A Simple, Very Effective Random Wire Antenna for Shortwave and AM Broadcast Radio

A Simple, Very Effective Random Wire Antenna for Shortwave and AM Broadcast Radio
-by Radiodog
Hi there, radio friends! Here's a thorough step-by-step of the re-installation of my 80' random wire radio antenna for shortwave and mediumwave.
Check out the links below for the components mentioned:
Find the antenna support rope here: www.ebay.com/itm/150-3-16-100...
Find the 9:1 "un-un" transformer here: www.ebay.com/itm/9-1-BALUN-TR...
Find antenna wire here: www.universal-radio.com/catal...
Find Coax-Seal here: www.universal-radio.com/catal...

[@miguelcampos6829]

Glad to see someone actually installing the 9:1 transformer at ground level where it belongs.

[@user-hb8be5wb4q]

Back in the late 1950’s,we always had an am radio in my bedroom.My favorite was between 9:30pm until-.When I used the radio,I tuned into the rock and roll stations.Our town radio went off at 8:30pm,both stations,I got a fine tuned(delicate touch)to Randy’s Record Shop in Nashville,Tn.I lived on a mountain top, in Mount Airy,N.C. About 400 miles to the east.Great times!

[@ericromano8078]

Don't forget you can still do this at night. I've picked up 650AM out of Nashville up near Lake Erie in Ohio at night, well over 400 miles to my home from their antenna.

[@tignim231]

Hello from Alberta Canada! I must say I'm learning a lot about radios and antennas from your channel. I listen to my am station radio because it's the only way I get to listen to Dr Charles Stanley and other christian speakers.... Nice job!👍

[@AnilYadav-wm6zr]

@21:40 song from bollywood movie Ashiqui , Good video my appreciations and regard from India🇮🇳

[@JerryGT894]

Tom, thank you so much for this most informative video with clear instructions. I definitely want to do this also! It is amazing what the radio was picking up for you!! My dream is to scan the AM dial and get a station on almost every channel. Thanks for all of your posts!

[@zonumev]

Great job Tom. I'm as newbie as they come but I'm learning a lot from you and your channel. Someday I would like to go ahead and get my basic ham radio license. Much appreciated, keep up the good work.

[@Funk-DX]

Dear friend Tom, I must say that your videos about the antenna build bringing me a lot of joy and fun, nice to see and also an inspiration to do some things better on my longwire, if the weather is better in europe. Thank you for sharing, best wishes from Klaus PS: in addition it gaves me motivation to try any US-Stations on mediumwave.

[@Arturo-sm1tb]

Now this is a very informative video, the way KZbin was intended. Excellent Tom. Sound exactly like me when things don't go exactly right at 9minutes. ;)

[@thomascardinal7525]

Great job, Tom ... nice install ...you made it fun to watch ..... antennas are a lot of fun to experiment . Simpler the better

[@johnbeckham1483]

It looks like you put up a really good SWL antenna! Your video brings back memories for me when as a young boy when I use to tie some copper wire onto a small rock while throwing the rock and wire over the tallest branch that I could find that I could reach! Thanks for a very good SWL tutorial antenna video! Here's wishing you great DXing & 73's!

[@spiritofecstasy8525]

@ 07:45 : lol! I started doing that when I was ten (10) years old!...... Until I got older, I always just climbed to the top of the trees and tied the wires on. Now, I do it more like the way you do! Takes a while, but it is a lot safer! 😊

[@357bullfrog2]

You did yours up right. Mine is about 20ft high on a make shift pole and made from 10 gauge electric fence wire. Does surprisingly good.

[@ralphculham4669]

Great video and enjoyable to watch as your attempts to throw the line up in the tree was "real". I once needed a line high up in a tree so I used a straight bow and an arrow with a fishing line attached to the arrow. It worked great I just had to make sure no one was in the "drop zone". Back in the 50's the story goes that a relative of mine strung about an 80 foot AM antenna wire between pine trees at their lakeside cabin to pickup their favorite station 100 miles away. This was before they had an FM receiver and their AM radio would be a tube set with a multi-gang analog tuner. This was possibly done before the hydro "electric" grid was converted from 25 to 60 HZ and the local marina had a hut to store ice harvested from the lake in the winter and stored under sawdust to keep it through the summer to sell it to the cottagers for their ice boxes. With all the advances in technology some old ways to DX MW stations still have merit.

[@GroverCricketDaisy]

Great learning so much about short wave etc..

[@anthonyrstrawbridge]

I remember saving money when I was 10 yoa to buy my first antenna kit. Back then I bought an archer kit at Radio Shack. Thirty years later I learned to fly using one. It's nice to tune in am stations listen and see where they are located. The ADF timed approach to or from a station is still being used today.

[@today7836]

What a great How To Video! Thank you for sharing

[@paulkish007]

ThankYou Radiodog for sharing your experience I have a similar project coming up in a tighter area.

[@atropicali]

I would like to thank you on this very great informative video, you did a lot more than experts It's a great thing to see video on how to improve the SW antenna Thanks Best Wishes from Kuwait

[@jdschauss]

That antenna sounds really great on twenty meters, Tom. Great video with accurate information and a pleasant presentation. As another commenter said, watching your video was actually quite relaxing. Keep 'em comin'! 73 de K5SFC

[@MrBrian8749]

Great info Tom...beginners are starving for simple explanations and instruction for SWL antennas. I also use a UnUn with my random wire antennas. The transformer keeps the coax from becoming part of the antenna. I also found over the years a UnUn or Balun helps reject electrical noise. So Hams have said this is not true...but I've tested it over and over. Ok not to ramble on Thanks for the video. 73s Brian

[@Radiodog]

I feel much more like a beginner than an expert. Thanks.

[@Special-Delivery57]

You are absolutely correct about the beginners. Only now ,at age 46, am I suddenly becoming passionate about radios and learning about frequencies and wave bands. I feel so extremely stupid ,but I’m in this until the end.🙏🏻

[@user-vy2fm9dh5e]

Few people play with this old-fashioned antenna anymore. Reminds me of 50 years ago when I was a child, making my own rock radio and setting up the antenna.

[@tonypoloney8721]

Very enjoyable to watch, listen and learn. Thank you.

[@buddyhoover57]

I have the same receiver and have been wanting to install a long-wire antenna. Thank you for the instruction! I think I can do this.

[@g4okt]

That is a very nice looking radio - thanks for the vid, cheers, Keith

[@Possumn1138]

I love your set up, and the 9:1 unun base mount idea, I have wound 9:1 impedance ununs out of the newer ferrites and the older red iron powder cores. Yet I like to keep all metals away from them, if I were to "use one to transmit with" and would suggest a wooden or PVC rod and using plastic zip ties perhaps to mount it with. And you are right, keeping the wire to the ground rod short as possible is a great idea. Yet you are "not transmitting" so it should work just as well as you have done it. Transmitters are thrown off by metals near the 9:1 inductance coil inside the white case. (The steel pipe and the two metal clamps for instance.) And if you chose to make the unun yourself, any size Ferrite torroid core should work as well as a larger one made for transmitting with a higher powered transmitter. The torroid size core and wire size mainly depends on how much power it can handle "when transmitting." "Listeners only" can use much smaller ones. Even tiny cores as big as a penny. Using enameled wire savaged from an old clock motor. Or some other enameled wire scavenged from a busted vacuum cleaner or fan motor. Even a broken wall wart transformer has good enamel coated wire in it. (Bare copper wire won't work). yet insulated wire does work. You make them with ten turns around the core for each wire like this; www.dxzone.com/images/pics/2015/07/09/20150709214527-e3457b38.jpg And if You leave out the round core, it is wired like this with ten turns of wire each, around the core. (He didn't count the turns in this drawing It's a schematic or electrical drawing): m0ukd.com/static/homebrew/Magnetic_Long_Wire_UnUn/9to1_schematic.jpg Modern Ferrite cores have no color code so they always black in color. And as you are "not transmitting", a smaller "red" color coded, iron powder torroid would also work between 1 to 30 MHz . These iron powder round torriods cores were used before the modern ferrite toroid came out. And if you have nothing else available, the straight rod from an old transistor AM radio antenna can be used. It's wired the same as the second drawing looks around the rod with ten turns of each of the three wires And those with bigger transmitters, had to use bigger cores and bigger wire. Transmitters also needed an antenna tuner to set the SWR with. Receivers do not need them. Each iron powder color coded core was for a certain frequency band of use, yet not all manufacturers used this color code, but most did. i.stack.imgur.com/OMT98.jpg

[@dgrewar]

Thanks for making and sharing this video...I learned a lot from it.

[@davidswift9120]

So here's how it's gone today: I was Youtubing vids to figure out how to fix the battery compartment door of my tiny Sony ICF-SW100. Shortwave radio was my go-to English language connection when I was living in Bavaria in the late '90s. I was into SW in my teens in the late 80's also. It reminded me of how much I loved listening to weird back of beyond broadcasts from tiny rooms, the other side of the world before the internet. It left a lot to the imagination and a bit like if Robinson Crusoe had lived a couple of hundred years later and had a radio. Anyway, the research sent me down a rabbit hole, wondering if people still broadcast on SW. It's been an eye opener and I happened upon your channel just to understand the basics of it all again. I'm now hooked once more and have been going through your vids one after the other while I work. This is really good output man. Many thanks.

[@MrDirkhead]

You are blessed with a great area to put a wire out. I am quite jealous. Good Video from start to finish. You could expand into VLF frequencies by using earth spike antenna using the ground as your antenna. Good luck from across the pond.

[@TheGhungFu]

Neighbor's wife; "....honey, I TOLD you he was crazy.... Now he's fishing for squirrels.".

[@retroelectrons2]

;-). Ha 😃

[@mojavedesertsonorandesert9531]

Deep fried squirrel 🐿️ taste mighty good!🍻

[@mistsofjade1512]

Sometimes the most crazy or the most sane😂😂

[@David0lyle]

😂

[@manishbhoola]

Can we really not tame and train squirrels to Carey the antenna wire up there ?😮

[@jimedgar6789]

After a day of watching YT videos with people loudly demonstrating whatever they are reviewing, etc., this was a VERY VERY relaxing video and I learned as well. I did watch it three times. Great work.

[@calichahta]

Hello, Radiodog! I learned a great deal from you by watching your video and I wanted to thank you for making the effort and sharing it with the world. I've been wanting to sling up my own permanent antenna for several years now. Trouble is that I live in a retirement community and while we have nice, fat redwood trees out back, I don't own those trees and we all have to share the community space. We also have many neighbors who live to gossip and mind other people's business for them. In short, I worry that my work would be taken down in very little time, so I hesitate to do that work. Meanwhile, I continue slinging temporary antenna fixes and then take them down after a few hours. It's tedious. I also continue looking for more semi-permanent venues where I can erect a quality wire antenna and not having to worry all the time about tampering.

[@mustafaalphan4640]

Congratulations...excellent antenna...I used mono/single 3,5mm cable. We Live in a 8.storey at 12 storey apartman block. Altitute of the apartment is 900m. I wrapped/rotated the cable around and out of the 8.storey. I took full result by way of this method. It provides strong signals. For medium wave I cant find ant DIY solution. For MW I use Tecsun circular antenna. Your radios are excellent, especially Panasonic.

[@KB2CWN]

Hi Tom. I have strung almost 2 dozen dipoles for Amateur and SWL and a sling shot with light weight fishing line and a weight attached works really well. You get better precision and height. Nice video. Best 73

[@johnbauman4005]

LOL, IF you know how to cast accurately! A knack I never mastered as a kid, much to my fisherman father's frustration. 🙄

[@philtube717]

i love SW so much and i'm now starting to get more MW and it's getting exciting

[@jamatal1]

Tom..was so impressed with this video, I ordered the exact same un/un along with your recommended 80ft of wire and installed it from the peak of my house out to a tree, connected the ground lug to my house ground with the electrical/phone/cable common ground...ran 20 ft of rg 58 and connected to my Tecsun PL 880...what a difference compared to my single attic wire direct to the receiver...No more noise and unbelievable signals on 160 thru 10 meters...Thanks for presenting such a great video with great closeup views of everything.

[@chtyan]

How'd it do on the AM band

[@colinreece3452]

This brought back memories, I did this years ago, I was always messing about with antennas, chad some good reults too.

[@theeaselrider4032]

Attempting to throw the line up into the tree was the most entertaining part for me. If you attempt it again, get it spinning faster, maybe with a slightly longer cord, but make sure you release it when it's naturally on it's upswing, otherwise all the force generated in the spin is being lost - especially if you step forward and let it go. Do you golf? Think of the downswing from the golf club and how important it is to follow through. If your downswing stopped at the bottom of the arc, and you then just stepped forward and pushed the club at the ball, not much would happen. That's kind of what you were doing. My dad worked in communications in the R.C.N. in the 1950's, by the time I came along he had flipped that into a full-on Ham radio hobby. We had antennas all over the place. I helped him climb TV towers, roofs, trees & crawled around inside an attic about 3 feet high. There was even a metal post set in concrete in the middle of the front yard , which was one of the support lines for some monstrosity that towered from the top of the house. He only fell off the roof once. My mother didn't understand, nor was she impressed by any of it. If I thought I'd get away with staining up something like this in my yard, I would. I'm just thinking about getting a small radio, maybe to take camping, to see what I can pick up. If I like it, I'll find something a bit better. So a smaller, more portable antenna would be something I can use.

[@lf7961]

This video was very helpful. Thank you.

[@graphicventures]

Hi from Dubai, nice video Tom.

[@hugoruas]

Cool! Sensacional! Parabéns pelo local sem interferências de RF.

[@thevintageaudiolife]

Thanks for sharing, interesting and informative!

[@Groundhog6142]

Thanks for doing this video, I stumbled Apon it and enjoyed it.Very nice tip. I know there may be other ways of doing this, but I wanted you to know that I enjoyed your video. I want to set up my own antenna myself soon and start enjoying my radio also. I love my radios. I have a lot of fun with my radios. Hope you have a nice day.

[@canadianpsycho1867]

I’ve discovered that running the entire wire across the ground works the best for me

[@PaulRichardson_Canada]

Same here seem to keep the noise down.

[@antalperge1007]

The wire is on the ground??

[@David0lyle]

I realize that I made this sort of antenna for my old customers. Mostly inside attics though. I suppose I might make a video.

[@ferdinandwp4rjl377]

I like the simple setup.

[@danielgiraud2192]

Good job! You make it look easy. 73 De ZS5DG in South Africa.

[@ericb.4358]

Thanks. Just the info I needed to get better SW reception for my little ETON Elite750 receiver. BTW, Dacron stretches fares than nylon when wet so it's a better cord plus it's more UV resistant as well..

[@johnatkinson5693]

Well done that man!

[@rjl9707]

Now, can use a Drone to set even higher. Great information; I am new also.

[@mikemcmanus7665]

Good listening!

[@medo123345]

Well done 👍👍👍

[@Special-Delivery57]

Thank you Tom.🙏🏻🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

[@garymorris8547]

Great video, it gave me some ideas for my long line, thanks alot.

[@craigpennington1251]

Great stuff. Really a pisser that Radio Shack is gone. Can't find anything around anymore. Thanks big time for the links to put it all together. Radio Shack does need a return to the biz. They had the stuff for the jobs.

[@chandran8602]

I tried this for getting " vivid Bharati" and Ceylon broadcasting corporation short wave stations in the year 1965. At that time there was no entertainment radio systems in Keralal, India.❤️

[@smug247]

Appreciate the info sir subscribed👍

[@SanjanaRanasingha]

Love this channel

[@rickiryobi2163]

Thanks for this!

[@Special-Delivery57]

I’m going to watch this again Tom. I am new to doing all this and before the whole sh$t-house goes up in flames…I’m going to have tons of DX-ing fun!👍🏻🕯⭐️

[@researchcapt]

With a drone you can drag line over the very tops of trees. Start with fishing line and then use that to drag paracord over the branches.

[@VicGreenBitcoin]

You do not need a long wire antenne but a weight loss protocol if you want to enjoy that little radio of yours the next ten years

[@anthonymiller8979]

So if I am running my random wire into coax to bring it into the house I should have the UnUn but if running just the random wire to say, my patio or deck for outdoor listening, or directly to a window were my radio usually is (alligator clip to telescoping antenna w/no coax) I can do without the UnUn ?

[@zahedalsawadi7084]

Nice video.

[@slimpickins9124]

Like that you take your time & are not yelling at me like a used car salesman.

[@hs0zcw]

You can pull one end and then the other end of an outdoor wire antenna down out of visual range when times are tough.

[@kpxoda1]

Thanks for the video. Could you talk about how you made the connection in the house? I assume the center conductor of the coax is going to the tip of your 3.5mm jack but is the jacket of the coax going to the other part of the 3.5mm jack? Also I assume the jacket is connected to the ground outside on the other end? Maybe this is done inside of the un un thing you have where I can't see it? I have a really long wire up right now, like 250 ft or so but I want to get rid of the noise it picks up when it comes into the house.

[@godfellas483]

Thanks for the great video. I miss my old "long wire" antenna I had at my last house. I'm planning to install one at my new place. I think the ground wire is almost as important as the wire itself. It helps reduce noise if done correctly. I'm looking for a grounding rod and then I can do my installation. Let us know what other radios you plan to use, and do some long distance DX'ing.

[@robertlagruth516]

Thank you Tom, I am a beginner.

[@chronobot2001]

Good video.

[@hs0zcw]

Staple some cheap insulated wire to the wood in your attic. hook one end to your receiver leave the other end free in the attic. A good secret antenna.

[@davidcurtis9248]

Hello Tom, enjoying your channel very much from the UK. Recently brought out my own Sony compact SW set and am liking the idea of a proper long wire aerial outside. Would it be possible to ask you some questions ?

[@ConwayTruckload]

I live in Hawaii and when I done this I got mostly programming from Asia,Russia and some from the Middle East.

[@ericromano8078]

Man, picking up something on almost every channel on AM was pretty impressive. Does the angle and direction of the wire matter much? If I were to do this, the highest point would about a third of the length in where I have a large tree.

[@medo123345]

Hello, thanks fot the video

[@fly1327]

Nice! I bet you'd really enjoy running that antenna thru a good SDR dongle onto a computer to interface/control.

[@anandawijesinghe6298]

Great Job, Tom, thank you for motivating me to do the same. Can you comment on how useful the 9:1 Un-Un is to a AM radio listner ?

[@TheDesmoMan2012]

Wow, how easy, I'm getting ready to purchase a SW radio, this is very good any recommendations great!

[@vincentkosik403]

Hi, bought some Rca speaker wire and using that as my rope antenna....got an inexpensive 219 12 dollar radio...see if I get better reception, thxs

[@indridcold8433]

My attic looks like a mad scientist's lair. It is a giant coil of wire I made out of old extension cable. I have eight turns surrounding the edges of my attic. I did not use the transformer. I just made a manual tuner and adjust it to hear the most signal. I have been told that I can use the wire to transmit. But since I have no license to transmit, I am happy just listening.

[@hassanrasool3977]

Thanks...you good

[@F4LDT-Alain]

Thanks for the instructive and useful video. You've just got a new subscriber. Videos about antennas for SWL aren't common, so I'm glad I've found this one. I have two questions: - unless I missed it, you don't tell exactly how long this antenna is. You mention 80ft = 24.38m at some point, so I guess that's it? - what do you do with the grounding wire? just lay it on the ground or actually ground it by connecting its end to some kind of copper rod plugged into the soil? Many thanks in advance if you can take a minute to reply to these questions. 73, Alain

[@gartmorn]

Where is the far end of the wire that you put on the insulator connected. I take it is lower down on an adjacent tree or Bush?

[@stephenwilliams5201]

Zebco reel, a one ounce sinker, a sling shot to propel. The #20 pound line. Over a limb with the 1 ounce sinker. Attach the wire with insulator pull up up and away.

[@markbajek2541]

a sling shot or wrist rocket can do the job pretty well too.

[@stephenwilliams5201]

@@markbajek2541 you got it doc. Nothing fancy, but to save climb, and fall off tree as I'm a 70 year old.

[@andrewsalo7480]

@radiodog I just got myself a AIWA CA 100U. I was planning on setting up my antenna on the chimney of my house. There are not many tall trees where I live. Is that a still viable way? I also don’t want to have stray wires going across my property.

[@stevef7368]

Maybe I missed something, but what does the high tree end of the wire look like? What holds it in the tree?

[@ronaldzuccala1889]

Well hello tom. I wish i had your back yard but i dont. I do have a 60 foot e comm 2 ant which serves the purpose and dont have much to interfear so i guess i do ok. Im up of the top of an apartment bldg. With a clear shot to the river and beyond. That was a great catch by the way and i would log that one in a minute. Ok well im just jealous but good for you. Ron. Z. Pgh. Pa.

[@nortonics5745]

Wrist rocket with fishing weight & line. Pull up lightweight rope followed by antenna wire. Will get that antenna way up there.

[@shandybrandy5407]

Very impressive! 73 New Delhi

[@tomjones239]

Radiodog ... I used to use a fishing rod with a half ounce to one ounce weight and throw it over the top of tall trees then pull my antenna wire up. It all depends on location of course. I`ve also just used a long pole to push the wire up onto lower tree limbs and up into tall bushes. I strung out two 250-300 ft wires (at least over head high) in opposite directions once and connected them to a homemade coil of 24 awg magnet wire (no ground) and I could easily get stations out past 300 miles during the day. In NW Louisiana I could hear New Orleans, Houston, Dallas and Oklahoma City like locals and some stations were readable much farther away. At the time I didn`t pay much attention trying to identify the weaker stations but was simply trying to get more stations during the day. I do remember going from three stations during the day (using quality radios) to 48. I didn`t really know what I was doing. I simply accidentally discovered that a crystal radio I made boosted AM signals on my radio and started experimenting. So I made a 100 turn coil of 24 awg magnet wire on a paper towel tube and connected it to the wires and placed it near the radio. I used the fishing rod to get a wire up into the top of a large tree then parked our old truck under it and connected the wire to the radio antenna to DX on the AM radio. It worked well.

[@spiritofecstasy8525]

Tom Jones : Yeah, I have made those coils like that too!.....Also, if you buy 500 feet of wire on a spool, just leave a couple of hundred feet on the spool and set the spool by the radio! That works real well, too. (Run the 300 feet [that you have unwound] outside and up in the air!) (Hook the ground wire to end of the wire that is left on the spool!) 😊

[@Sch00lbu5]

There are many videos on random wire antennas. What no one shows are clever ways to get the coax into the house where the radio is.

[@erikpratama320]

Did altitude is alco cruel like on fm?

[@chronobot2001]

I tried using that method to put a line in a tree. It didn't work very well for me. Casting with a fishing pole or a slingshot would probably be more precise.

[@robertlestylo6085]

Hi Tom. I've enjoyed watching your video. However, I need you to clarify something for me: In your video you connect the balun to your receiver using coax. As far as I can tell, the Sangean receiver has only a jack connection for an external antenna. I'm obviously missing something here. Perhaps you can clarify? Thanks.

[@Radiodog]

Thanks for the comment. Basically, I use an adapter at the end of the coax, connected to a 3' audio cable that terminates into a mono plug to the radio. I find that audio cable works rather well as a kind of "light duty" coax.

[@JL-tu6ob]

Impressive! I do have a concern about lightning. Since their is only 1 conductor that functions as the aerial the ground must just tie to the outer conductor of the coax ? I can’t understand how this would help drain a lightning strike unless the center arcs across to ground ? Any help, from anyone will be appreciated !

[@opascience3581]

There might be a lightening arrester in the UnUn. If that isn't built in I would recommend a knife switch and use that to ground the antenna. That's what I do with my long wire.

[@JL-tu6ob]

@@opascience3581 10-4, I like the knife switch idea. I intend to make use of a 80 foot white oak tree in my front yard. I’ll do some more research ( maybe if I ground the center out before a storm, or disconnect everything so there is absolutely no path to ground, it might protect the tree ) she’s probably +100 years old ! Thx.

[@chuckworkb]

Hi, thanks for the video. Can you tell us how you connected your long wire to the Sangean radio? From the ext Ant jack to Coax?

[@chtyan]

I would like to know also

[@Cheetorblz]

You tightly roll some shielding and insert in the ground connection and the center wire goes in the external antenna connection.

[@AllLifethingschannelyt]

Great

[@TheRockerxx69]

Have please a wide angle video of the installation, l don't figure the whole project. Height, distance you running the down cable rg59 (?) On the ground ???

[@markbailey1423]

I taped in to my old cable box from when I had ran it straight to my shortwave radio telephone pole ir 125 feet and the cable wire wraps around at lest 3 blocks in my area

[@kennethhill3054]

Tom would I be able to use the lighting rod system looks to be well grounded. I am trying to hook up to a stereo receiver and am not having much luck any suggestions? Ken

[@tommyb.6064]

is it better to use non-insulated antenna? I have a bunch of reels with 14-16 awg braided wire. Are braided wires vs solid wire and their diameter influence how they catch waves?

[@Possumn1138]

Insulation on the antenna wire does not affect the signals that much, you can run an insulated wire as well.