Reply To: Newbie WWV and Broadcast FM

[diysdrParticipant]

I am thinking your antenna is not effective, you say its a wire but where is it and how is it connected? Just a piece of wire will work some but you really need a good ground to go with it or a wire counterpoise.
take a look at this fellas you tube he explains it quite well

nice uk chap that demonstrates how adding a ground to the overall setup makes a big difference. Without that ground its like plugging in a lamp with only one of the blades of the plug, it won’t light up, similarly you need a good rf ground or counterpoise to complete the circuit for your radio

When its working you will see/hear very strong signals. I do have a nice 120ft g5rv dipole like antenna and I can hear wwv on 2.5, 5, 10, sometimes 15mhz and overwhelming signals in between not to mention little weak signals of WSPR. aircraft, weather stations, all that stuff. It receives better than almost all low-med $$$ transceivers. I listen with it and if I hear an interesting ham I turn on my transceiver to talk to the person. On ~7mhz heard hams in South Africa, Hawaii, Austrailia on the same evening.