Using my "natural radio" VLF receiver with Stanton headphones with an HPF, I found a quiet location in the garage. It is inside and below the roof line. I have a place on my GPS mast that I could mount the E-Field antenna on, but it will be
very close to the power wires that run over my garage.
After building the E-Field amp and preamp, it seems immune to the noise. The HPF in the amplifier must be very effective. I believe that I have lower harmonics of 60Hz and maybe the filters will take care of the close field.
Should I locate the antenna in the known quiet location, or risk noise pickup in the more "ideal" outdoor location.
Here is the outdoor mast that the GPS lives on. I
could mount the E-Field on the unused portion of the mast at the top. Note the 220V wire (twisted ones) along with cable/phone lines below. It is probably only about 5-6 ft from the mast to the power lines.
Also, is the jury still out on whether to ground the E-Field preamp? I remember my Hobby-Boards lightning detector which was a simple Darlington transistor pair interfaced to a counter. The very first thunderstorm was almost totally missed by the detector. I found that I had a poor ground due to being grounded to the vent stack and sewer lines (iron pipe, not PVC).
I added a bonding wire from the vent stack line to the cold water pipe and it worked like a champ.
I am waiting on boxes and STP Cat5, but I will be packaging the amp and antenna soon. Appreciate any comments/guidance.
Greg H.