Antennacraft antenna's

[greenmaji]

From my reaserch antennacraft seems to have a great value when it comes to FTA broadcast reception antenna's.. I thought it might be a good product line for Sadoun.
http://www.antennacraft.net/MXU.htm
the MXU59 is a great UHF only antenna for the price. :mozilla_smile:
http://www.antennacraft.net/Yagi.htm
and there Y5-2-6 would be an exellent anttena for those area's with low band VHF channels (our local FOX affilate is on channel 4 and from what Ive read that is not that uncommon to have a channel or two way down there) and most people around here have alot of issues trying to use a combo antenna to get this channel (and using a combo antenna really cripples there UHF performance) and again its price is very reasonable.
I would have to special order the Y5-2-6 through a industrial electronics company 30 miles away from my home (none of the online antenna shops seem to carry it, I looked)

If your intrested I have alot of DXing reaserch under my belt and would be happy to recomend antenna's if you would like to carry some great performers..

(I know I got a C-band discussion going but your site seems to have some really nice installation supplies for sattlite anttena's and having a nice group of OTA anttena's would complement it well IMHO)

I know you have some of the antenna's that "defy the laws of physics" and I dont mean to knock any of them but to be honest I cant see myself buying any of those.. :mozilla_undecided:

[briand]

...umm... with the FCC moving briskly to clear out the VHF band (moving everybody up to UHF), I don't know if it'd be wise to invest in terrestrial VHF reception equipment.

- briand

[greenmaji]

That was the concensus 2 years ago but it looks like low band VHF is here to stay now.. #-o

It sure would be alot easier if they all went to high UHF..

[TOCKCC]

As far as digital channels go upper VHF channwels are okay [7-13] but lower VHF [2-6] are not. All digital channels in my area are on UHF but when the switch comes all local analog channels that are on 7 thru 13 will revert back to those channels. All analog channels on 2 thru 6 will keep there current UHF digital channels. Generally a good UHF antenna will okay on the upper VHF channels.

Tom

[greenmaji]

Ive read it depends on how the boadcasters bid on the low VHF... if they flee then the FCC gets rid of it.. rual KY (and other hilly areas) low VHF would actually make more sence..

the change over isnt untill 2009!!! how am I going to get my local fox untill then.. :mozilla_surprised: :mozilla_laughing: Well I guess I could build a single channel yagii for channel 4.. :mozilla_laughing:

OK, forget the VHF.. antennacraft has some great UHF antenna's for very reasonable prices.. :mozilla_smile:

one other note.. the Channel Master Titan2 line of pre-amplifiers are always a good investment.. :mozilla_smile:

[briand]

Originally Posted by greenmaji

Well I guess I could build a single channel yagii for channel 4..

Heh... I've toyed with the idea of building a narrow band yagi to pick up the FM oldies station in Panama City -- I"m --just-- outside their coverage area (the outer limit hits the western edge of my county; I live on the eastern side of the county)... but now, I should have more than adequate access to decent "oldies" radio via satellite...


- brian
...anxiously awaiting the arrival of my FTA system

[TOCKCC]

Because low VHF does not work good for Digital I doubt many stations choose to go back to those channels. The deadline has pasted so all requests for digital channel designation have already been submitted to the FCC,at least in the top 100 markets.

Tom

[Sadoun]

Nice products suggestion greenmaji

We will contact Antennacraft and check with them

I will keep you posted here.

[greenmaji]

Originally Posted by Sadoun

Nice products suggestion greenmaji

We will contact Antennacraft and check with them

I will keep you posted here.

I'm glad you think so.

Ill keep an eye on on your progress..
Im actually very impressed with your interest in customer input.

This fact will defanately infulance my purchasing desisions in the future.

Good job Sadoun! :mozilla_smile:

[greenmaji]

Originally Posted by briand

Heh... I've toyed with the idea of building a narrow band yagi to pick up the FM oldies station in Panama City -- I"m --just-- outside their coverage area (the outer limit hits the western edge of my county; I live on the eastern side of the county)... but now, I should have more than adequate access to decent "oldies" radio via satellite...


- brian
...anxiously awaiting the arrival of my FTA system

Not an all together bad idea really.. If you know the frequency you can design a yagi just for that station. (yagi's do best when designed for only one freqency anyway), that and it would end up being a smaller antenna then my channel 4 problem.. LOL (the ellements wouldnt need to be quite as wide)
that way you could get your FTA sat. oldies and your OTA's to. :mozilla_smile:

[briand]

Originally Posted by greenmaji

Not an all together bad idea really.. If you know the frequency you can design a yagi just for that station. (yagi's do best when designed for only one freqency anyway), that and it would end up being a smaller antenna then my channel 4 problem.. LOL (the ellements wouldnt need to be quite as wide)
that way you could get your FTA sat. oldies and your OTA's to. :mozilla_smile:

True... but then again, I've already got quite a bit of wire up in the air already -- an 80m dipole, a 40/15m delta loop, a 2m/70cm J-pole, and a pair of phased 2m loops... all for tx/rx, and a couple rx-only antennas (a wide-band discone, an 800MHz whip, and a GPS antenna).

If I built the yagi, you just know I'd have to put it on a rotor so that I could do some DX FM listening, and not just use it for that one FM station -- and I don't know if I want to tempt the neighborhood association quite that much! :mozilla_wink: The last time I crunched the numbers, a 13-element yagi would be 12-14 feet long... I don't know, maybe that project can wait a little bit. :mozilla_wink:

[greenmaji]

Originally Posted by briand

True... but then again, I've already got quite a bit of wire up in the air already -- an 80m dipole, a 40/15m delta loop, a 2m/70cm J-pole, and a pair of phased 2m loops... all for tx/rx, and a couple rx-only antennas (a wide-band discone, an 800MHz whip, and a GPS antenna).

If I built the yagi, you just know I'd have to put it on a rotor so that I could do some DX FM listening, and not just use it for that one FM station -- and I don't know if I want to tempt the neighborhood association quite that much! :mozilla_wink: The last time I crunched the numbers, a 13-element yagi would be 12-14 feet long... I don't know, maybe that project can wait a little bit. :mozilla_wink:

HOLY SMOKES BATMAN!! :mozilla_laughing: :mozilla_laughing:

A 13-element yagi, sounds a bit ambious.. I was thinking 10 tops. (not that a 10 ellement isn't a big antenna) :mozilla_smile:

Sounds like someone's a little RF happy.. :mozilla_laughing:

How does a HAM opperator get his 80m anttena past the home owners association? Im sure there are some FCC rules that help you guys out. :mozilla_laughing:

[briand]

Originally Posted by greenmaji

How does a HAM opperator get his 80m anttena past the home owners association? Im sure there are some FCC rules that help you guys out.

Umm.. no, there's no "hard and fast" rule from the feds that guarantee anything (yet, anyway). I rent this place, and the owner (and former tenant) is also a ham -- and he approached the homeowners association several years ago and gave a whole presentation about ham radio, and the sorts of antennas, etc... and (much to his own surprise, I'm sure) left the meeting with the blessings of the association to install any/all antennas he desired/needed, so long as none are any larger than a 20m quad!! ** [oh, yes... he definitely had all the measurements and diagrams, I dunno if they read them, but he handed 'em out!] Now, he never intended to install a 20m quad, of course, nor did he ever install one... but he _could_ (or, now, I could... :mozilla_wink: ).

Anyway, when I moved in, he left up the 40m delta loop and his 80m dipole. The side-effects of hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan & Jeanne in the summer of 2004 conspired (amongst them) to destroy the 80m dipole. I hoisted a pulley up in it's place, and used that to pull up a new (home made) 80m dipole. With the pulley arrangement, I can untie one anchor rope and have the antenna on the ground in a few minutes. :mozilla_smile:

After the hurricanes of 2005, the tree in the far back side of my lot dropped a couple large branches, including the one that was holding aloft the northernmost corner of the 40m delta loop -- I haven't (yet) repaired that antenna (because, with an antenna tuner, I can just as easily use the 80m dipole on 40m), but I'm using it as a "random wire" recieve-only antenna for the Kenwood R-5000 receiver.

- briand (AI4AI)


** for the non-amateur radio enthusiast/operator in the audience: a 20-meter quad is a fairly large antenna -- imagine a wire-frame box, approximately 18.5 feet x 18.5 feet, around 26 feet long. Then, put that on a tower, so you can rotate it in any direction... trust me, it takes up some real estate!

[greenmaji]

Originally Posted by Sadoun

Nice products suggestion greenmaji

We will contact Antennacraft and check with them

I will keep you posted here.

Any news from Antennacraft?
just checking