I made one of Beezley's 88-92 beasts....
Works great!
I get between 4 to 6 db more gain (@91.3MHz) than my FM6 along with much improved F/B. I re-used an old Radio Shack 160" deep fringe VHF antenna that was beat up by the roofing company for parts. Don't ask me how long it will last since the cheap plastic insulators are now getting close to 20 years old. I had to work some NoAlox into the element connections to get good conductivity.
Some problems you'll run into are that the insulators for VHF TV usually hold the elements at an angle < 180 degrees so they need to be modified or just use urethane roofing glue! Also the feed point needs some care so as to keep the weather from corroding the matching cap (use a high quality NPO ceramic or similiar low loss cap). I used a project box from RS with lots of urethane sealant.The "choke Balun" is absolutely key to getting the right pattern from this Yagi so don't skip it
A pitfall that got me was antenna location. I tried using the big Yagi centered on my roof for no other reason than it looked better. I got terrible reception! I then raised it 10 ft with very little improvement so I tried different locations until I found a "hotspot" where my favorite station cleaned up. Must have some kind of weird standing wave on my roof. The other stations came in fine at both locations. I recommend testing out your antenna at different locations before commiting to to one spot on your roof.
BTW if you can't find an old antenna to scavenge old crusty parts from then why not build one?
The DS88.8 link mentioned before contains more than enough info to build a complete, amatuer radio grade antenna which will probably last longer than your tuner. The reason I used the old Rat Shack was that it was just laying in my attic and I needed a higher gain antenna quick.
Works great!
I get between 4 to 6 db more gain (@91.3MHz) than my FM6 along with much improved F/B. I re-used an old Radio Shack 160" deep fringe VHF antenna that was beat up by the roofing company for parts. Don't ask me how long it will last since the cheap plastic insulators are now getting close to 20 years old. I had to work some NoAlox into the element connections to get good conductivity.
Some problems you'll run into are that the insulators for VHF TV usually hold the elements at an angle < 180 degrees so they need to be modified or just use urethane roofing glue! Also the feed point needs some care so as to keep the weather from corroding the matching cap (use a high quality NPO ceramic or similiar low loss cap). I used a project box from RS with lots of urethane sealant.The "choke Balun" is absolutely key to getting the right pattern from this Yagi so don't skip it
A pitfall that got me was antenna location. I tried using the big Yagi centered on my roof for no other reason than it looked better. I got terrible reception! I then raised it 10 ft with very little improvement so I tried different locations until I found a "hotspot" where my favorite station cleaned up. Must have some kind of weird standing wave on my roof. The other stations came in fine at both locations. I recommend testing out your antenna at different locations before commiting to to one spot on your roof.
BTW if you can't find an old antenna to scavenge old crusty parts from then why not build one?
The DS88.8 link mentioned before contains more than enough info to build a complete, amatuer radio grade antenna which will probably last longer than your tuner. The reason I used the old Rat Shack was that it was just laying in my attic and I needed a higher gain antenna quick.
