Questions about Archer rabbit ears

[McMike]

Hi, I have an un-powered Archer adjustable rabbit ears/loop antenna. Couple questions:

- What does the knob do? I have searched every corner of the web and never found a description of what's going on inside the box as I spin the knob.

- Is there any reason to use this with a digital FM receiver?

Thanks.

 

[amptramp]

There is a rotary switch that takes the antenna lead on one side through a set of inductive loops made up on a printed circuit board. I suppose this is to give some semblance of a phased array. I thought at first it would be a tuned circuit but it is not. Phased arrays are generally used to set the directionality of a signal but since you can rotate the entire assembly easily enough it really seems to have no purpose.

 

[McMike]

Thanks for the reply.

Does it serve even less purpose with digital tuners? Or is it just more difficult to tell?

It's kind of an academic question, because my local stations come in fine. But wanted to understand it before I removed and disposed of it.

My digital receiver has pushed my vintage gear out of the main listening space...

 

[amptramp]

Actually, rabbit ears antennas make sense for a lot of people who need better than omni directionality and tuneable element length. It is a decent antenna, it just has the stigma of low price.

 

[BeerLegs]

Rabbit ears actually work pretty good. Maybe even better than a dipole antenna. You can also extend the antennas to the correct length for the frequency that you are trying to pick up for even better reception.

 

[mkane]

Rabbit ears here. Work great with our Kenwood 5500 tuner.

It's over there somewhere.

 

[ThomasB98908]

Have used Rabbit ears for years - work great and cheap too.