ZantRepair
New Member
Get yourself a BIC Beam Box it will simplify every thing and you will have a nice vintage piece of history also. Can be had for very little money. I have one on every tuner I use.
Antenna Question
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JBL GUY
Addicted Member
In a conventional antenna design like the BIC Beam Box, the physics demands that there is no substitute for and antenna with full size elements.
It is very difficult for any conventional antenna with less than full size elements to provide much actual gain.
Because of this, it will work well in areas of moderate to strong RF field strength.
In general, if reception is marginal with a standard dipole or rabbit ears then it may have a difficult time providing an improvement in reception.
The fact that it is directional may provide some relief from mufti-path reception issues and does allow some flexibility in the placement of the antenna, since it may be electrically steered to favor a certain direction.
Of course as I always say, with signal reception it is location, location, location and application.
The original question was about TV reception and the thread drifted to FM reception as it relates to TV antennae.
It is my intent that the antennae that I am investigating and modeling and building and measuring will have appreciable gain over a simple dipole antenna, rabbit ears and other types of antennae such as the Beam Box.
Real gain in the range of at least 6 dBd to as much as 12 dBb or more, making them suitable when the other types of indoor antennae fail to provide the needed signal.
I have used both varieties of the Beam Box antenna in the past. For FM stations with moderate or greater RF signal strength they worked OK and had the advantage of convenience and appearance.
When used for their intended purpose, they have worked well for a lot of people.
By the way, here are the published specifications for the Beam Box antenna,
Frequency range: 88 MHz to 108 MHz.
Antenna Gain: - 7 dB typ. (narrowband), - 14 dB typ. (broadband).
Directivity: Four selectable electronically oriented "figure-8" patterns.
Receiving Elements: Four 8th-wavelength aluminium elements.
Circuitry: Two orthogonal, capacitively loaded, foreshortened dipoles with tuned connecting circuit.
Broadband mode: directly coupled with antenna arms.
Narrowband mode: decoupled by impedance matching capacitors through 4- gang variable capacitor.
Controls: Electronic orientation (4-position), bandwith (broad/narrow), tuning (continiously variable, 88 MHz to 108 MHz)
Output impedance: 300 ohm balanced - for 75 ohm operation external balun transformer with coaxial connector and cable required.
Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR): Less than 1.7 to 1 (narrowband)
Bandwith: in Narrow-Bandwith position 3 MHz typ. @ - 3 dB points.
Note that the elements are only 1/8 wavelength and the antenna has negative gain.
It is very difficult for any conventional antenna with less than full size elements to provide much actual gain.
Because of this, it will work well in areas of moderate to strong RF field strength.
In general, if reception is marginal with a standard dipole or rabbit ears then it may have a difficult time providing an improvement in reception.
The fact that it is directional may provide some relief from mufti-path reception issues and does allow some flexibility in the placement of the antenna, since it may be electrically steered to favor a certain direction.
Of course as I always say, with signal reception it is location, location, location and application.
The original question was about TV reception and the thread drifted to FM reception as it relates to TV antennae.
It is my intent that the antennae that I am investigating and modeling and building and measuring will have appreciable gain over a simple dipole antenna, rabbit ears and other types of antennae such as the Beam Box.
Real gain in the range of at least 6 dBd to as much as 12 dBb or more, making them suitable when the other types of indoor antennae fail to provide the needed signal.
I have used both varieties of the Beam Box antenna in the past. For FM stations with moderate or greater RF signal strength they worked OK and had the advantage of convenience and appearance.
When used for their intended purpose, they have worked well for a lot of people.
By the way, here are the published specifications for the Beam Box antenna,
Frequency range: 88 MHz to 108 MHz.
Antenna Gain: - 7 dB typ. (narrowband), - 14 dB typ. (broadband).
Directivity: Four selectable electronically oriented "figure-8" patterns.
Receiving Elements: Four 8th-wavelength aluminium elements.
Circuitry: Two orthogonal, capacitively loaded, foreshortened dipoles with tuned connecting circuit.
Broadband mode: directly coupled with antenna arms.
Narrowband mode: decoupled by impedance matching capacitors through 4- gang variable capacitor.
Controls: Electronic orientation (4-position), bandwith (broad/narrow), tuning (continiously variable, 88 MHz to 108 MHz)
Output impedance: 300 ohm balanced - for 75 ohm operation external balun transformer with coaxial connector and cable required.
Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR): Less than 1.7 to 1 (narrowband)
Bandwith: in Narrow-Bandwith position 3 MHz typ. @ - 3 dB points.
Note that the elements are only 1/8 wavelength and the antenna has negative gain.
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