New Antenna Performance

Lonnie1212

Member
Today I connected a set of RCA Rabbit Ears to my Philips AH-7841. Used a 75 to 300 ohm connector. I am very happy with the results. At 3:00 PM today I was listening to Will Radio 90.9 in Urbana. I live 86 miles away in Springfield, Illinois. The signal was crystal clear and it wouldn't have sounded better if the station was here in Springfield. I disconnected the rabbit hears and the signal stopped immediately. Reconnected the ears and the signal was loud and clear.
 

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It appears to be coaxial cable connected to 75 Ohm to 300 Ohm balun transformer.

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The basic impedance of rabbit ear type of antenna is 75 Ohms (it will vary depending on the adjustment of the elements), although back in the day of over the air TV and TVs with only 300 Ohm antenna inputs it was not uncommon for rabbit ear type of antennas to use 300 Ohm twin lead directly connected to the antenna elements.
 
Using the 300 Ohm input is probably more "correct" (assuming that's really a 75-300 balun). This is a situation where you can go with whatever works best for you, though.
 
Using the 300 Ohm input is probably more "correct" (assuming that's really a 75-300 balun). This is a situation where you can go with whatever works best for you, though.

I would agree with you. I saw 300 ohm Dipole antennas listed on eBay. I discovered that I had a set of rabbit ears that had never been used. So I bought and balun connector and gave it a try. It seems to work well. It is a sensitive antenna.
 
assuming that's really a 75-300 balun

From the looks of it, it very very likely is. F connector on one end and 300 Ohm twin lead on the other.

Rabbit ear antennas are more easily adjusted, if needed than the basic FM broadcast band antenna.

One could run coaxial cable directly from the rabbit ears to the 75 Ohm input on the receiver to eliminate the balun transformer (might increase the signal by just a little bit), but one would have to deal with striping the insulation and connecting the bare wires (center conductor and shield). Note likely to make much of difference.
 
From the looks of it, it very very likely is. F connector on one end and 300 Ohm twin lead on the other.

Rabbit ear antennas are more easily adjusted, if needed than the basic FM broadcast band antenna.

One could run coaxial cable directly from the rabbit ears to the 75 Ohm input on the receiver to eliminate the balun transformer (might increase the signal by just a little bit), but one would have to deal with striping the insulation and connecting the bare wires (center conductor and shield). Note likely to make much of difference.

Right, will just use the balun connector. I am happy about getting a good reception from the radio station that was 86 miles away.
 
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