Hi everyone.

I'm wondering if any of you oltimers remember the "Super Para 5" 5 ft UHF dish
that was made by Delhi Antennas back in the late 70's early 80's. I've got one here that is in real good condition. Its been in the attic for a number of years.

My question is, does anyone remember what the gain was on this wonderful antenna and how it performed down in the VHF hi range (7-13). I believe it was cut for channels 14-83 back then. I've heard the numbers 15db to 21db gain (15 being down on channel 14), but I'm wondering if they are confusing it with the 8ft UHF Dish.

I'm considering using it for an HD antenna, but to have someone install it 70ft in the air an it not be a good performer would be a waste of time.

Look forward to your comments.
...HM

My question is, does anyone remember what the gain was on this wonderful antenna and how it performed down in the VHF hi range (7-13). I believe it was cut for channels 14-83 back then. I've heard the numbers 15db to 21db gain (15 being down on channel 14), but I'm wondering if they are confusing it with the 8ft UHF Dish.

According to the RSGB VHF/UHF Manual, the gain of a properly illuminated 5 foot dish is 15 dB at channel 14 and 19 dB at channel 51. This appears to be right in line with the numbers you have. It will not work well on high VHF because the feed in not tuned there and the dish is much too small for much gain.

Chuck

Is there enough room in the attic or can you try it outside on a temporary mount before hoisting it up 70'?

Thats actually where it is now, Up in the attic. My house is a ranch style, so it is really only up about 14 feet with a spartain uhf/vhf preamp on it. I haven't tried it on my Sharp VU46D64 LCD as its hooked up to my 64inch Pioneer RearProjection that is non ATSC. The antenna has to look through a double story house in the direction it is pointing, and the nearest digital station is 60 miles away. I will run a wire to the HDTV though and see how it performs.

Here is why I am thinking of putting it up. You see, my current setup received some wind damage a few nights ago. Here is what I have currently.
a 60 ft tower with a Yaesue 800 rotor. The mast is a 12ft 2 inch aluminum one. At the 62 ft level I have a "Create Log Periodic" end mounted to the mast in a vertical orientation. It covers from 50Mhz to 1300Mhz.

If you are interested in looking at it, click the link below, but be aware that it is a PDF file.
I would really like to use this for DTV, but since it is installed vertically polorized, I would have to find a way to rotate it to horizontal for normal tv viewing. I haven't at the moment, but am going to see how it does with TV DX in that orientation. I need to be able to use it vertical too, so any ideas on how to rotate from vertical to horizontal would be great.
http://www.cd-corp.com/eng/cma/clp5130.pdf
Its the CLP5130-M model

Ok, back to the wind damage. On top of the 12ft aluminum mast is a huge Delhi VU 937 with the add on VU-PZ uhf extender for 15db gain around ch 50.
This antenna is 20lbs and 20 feet long. I think in the wind the UHF boom came apart from the VHF boom after a screw came out (I think) and it is hanging by the coax. This antenna is only 2 years old, but since none of the DTV station in my area (which are all in the fringe area as I am located 60 miles from detroit, 60 miles from cleaveland Ohio) will be transmitting on VHF in a year, except for one which is moving to channel 7.
I would LOVE to be able to dump off the VHF lo antenna and just get away with UHF to reduce wind loading on the tower. I can probably get away with channels 7 to 60. The
Channel Master CM 4228 8-Bay Bowtie UHF Antenna looks to be a real winner for my needs, but I hate not to use this parabolic. I was hoping to find someone who plotted where this Parabolic rolls off on the VHF Hi end. If it would get 4 db gain around channel 9, I would probably be happy with it.

Well, thats what I am up to anyways. Just for laughs I'll tell you when I installed it all initially , I tried to get away with a channel master rotor and that antenna array snapped the weld 3 days later lol, so I had to go with the big Yaesu rotor.
Thanks for the replies
..HM

I need to be able to use it vertical too, so any ideas on how to rotate from vertical to horizontal would be great.

The pdf shows a pic of both vertical/horizontal mounted simultaneously. That would seem to be your best option if you want both.

Too bad I don't own that one. Its over $1200 to get it here, so I settled for the cheaper $700 one. Very well made antenna, but grossly overpriced I think considering you can get the standard horizontal model for around $400.