Zenith DTT901 - Page 71

That was our worry getting it off the dolly it was crumbling, I grabbed the area under the speaker which broke off in my hand (along with the speaker itself)... the cabinet chards were more dangerous... no way it was going to be moved as a complete set at that point.

Before it went into the car we removed the CRT which was easily moved with 2 people


Still have the 20" flat Philps CRT & I temporarily brought down the 12" RCA Black & White for the few days I was waiting to pick up the LCD. the 37" still was akward, though I was able to move it from the car to the house by myself, I'm thinking I wouldn't want any if much bigger.


They have 5 Subs, including a Childrens oriented channel, a Hispanic channel, & JCTV, though since they are putting up highway sound barriers nearby, or the station has reoritented it's pattern, which was a 80-90% catch is now only a 40-50% catch, I no longer program it into the boxes. The have a LP repeater in Cleveland on Ch 7 which is pointless since WDLI's main signal covers the entire area where the repeater is anyway. Occasionally I would watch a movie on there.


I was going to ask that, since I still use the 901 as a aux tuner for the VCR (via the RCA outputs on the 901, I record on the AUX channel on the VCR since the analog tuner in the VCR is shot anyway).. I also route it to the TV via series & am able to watch it via analog channel 4 on the set. Would I be better off using a splitter at the set or just leaving it the way it is? (in series with the TV)... or a A/B switch as you mentioned?


I have a couple of RCA RCR815's I picked up at my closeout store for $2.99 ea they are fully backlit & have a learning function.... though I have one dedicated to the bedroom setup, & use the other for testing purposes, they come to as close to being a complete remote than anything else I have, though they aren't new enough to cover the Zenith boxes or the new TV.


Been sick this spring myself, though it was a relief not to be inhaling the road chemical residue this year, I noted it kept my BP in check somewhat this winter.

Bismarck440, can't you program the RCA remotes using JP1 templates and key codes?

See Google search:
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=rc...red+by+license

or go to:
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/search.php
and put in RCR815 as the search word

tom

If I recall correctly the 901 can't pass-thru while tuning (some Zinwell discussion earlier) so you can't record while passing-thru antenna to your Toshiba. A splitter would be ideal to do both but you lose half the signal strength to both the 901 and Toshiba.

If you don't record and watch at the same time then your current setup is fine; the only thing the switch would buy you is the ability to turn the 901 off (energy efficiency) when using the Toshiba tuner [note: I'm assuming a 901 has to be powered up or in standby for pass-thru to work].

BTW if you hook the Toshiba up to your VCR via composite/RCA you'll get a better picture plus stereo sound than using the coax/RF (mono sound). This applies to both VCR playback (given your AUX input setup) and using the 901 as a tuner for your Toshiba (have to have the VCR on though with AUX/901 input active).

Of course your Toshiba gives you HD from its tuner on those stations it can receive so you're experiencing the ugh factor that I went through after watching HD and then playing back a tape.

That crumbling TV might have made some good Youtube.

TY for that info .

The JP1 protocol is foreign to me, though now reading a bit I have a Direct TV Remote made by UEI (has a royal blue case) that has a door with a connector/jumpers on it (wondered what that was for). No one Remote I have will do everything, one thing I cannot get the RCR815 to do is emulate the countdown sleep timer on my Philips TV... even via the learn mode.

Per what I read the RCR815 is not a JP1 compatable remote. The 815 is a very universal remote though with the many codes, it's a lot of trial & error. I even suppose I could emulate the 901's remote via the learn mode on an AUX function, though that would be very tedious & time consuming (not like my time is all that valuable anymore though).

Gee, I kind of liked it better when a TV just had an on off switch, a volume control & channel knob.. how hard we made things on ourselves.


Correct, there is no signal pass to the Toshiba once the Zenith 901 is turned on, thus cannot watch at the same time when in series unless watching the Zenith box on Analog 4 while recording .. thus what is the point!? (if I want ION & possibly TBN though, this is how I have to get it). Though since I have the temperature issue & often left the Zenith on, I no longer will be able to do that. I'll have to try unplugging the Zenith to see what happens to the signal, it just sits in standby now.

I ran the VCR to the old Sony via the AV RCA's so no change there.. If I decide to split I'll monitor my signals to see if it has any affect, thoe only signal I should have issues with is ION & perhaps PBS at times. I also have an unterminated live second coax outlet to the antenna, so that's another option too.

Likely I will record on the AUX channel on the VCR via the RCA out on the Zenith (then watch ION or TBN through the VCR if needed).


I don't social network though... it was interesting, I started hearing all the internal fasteners snapping one by one before it started falling apart.

Hmmm, me wonders if that means the signal is already split such that there's a loss of half power? (unless there's a distribution amp).

As I may had said before I'm in a cluster home with a common antenna, though not a big antenna, it's very sufficent. It may be feeding several units, though when the cable company came in it bogered up the wiring in many units to make them the unit owners captive customer.

I made this a check before I purchased this place. There was 2 feeds in the living room one was for antenna & the other ran to the backyard for cable (underground). There alao was an untermanated lead in the basement that also seems to go to the outdoor antenna, thus it's split somewhere within the walls. I installed a 3 way splitter & re-fed that back up to the living room outlet that was set up for cable (the cable company came in & cut my cable feed to my unit so I wouldn't be able to steal cable..like I would want to). So you are likely correct this signal has been split many times, though I think I may be the only one using the antenna, the local cable company came in with propoganda that you need cable to get any TV after the DTV transition.

With as good as a signal I get, I would almost think there is a distrubition amp somewhere, though I get a signal without power too.

I had also set up an auxillary antenna in my attic for my upstairs bedroom sets as I do not have a feed in my attic & I am very apprenshive to cut my downlead & split it (why mess up a good thing?) .

Deja vu but I forget who's who here after so many posts. Sounds nice, I miss my studio 4-plex as this house/big-ass yard&trees/pool is wearing me out. No amenities with the 4-plex though other than not having to mow the yard.


Yeah that seems very likely to have a distribution amp, probably powered independently like is done with security lights and such or tapped off one of the other homes. If the power goes out in your neighborhood and you have a battery-backup for your TV you'll know for sure .
You may be lucky and those are two seperate feeds off the amp. I take it you have a TV or two in the basement, otherwise I would remove that 3-way splitter and replace it with a feed-thru for a stronger signal. Also the more you split the more power you lose (3-way = ~4.5 dB loss, 2-way = ~3 dB loss). Of course a switch is another option for mutliple TVs if not used simultaneously (fun with stairs ).
If you could figure out where the amp is and gain access to it there's probably a plethora of unused ports at your disposal . It could also improve performance to terminate the unused amp output ports (although a long cable still hooked up to the amp, even if open at the other end, can act as a sufficient load due to the loss of the long cable).


Yeah, hopefully won't need to. Again there's the cumbersome switch option.

The amenities are slowly disappearing, as maintenance fees rise, & assesments are tacked on (every year but 1 since I bought the place in '98)... get more & pay less it's the American way... in addition to mismanagement of funds. I was making less than half than I was in 2000 before I was laid off last May, but that had been a step up from the 10 years prior... really I can't see spending $$ on cable that's beyond my means as far as I'm concerned.

Now getting out of here for a stand alone house would not seem like a bad idea, unfortunately the real estate market ihas gone south making these places virtually unsellable... & I pretty much bought in before the bubble started.


Would I be better off terminating the unused outlets then? I set up the Splitter in the basement & also wired it in a manner I could only use 2 leads, though I put 3 outlets in. I color coded all the wiring & use only what I would need. The Basement is currently being used for storage as I ran out of money to fix last years water damage (which was suppose to be taken care of by common insurance which the funding dried up... long story), & the fact that a lot of this again is a 2 person job putting in the celing & such. It was fully renovated after the floods here in 2006, yet the initial drainage problems were never addressed, became apparent last year since it was so wet.

Suggest another amp somewhere? I have no idea where the outdoor split in my place really is I imagine inside the wall somewhere. I am using a small 14 db amp for the attic antenna, though I'm currently using 1 downlead from it with no splits. Also think there may be something wrong with my Channel 8 element too. My RF 8 is pretty much usless there, only yielding a 10-20% signal that don't lock. My outdoor rf 8 has about an 80-90% signal.

Sorry to hear. The employment picture in this country sure has gone wishy-washy the past few decades.
At least you beat the bubble. Some folks in that situation move and rent the place out but probably no good if you need the equity to move and have no job. And now renting may be getting saturated.


Terminations might give a little better performance but nothing huge unless you're seeing noise in your picture. Reducing the number of splits would be bigger if some outputs are unused.
I may be getting confused as to your setup (a picture's worth a thousand words ). I envision an antenna cable to your living room and another to your basement. The basement one you split to run two cables up to upstairs bedrooms.
Since we don't know if the two antenna cables are seperate outputs from a distribution amp (i.e. could be one cable that's split after the amp) then the best thing to do is to treat as a black box - unknown between the antenna and wall outlets (living room and basement). I think you said you had a 12" TV, so maybe take it to the basement with a converter box and compare the signal strength to that of the living room. Use the same converter box for both rooms, connect without any splitters, and measure at several frequencies (low, mid, high).


RF 8 is upper VHF so it sounds like your attic antenna is more for UHF. RF 8 needs the big element(s) like you see on big outdoor antennas. Now if you have a big one then it could be a flaky element(s) like you said, a bad connection where the VHF and UHF sections combine (or along the VHF elements), or the combining piece if it has one. Of course I'm just guessing at the antenna based on what I have (Yagi Uda v-shaped thing with a seperate UHF section). Also, make sure the amp is rated for VHF (might try bypassing it).

I have one lead going down through my attic from the MATV (Master Antenna)... somewhere that is split within the walls.... I have a coax outlet in my living room for one... & the other was hanging coax in the basement. So it is split somewhere within the dwelling.

I can see other leads passing through my attic for other units, however not knowing who is using what I keep my hands off, so the distribution amp if there is one (for some reason though I don't think there is), is likely inside the attic of the dewelling closest to the antenna.

The cable company ran a seperate outlet to the Living room for cable for the previous owner. I also had that unused lead in the basement (I have this hooked to the splitter now for my stereo receiver)... this is how they should install cable.. not hack up existing wiring as I will mention later.

I also ran another outlet to the other side of the living room & 3 more in the basement. These 4 lines are variable & end at my splitter but are not attached. If & when I need these I can attach them, they are color coded. I suppose if the next owner wants cable he could feed off these too.

Usually when the Cable company came into a dwelling, they sliced up all the antenna connections & outlets in the living rooms to make them cable only & rendering the antenna unusable... not so in this case, & I checked this before I bought the place.... to make sure I didn't have the un-needed expense of a cable bill... figuring evey dollar may count some day & this would be a savings.


One of the large elements on that attic antenna is busted (came off of dads roof), although I had an RF3, 5 & 8 at the time it all seemed to work, I didn't worry about it. Now we only have an RF 7, 8, & 10 now. 7 is the repeater for TBN & is so weak I dont consider it, rf 10 comes in fair (60-70%), but about a year & a half ago , the signal from 8 eroded from 70-80% down to 10-20% over the period of a couple weeks. This only happened on my attic antenna & not on my outdoor antenna. I was thinking sound barrier construction several miles away may had affected it.... only variable I can think of, though the antenna is hard to get to now I really should consider going up there & looking... I'm not as young as I once was though. I would think the mid length elements would be used for RF 8

The good possible news is that RF 8 plans to return to it's pre DTV transition allocation of RF 31 (though remaining on virtual 8). Dunno when that will happen, sometime perhps before the summer.

I would really like to lop off the broken elements & properly mount that attic antenna... may be OK since we do not have low VHF here anymore.

BTW my pre digital analog signals were always very good for all channels on my outdoor antenna. For the attic antenna, not quite as good, though 8 was my strongest channel & near perfect.

I would think the signal would be too weak to split off from one antenna to all those units (and sub-splits within each unit) without an amp. Possible now if you're the only one using it but I doubt anyone would have bypassed all the splitters for you.


Indeed. I think they run new cable to avoid service problems with old cable but that's BS when they go and cut the old stuff. Good job on your part to check that out in advance.
OK I get it now, the basement lead is unused except for the stereo and expansion plans. That one could be used for your bedrooms if push came to shove but would be a cumbersome cable run. BTW that splitter sort of terminates that cable for you. Ah basements, I'm not used to those here, I suspect they ran a coax there for the ol' gameroom/mancave/den basement idea ; too bad they didn't run anything to the bedrooms (maybe too many splits).


CBS here had so many customer reception issues after the digital conversion on their upper VHF channel that they added a UHF channel. They still kept the VHF, maybe for the rural viewers (VHF = distance).


Do you mean the big elements are keeping you from rotating it to the proper position? I think all the elements parallel up to give the proper impedance. You can probably bend them for position, just don't let them touch each other.
Now broken ones you could try taping them back together. If a piece missing you could tape a piece of stiff wire or small metal tube to get back the right length (I avoided any mention of soldering in an attic ).
Also check the wires/rods that connect the elements together.


The high bandwidth of digital makes it much harder to receive (effective radiated power (ERP) drops substantially). It's also possible the VHF section of your antenna amp went awry.

One would think, I know the antenna feeds at least 4 units, if not more.

Several years back there was a lightning Hit & the VHF went out (That took the Tuner on my VCR too). Perhaps that was the Amp, I had thought they had replaced the antenna that time too.


That's right, the prior owner had Multi TV's in the basement for a sports bar theme. I wouldn't know the first thing on how to get that lead back to the attic.. but true that would solve the problem. Should that unused feed(s) be terminated with a 75 ohm terminator?


In this area CBS & Fox went to VHF but are using a considerable lower power. In my case, I'm 29 miles from the transmitters, yet I sit below a ridge with many obstructions, these are my local signals I can get, though a couple stations to my direct south that I'm within the coverage area shoot over me due to being shadowed by this ridge.


The insulators at the boom are broken, I'm pretty sure the elements are there but flopping around, I was careful not to short anything, but true it prevents orientation. & proper position. The newer antennas are starting from Channel 7, so the really long elements are no longer on these antennas. My thought was to lop off the broken elements & terminate them on the boom in similar fashon as they are on the broken end (or should be)... or just shorten the boom.

The elements themselves aren't broken, just the plastic insulators where they swing out of the boom, you said removing these would mess with the overall impeadance though?

It might improve a little but like I said the splitter is acing like a partial terminator (ex: 65 ohms). Why not disconnect the splitter for now and use a feed-thru to the stereo receiver cable?
Another push come to shove idea but not easy: Cut the cable in the attic and add a splitter for going downstairs and bedrooms (plus you have an amp available if needed). Too bad you can't find and bypass the living room/basement splitter as the net loss would kinda equal out with what you currently have (assuming you wouldn't need the basement connection). Of course that's great fun cutting a coax in the attic and adding new connectors ).


Or it may appear lower power because of harder to receive VHF/antenna-limitation (although they do need less power for a given distance at lower frequencies). Come to think of it, your attic antenna may be significantly lower vs. obstructions than the outdoor one; plus there's the roof to go through.

Check out the "Analog-to-digital transition" pgh on this Wiki page for CBS here, what a mess.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTVT


Possibly, I'm rusty on my antenna theory from college and never designed the things. I would guess that the bigger ones would mostly affect the ones nearest them (in size that is but I'm assuming it's the taper down in size (V shape) type).

Feed through, like in & out of the set or Zenith box? A few of the stations come in with just a 6' length of coax & balun on the reciever.

LOL I mentioned a few posts back that I was very apprehensive about cutting the MATV downlead to split for the upstairs bedrooms, now though the thought had crossed my mind several times.



I see that they are using 23Kw on 11 & a former VHF indy.. interesting. I used to actually pick up your analog 4 way up here during openings, in fact KDFW was the last VHF station I saw on 6/12/09

A quote from OMW

WJW Power Mystery Solved?
The biggest post-DTV transition story in Northeast Ohio is the surprisingly anemic performance of WJW/8 "Fox 8"'s new signal on VHF channel 8, its old analog channel.

As it turns out, the signal may be less powerful than pretty much everyone thought, including us, and WJW's digital channel 8 appears to be operating not at the approved post-transition power level of 30 kW, but at 11 kW instead.

Yes, you read that right.

Respectively Virtual 19 (RF10) was at 8 or 10KW post transition, with still on the air analog CFPL booming in over the lake.

Seems both of the VHF stations wanted to save $ on the light bill, I believe mods have been mafe & both VHF's stations are in the mid teens now as far as power..

Just for the record, the previous licensed power on RF 8 Analog was 236kw.

Analog 8 & 19 were the strongest stations in the area, now they are the weakest.


I'm just taking that the end resultant would be a VHF hi/UHF antenna. I'm not versed in design, yet would think it would be ok if the end of the boom was properly terminated.

No, one of these connectors in place of the splitter:

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-SWV202.../dp/B001VIGJ6Y

They're nearly lossless and the basement cable would be terminated via direct connection to the receiver. I got a 4 pk a Lowes or Home Dashpot for a few bucks.

With successful end connections made on the MATV downlead cut you could always come back and put a feed-thru in if you change your mind.


Interesting. Yeah if that was low VHF (probably was like RF 4) and decent power then it could travel a long way.


Deja vu but probably a common issue. I suspect if they measured with the digital modulator turned off the power would be as before transition (i.e. the ERP dropped as the spectrum 'spread' with digital modulation). I aslo suspect the licensed powered is a max number but they could be backing it off in reality, although the bills probably shot up going digital too.


Look at how it's currently terminated and try to achieve the same result. You mentioned two methods before, the second being shortening the boom. You might try the first method first as shortening the boom would be difficult to reverse (although shortening the boom seems to make more sense as it eliminates 'stuff' hanging off the end (RF stubs that could detune the antenna)).

I have a handfull of them, I referd to them as couplers or barrels.


Oh .. sucessful LOL why I'm very afraid to be tampering with perfection, especially if it's connected to a amp too. Not much service area on than downlead either, would have to splice in a short piece if I changed my mind.

But really.. it is a logical idea. I noted going directly into my set & taking the Zenith Box out I'm able to recieve my Ion 23 out of Akron, on the new set .. most of the time.


KDFW was a common catch here during Band openings in June-August, I could sit & watch Channel 4's from Texas to Miami roll in & out all afternoon. Those days are over but I understand a Digital 2 from Nebraska (Grand Island?) was coming in here a few times over the summer (I never caught that one though)


8 really threw power pre-transition, & actually made it's way into Pennsylvania to the east... close to if not 100 miles. I remember camping years ago with a battery operated portable, 8 was the strongest station on the PA border with a portable whip... never noted their actual power since they went 24 hours with no sign off specs.


Yea, I know better just not to cut off the elements, this would have to be shortened in a manner not to leave element stubs. As far as I know, the elements aren't broken. just dangling by the blue plastic insulator & that heavy rod that cris crosses along the length of the boom. Since there is nothing below 7 here (or FM), the low VHF is useless except for Summer DX.

Us RFEE nerds call them bullets and the other gender version barrels. Couplers we reserved for those devices that sample a very small amount of signal such that there is very little loss on the main line (directional coupler).


Indeed. Yeah was hoping there was enough slack to put in a feed-thru.


Maybe Omaha or Lincoln? I think they're the bigger cities in NE. Been to both as some of my relatives are up yonder, although mostly in Lincoln rather than Omaha now.


Ah those were the days for easy reception, a snowy signal was better than nil especially when camping (severe weather alerts). Now I have to use an Artec converter box and portable 5" LCD that can plug into my van accompanied by a rat's nest of cables; fortunately the luggage rack antenna works pretty decent.


Of course I don't know how much you know about such things but it sounds like you know more than most folks. I don't recall how they terminate the heavy rod and such at the end of the boom, hopefully with no tuning elements (doubtful there are any IMO). Next time I'm up in the far part of my attic...

Back On Topic, I run the new TV directly from the wall outlet, & ran a seperate cable from the second outlet (which was CATV when I moved in , I converted to to the downstairs splitter to make it a second antenna) to the Zenith Box & now I don't get the loss on my 23 ION on the new TV... seems passing through the 901 diminished the signal to the TV, .. split no ill effect.


KNOP-TV - North Platte, NE

Only running 16 Kw too, though it's the only Long distance DX I've heard of in this area now.... I have yet to see it myself. My longest DTV catches so far were 55 out of Ft Wayne IN, & 18 out of Zanesville.


I think they just loop it on a screw or rivet to the plastic insulator @ the boom end(s).

Unfortunately I'm at the far end of my attic too, the insulation people installed a dam over my opening I may have to remove to get up there.

Doesn't make sense. Pass-thru should only be a few tenths of a dB loss vs. 3 dB loss for a splitter. What does the 901 manual say to get pass-thru? My Artec (Zenith clone and I think the same tuner w/pass-thru switch) has to be turned off and I think does the same if unplugged; same with one model of Zinwell. Another Zinwell model has to be turned on and set to pass-thru (that's the one that can tune (composite out) and pass-thru simultaneously).


OK so it appears to be an open termination. If there's any length of rod between the last element and rivet than it could be a tuning section (same would hold true if it were a shorted termination - black magic RF stuff ).

Damn dam!

The Zenith must be off to pass through (LED Red), though I'm not sure if unplugged whaty actually happens. Tried bypassing on a couple occasions, no ION on the set with the Zenith in series, take it out, I get my ION, plug the Zenith back in on the second outlet has no ill effects to the ION on the Set.

I don't get it either, my ION is such a marginal signal & must be right on the threshold but when it's in seems reliable.


That would be what I wondered, are these criscrossed rods actually cut to a length to where they are resonant or tuned. (I'm going from memory for the exact termination, I believe these are just rivited at the ends... I could be wrong).

If what I interpreted about the second outlet having an extra splitter is correct then it sounds like the Zenith's pass-thru is faulty; unless there's some obscure menu setting over-riding the pass-thru. I assume if there's a pass-thru button on the remote it makes the Zenith go into standby.
If there is no extra splitter then yeah it's a pretty marginal signal unless the pass-thru switch is quite lossy. If your TV has a signal strength meter then you could characterize it using some strong channels (if too strong insert a splitter to scale down the signal on the meter).


The sections between the elements very well could be but I wouldn't worry about those, just anything after the last set of elements. If they end right at the last set of elements then just cut the rods right after the rivets on your 'new' last set of elements.

[Assuming I understand the setup correctly]
In this order:

I would focus on solely using the master antenna - hard to beat an outdoor antenna that probably has an amplifier, is higher up, and does'nt have to receive through a roof with limited elements.
I would perform a few tests first though. Split the signal in the living room enough to feed all the TVs and check the signal strength across a variety of frequencies with the Zenith or the DTV (may need to terminate the unused splitter ports during the test but otherwise probably close enough).
If too weak (or try this out just in case) then insert the attic antenna amplifier and test again. This also lets you see if that amp is still working properly in the VHF band.

If that all fails and I'm forced to use the attic antenna (note you didn't have to cut the master antenna downlead because of the preceding tests) I would duct tape the broken elements back in place unless they're keeping me from pointing it the proper direction. Then I suppose it's back to truncating the boom and hoping not to mess up the complex design.

BTW I've been calling these type of array antennas Yagi-Uda's but after further review an article stated they are commonly confused due to similar appearance. Yagi's are narrowband high gain and look to have only 3 elements that are extremely dependent upon each other, whereas arrays are broadband and lower gain:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log-periodic_dipole_array

Also make sure to point it the right way per the manufacturer as different designs may point differently than what we envision (I think the arrays always point the arrow toward the transmitter).

http://dallas.craigslist.org/ndf/ele/2981597533.html

And he's willing to trade for a bible?! Not to mention it has a weak tuner.
I'm tempted to reply but worry about getting someone upset with access to my email address.

Is it just me or has AVS gotten real slow to load?

Want to avoid cutting my MATV downlead at all costs, though. I'm still trying to find my post from elsewhere on a Grey Hoverman antenna I may want to place in my attic, I was able to pick up my 8 (very weak), just using it indoors. I have not designed a reflector yet, pretty much UHF only too.


I've been using manual ad blocking script I set up, unfortunately the age of my system & my connection are my downfall so everything is relatively slow here.

Think it will get TBN in for ya?

Interesting. I would think those UHF-only antennae have higher gain.


Sweet.
Sometimes I wonder if it's more than my speed, like some site content trying to make my PC run a script that won't go. Not on AVS but I've had it 'blink' away to my email when stalling.


Haha! Man I wish I could get that one.
Ironically I'd buy one of those Dish boxes from him for the EPG if he weren't too far away, main reason I still search that genre. I figure I could sell a Zinwell and recoup most of cost. He just reposted again so probably hasn't sold any unless he was too lazy to change the quantity he's selling (3).

A repost from a while back on another forum...

I have these antennas, I aquired them from my ex's former business in Downtown Ashtabula... one was mounted in the celing rafters & the other on a small mast outside.

Both are set up for twin lead, I'm thinking the vintage is 1960's so one may be a tuned antenna for Channel 15. The UHF one is made by Antenna craft (guaranteed for both color & Black & White).

Any thoughts on what purpose these antennas really are for? (yeah other than scrap metal) Being from Ashtabula they really don't look big enough for anything... a scanner setup perhaps?





I have since found the top one was Tuned for either Channle 8 or Channel 10 which would had been for WJW 8 in Cleveland or CFPL 10 in London Ontario both about 65 miles away from where I found them. The bottom one is a Gray Hoverman design less the reflector which I would like to design a frame for the reflector ounting, the aim on this one is very critical... I have a follow up post I can't find though on some reflector designs.

I though some suggest not bothering with a reflector on this. I have yet to test it in the attic.

The Gods of AVS are nice today, the buttons on the panel are actually working, allowing me to post links, pictures, italisize & use smilies.

A while back ago I posted part of my Gray-Hoverman Antenna I had found in some celing rafters in a Storefront in Ashtabula, seemed to be mounted to serve some purpose once upon a time.



Possibly the part of something like this RS production or similar model.



Decided I may take this a step further & either duplex it with my attic antenna, or try it as a stand alone.

In the single bay, they seem to be using a reflective blanket, I'm not sure if there are elments in front of the blanket, everything just seems to be hung on the wall here with no adjustment features.



I like this setup better, the exterior reflector dimensions from the plans seem to be 30" x 40" for a single bay (half of this one pictured below... my antenna is about 12" x 28" without the reflector), the reflector seems to be simply chicken wire?? (this is the part I really don't get if reflector lengths & spacing are that critical)... just chicken wire serves as a reflector?



Was going to fabricate something like this, the PVC for the frame but cutting this in half as a single bay... any better ideas for a reflector, or should this actually work?

Unfortunately a few months back I cut up a damaged antenna for the recycler. I could have just used parts of this & recofigured & cut the reflectors to the exact size.

I flagged it as "miscategorized".

That 1st one has a rabbit-ear/VHF look. Which way was it oriented? Maybe it was for shop internal RF while the G-H was for TV.

Hopefully not the host blocker script.


I did a quick search and there's a lot of DIY articles on the G-H including this one with the ol' familiar pic:

http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/

Looks like they can be sub-band dependent (thus probably higher gain than a broadband antenna) so that may be an issue.


I'd try it stand-alone first since combining it (splitter in reverse) will cut signal in half for both antennas. Now a true frequency-dependent duplexer would be nearly lossless but you'd need to know the bands for which one to get, plus $ issue.


I think so too and no elements in front of blanket.


Hmmm, I suppose so since the wavelength is so much larger than the open spaces (ex: if you've seen circuit boards with 'Holy' shields ( RFEE humor), the holes are small enough for shielding purposes but large enough for IR solder reflow and heat dissipation). Also note the posted link design uses rods of particular wavelength dimensions.


See if there's any info in those articles. The chicken wire is nice from a fabrication POV other than having to be careful not to slice yourself up. Foil is a pain trying not to tear it putting it in an attic over an insulation dam . The rods of course will be more mathematically painful (and maybe the 'broad' reflector is less frequency-dependent > broader-band). Also check for any connections to the reflector, looks to be isolated in the broad types though.