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Balun One Nine v1 - Tiny Low-Cost 1:9 HF Antenna Balun and Unun with Antenna Input Protection for Ham It Up, RTL-SDR, HackRF and Other HF-Capable Radios. Great for DIY Dipole and Longwire Antennas?
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Before that, I would recommend the 9:1 balun for random wire antennas. These seem to perform the best for me for HF, beyond the loops and miniwhips
Not one of these.
I'm using a 16' WD1 soldered at both ends and this 9:1 balun:
Your balun looks a lot like the one I ordered.
Balun One Nine v1 - Tiny Low-Cost 1:9 HF Antenna Balun and Unun with Antenna Input Protection for Ham It Up, RTL-SDR, HackRF and Other HF-Capable Radios. Great for DIY Dipole and Longwire Antennas https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00R09WHT6/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_i_DFAJNSR25JJ2FZDXYV5K?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Mine's a 1:9 balun though. Looks like I'll need to make my own 1:1 balun with a ferrite bead and learn how to solder with these brass sma conectors. Obviously I'll need equal windings on both sides of a ferrite bead to get 1:1, but is less total windings better or more windings better with these small transformers? I learn a lot by trying and failing so I might just have to experiment myself.
Not sure if it's an ideal setup, but I ran 50 feet of leftover RG-6 into the attic, and along with a few adapters, hooked a Nooelec Baulun One Nine V1 to that and ran about 50 feet of 16 gauge wire around the perimeter of my attic with no counterpoise. Seems to work just fine.
Look for one from NooElec. It’s inexpensive. I have one and it hasn’t let me down. I dunno if this link will work but….
NooElec Balun One Nine - Tiny Low-Cost 1:9 HF Antenna Balun with Antenna Input Protection for Ham It Up, SDR and Many Other Applications! https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00R09WHT6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_TYXBGXN80WX7Z78MKHY8
I have a similar SDR/antenna and it will pick up ADSB at 1090Mhz and misc short-range electronic sensors in the 433 Mhz range; but the antenna is much too short to pick up anything in the VHF or lower ranges.
If you want to hear things in the 40/80m bands, you'll want one of these (or similar):
https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6/
and one of these (or similar):
https://www.amazon.com/DHT-Electronics-coaxial-cable-assembly/dp/B00CP1129K/
and a long length of thin - maybe 18-24 ga - speaker wire. This page https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/antennas-propagation/dipole-antenna/hf-ham-band-dipole-construction-80-40-20-15-10-meters.php suggests using a 42.4 meter length of wire for a 1/2 wave 80 meter antenna.
But, if you're space-constrained and budget-constrained, you may be happier sticking to WebSDR - it's very tough to catch a long wavelength signal with a physically short antenna.
Is it an SMA connector? There's a nice 9:1 transformer on amazon for rtl-sdr.
Edit https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6
https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6
I use this and some scrap speaker wire for listening sub 20Mhz. you can easily get the adapter you need on amazon, so no soldering is required unless you wanna do that.
Your Pixel loop should be able to pick up NDBs and AM broadcasters much farther away at night. That you hear them with the miniwhip may just be that its preamp lifts the signal more. However, the difference between NV and GA with the same equipment indicates that something else might be amiss. Could it be that you have a lot more local noise where you are now, and that the miniwhip (which is very susceptible for noise on the other hand) just got the best spot away from the noise?
As for the Hi-Z port on the RSP2, I'd recommend converting it into a low impedance input using a cheap 9:1 balun like the Nooelec one-nine in reverse:
https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6
IOW you can use 2 short plain wire jumpers to connect the RSP terminal piece to the balun terminals and get a low-z input with SMA. There is a small 0 Ohm bridge on the PCB backside of that balun marked "R1" on the circuit diagram. If you cut that connection you also get full galvanic isolation which could help with noise pickup.
An antenna for reception only doesn't need a good match and doesn't have to be resonant. Many embassies use vertical antennas about 18ft long more or less with a matching transformer. Here's an example http://www.tmchistory.org/tmc_manuals/manuals_db/vra/tm_vra_4_89.pdf I think Valcom made or makes a 33ft fiberglass whip that is wound with wire, helically loaded, for the same purpose.
Better yet is a short antenna with a high impedance preamp that handles the impedance matching and provides some gain that helps with the weak signal from a short antenna, aka mini-whip or active whip. For example https://swling.com/blog/tag/mini-whip/
A 9:1 impedance ratio transformer should work OK with a 29ft wire from about 5 MHz to 30 MHz or higher with an SWR 10:1 or less across the range. The pattern will vary with frequency and sometimes it won't be good but you'll hear... things.
The transfomer will need a long feed line or a ground to work properly but not an extensive ground that would be needed for a 1/4 wave antenna used for transmitting. Cold water pipe, pipe driven into the ground, something. The transformer need not be expensive for reception only. For example https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6
I use a large dipole but the end-fed wire antennas seem easiest to set up.
You could use this, combined with a long wire:
https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6/
I haven't used that product but the reviews look okay.
Here's the balun you need: https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6
You could tie-in with any of the ground pads on the circuit board of the balun. Oftentimes, just run a length of wire out to a ground rod from the balun.
I'm using this one. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00R09WHT6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Y3s3DbZAJ6246
You could get one of these. It just has a terminal clip that holds onto the wire.
https://www.amazon.com/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6
Technically it’s meant to have a second wire to use as a counterpoise but it will still work fine for receiving.
Alternately you could give this a try.
For the long wire you want this in addition:
https://www.amazon.de/NooElec-Balun-One-Nine-Applications/dp/B00R09WHT6
...and be aware that this is intended for HF ( <= 30 MHz). Therefore you need to select
direct sampling or use an upconverter.
is this the same balun you described? my dongle is a rtl-sdr.com one that many people were buying
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00R09WHT6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A2JO7YP9I9Y3D6&psc=1
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