 or 2.5:1 balun (ballum) to get the benefit.

It could be the internet, just to confirm if it is, tune down to 12MHz, if just below that frequency the noise suddenly drops, then you have someone's modem radiating. If it is that, check your own modem to make sure it isn't you interfering with yourself.

il go outside and make a delta loop now I think and I don't think this old ts830 will tune down that far from the 20 or 30 meter bands to check modem noise but I did unplug my modem and it was still same so unsure if its just normal band noise or electricial im not too savvy with technology if im honest

If it isn't that then put the radio on a battery and knock off the main house breaker, if the noise disappears its something in the house, put each breaker back one at a time till the noise reappears, then you'll find the culprit circuit.

My band noise is something like S3 on 20m.

just tried my 830 and cant get anywhere near 12mhz il see if I can borrow a gen coverage set and try that cheers I appreciate the help

thanks paul il see if I can borrow a newer radio and try a battery this trio is mains power supply built in

A loop will help null some noise Steve as did my 40 metre full wave loop, I later home brewed a ocf dipole fed with 600ohm homemade ladder line and part coax fed into a 4-1 then ladder which gave me multiband operation and then wanted 80 so I loaded it with loading coils.....perfect and the best dipole I've ever had to say it was a Frankenstein build
That L shaped antenna with be suffering because that other leg is not in the clear or that's my diagnosis

ive just been outside setting up a home built magnetic loop that a pal of mine sold me,, its a manual tuning job so every time I want to change bands or even move on a band I have to take my analyser outside and move the caps to tune it then come back in the house to use radio but I have noticed on the mag loop the noise level is s3 and I can hear things on it that I cant hear on my 20 meter inverted v so il see how this goes at least I can listen around the bands a bit and maybe I can order some baluns and make a delta loop , I have compared dipole and mag loop rx signals and its to be expected the signals on the mag loop are a good couple of s points lower than the wire but at least its quieter on the noise floor, so il see if I can work some stations before I throw my teddy out of my pram, many thanks for all the advice I really appreciate it and I shall report back as to how this mag loop thing works on 12,12,15,17,20, as it does tune nicely on all 5 bands

just been having a listen on 20 cw with this magnetic loop and im hearing plenty of south America and French Guiana etc with no noise level problems id post a photo of this loop but don't know how to do it,, im pleasantly surprised with the receive performance to say ive got it on a tripod 2 feet off the garden floor.

With all the noise about now, there's a growing trend for using separate transmit antennas and low-noise receive loops.

Does your grand old rig have any facility for separate antennas?

Listen on the loop and transmit on the dipole for a bigger signal out on 20m as well.

Cheers, Dave.

cheers chris and dave as well.. the at230 I have in line with my 830s has 3 antenna so239 sockets so im running the loop in 1 and the inverted v in 2 so I can switch from one to the other, just been listening to some w6 stations on the loop comfortably and they were in the noise almost on the wire ,,I also have a long wire terminal on the atu for a random wire so might try that as well,, I thought about buying a cobweb or something but il see n the near future,at least I can hear stuff and im enjoying that so that's the main thing, cheers guys I appreciate the advice,,,steve