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Needed a dedicated band III VHF for DTV, too. And for DAB which is decoded by the TV set. I will need to run that signal around the house.
And at last - a dedicated FM antenna with 10db gain. The only two stations I want are in full limiting, and - as I expected - NO overload on the one with the big transmitter. At which the antenna is pointed.
The FM-only item replaces an ancient wide-band VHF job. That was an Antennacraft 185, covering top half of band I VHF, all of II, and bottom half of band III.
Didn't do the install, but he did re-use the mast I built back in the 1990s - sleeved galvanised tubing, and heavy. He also strengthened the three stub mounts. Given that the weather is getting wilder, an overkill mast can't be a bad thing.
Barring the mast and mounts, the entire antenna system and cabling, combiner, splitters and cables had just about had it.
We now have entirely separate runs for FM and TV - quad shield 'RG6' with a solid-copper centre conductor.
Must take all the aluminium scrap in to the dealer, soon.
The ring bolts and ropes? They are for the 'random wire AM antenna' which used to run to a neighbour's chimney. I will re-install it, soon. Once the Canada Maple gets trimmed back - in May at the end of Autumn down here. "Yes dear, I will get help, and I will be careful!"
It's tuned / resonated via a tapped ferrite-core coil (handmade) and an old vane capacitor, to give me AM 666 and 846 - at 9khz spacings down here. This is worth the effort IMO if you have a wide audio-bandwidth AM stage and stations that are worth it.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Follow Ups:
I had a directional FM antenna professionally installed some year ago when I lived about 90mi. from Toronto, Canada. I spent may hours listening to a small jazz station that I thoroughly enjoyed. I hope you enjoy finding those gems that were out of reach. I'm sure you will experience many new stations.
There are only two stations I will bother with.I get full limiting from both.
One uses almost no dynamic range limiting and one uses just a bit more.
You can try both of them online
http://artsound.fm/listen-online/
I used to record for them, a local community licence one, and will go back to it.
The national public broadcaster's Classical feed is below.
On line the SQ isn't wonderful from either but they're okay.
Live acoustic concerts are IMO & E a high-end source. ? No storage medium.
Needs a good antenna.
I am not interested in, nor do I expect to find any 'gem' stations. Two gems will do.
It is a 'good antenna' - that is, it has a very narrow pattern and thus lots of gain.
It is aimed at one high tower with lots of stations transmitting from it.
Only two are worth the trouble.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 02/08/16 02/08/16
Timbo - thinking of making a rhombic for my roof. Question about the shape of the 4 sides. Can the angles be adjusted to give more rejection on the sides? Problem is there is a large hill across the street that causes some multi path. what do you think?
Yes, it is possible to build 'doubled and spread' versions, and you can narrow the Rhomboid shape to tighten the pattern.Remember that only a truly directional antenna can reject multi-path.
Once you find the straight line direction between you and the transmitter, mark it on a map of your town and environs. Use a school geometry half circle compass to read off the bearing. Then print-out one of just your house on its block and mark on it the bearing. For a compass use one of the GPS based ones downloaded to your smart phone, as it won't be affected by large ferrous-metal objects.
Given the hill you need to test the 'straight-line on the map' bearing, from you to the transmitter.
Most stations use a mixture of vertical and horisontal polarities to assist car reception. So, use a ribbon T-antenna on a vertical board to find the best bearing. Then try if the same bearing is best with the T antenna horizontal.
Do remember to get away from the antenna yourself to minimise your own effects on it.
Outdoor wire antennas? You'll need to look at a book called 'Joe Carr's receiving antennas' published in the USA for guidance for wire antennas. Including earthing, static charges and lightning strikes. It doesn't have any stuff for (FM) rhombics but the principals are the same.
Local 'hams' might be a good resource.
See if you can fit it into your loft space. Because you can use indoor rated 300 ohm ribbon as the article assumes. This doubles the gain without any increase in size / area, as you then have two rhombics 'stacked.'
Rhombics are by nature wide-band-width antennas. IE the shorter the wavelength you are picking up the greater the gain. For that reason alone a loft DIY rhombic had a lot of appeal to me.
It would have covered VHF digital TV (BndIII) and FM (BndII), with lots of gain, almost no maintenance, long life, etc. Everything I want is in band II (FM) and band III DTV, all from the same mast.
But, the floor of my loft is the ceiling of the house - plaster-board nailed to timber beams - and all covered by very thick fibreglass insulation, well above the beams. So I can't see where to walk. End of that idea. :-)!
LBNL, given the hill, you might find it works better aimed up a bit, like my new VHF-DTV item is.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
Edits: 02/13/16 02/13/16 02/14/16
I heard a rumor that mounting an antenna inside am attic or loft ensures reflections off anything metal and loading by near by metalic objects.
If you happen to have line of site, or close to it and you need to reduce multi path from a mountain, in theory you can install the rhombic in your yard.
Best from T'son
bob
Never assume anything I post is accurate.
Though it depends; if the tank will be behind where the directional antenna is pointing it isn't an issue.
I now have a whole bunch of foil-coated ducting in the roof space and that finally killed my plans for a large rhombic up there.
That's one of the reasons why we decided on a new pair of antennas on the old mast array for FM and DTV. The other being the SO's attitude to a ceiling rhombic! ;-)
Yes you can put a rhombic wire antenna in the yard but then you need to deal with static charges and lightning.
And, UV stable 300 ohm ribbon might be unobtainium these days, so you might need to build two single wire rhombics to maximise the gain. Depends on how long the sides will be.
There is a good book on 'receiving antennas' by Joe Carr published in the USA, which covers static and lightning.
Warmest
Tim Bailey
Skeptical Measurer & Audio Scrounger
I hope the antenna brings you much FM listening pleasure.
Good luck with your upcoming surgery. I wish you a fast recovery.
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