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#1
08-10-2008, 04:44 PM
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antenna help
I picked up this antenna at an auction in a pile of garbage for a buck from a guy. I thought it was just an old tv antenna that I could use in a pinch. It turned out it's new. the onlyl problem is there are no instructions. It's pretty easy to set up except I'm not sure where to hook up my leads. I looked all over. I found these two things in the bag of hardware that I think are the key to it all....What do you think? I have no idea what brand this is good or bad...I looked around at different brands but turned up no clues.
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#2
08-11-2008, 11:33 AM
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Hello, From the pictures It looks like a Channel Master brand antenna. These were good performers. While I can't remember the model number it is a VHF only "near-fringe"
model. The down-lead should attach with one wire (300ohm flat cable or use a matching transformer to convert to 75 ohm coax) attaching to each boom at the blue insulator in your center picture. The director elements (first pix) should bolt to the same blue insulator probably will need a bolt and nut to secure . This end with the directors points towards the station. Rare to find NOS 1970's vintage antenna. Hope this helps.
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#3
08-11-2008, 11:54 AM
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Thanks! I have all the nuts and bolts for it. It helps a lot! I never would have thought that I would have to attach it to the booms like that. I thought perhaps it was a vhf/uhf antenna but hey...for free it will make for a good fm antenna. Thanks again.
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#4
09-29-2008, 06:30 PM
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Well I put the antenna up on the roof with a new rotor. Seems to work pretty good on vhf. I was able to pull in many long distance stations on vhf. I pulled in CTC and CBC from the Sault. About 150 or 160 miles away. Not the greatest but I could see and hear them. I will post some pics soon. Now is the time to route the cables. The tower is in the center of the house. What do I do? Run the cable down the roof or run it through a convenient hole in the roof cap? My concern is grounding. If it were near the end of the roof I would just run it down the side but being in the center I am not keen on have that cable laying up on the roof looking stupid. It would be great to come in the roof cap, into the garage where I can run it where ever I want in the house easily.
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#5
09-29-2008, 07:29 PM
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Quote:
If you're using twin lead, you'd need to keep conductive pipes and other metal reasonably far away (a few inches). Twin lead, when dry, is lower loss than coax. Thicker coax is less lossy, but still more lossy than twin lead.
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#6
09-29-2008, 09:08 PM
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What I was planning is to run the coax uphill under the ridge cap and down into the attic above the garage. There is a small gap just big enough between two sections of ventilation in the ridge cap. So I should not have any problem in that department. I was just worried about a ground wire. I guess I could peel off the ground wire on the RG6 i used and run that down to a ground rod outside. It should not be as noticeable as the RG6 and the rotor cable. I think if lightning would strike it would hit one of the tall pines out back.
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#7
09-30-2008, 09:31 PM
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All done. Here are some pics. of installation, the ground wire coming down, and some dx I picked up. The CTV is 160 miles or so across upper michigan. And the other is green bay about 120 miles or so. Must be an ad for what they have on the dtv channel. No digital DX as this antenna is VHF only.
 Oh, this is with my Panasonic color portable with variable tuning.
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#9
10-01-2008, 07:47 AM
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That's not coax that's the ground wire. :-) I slipped the coax up into a hole under the ridge cap and down into the attic. But good call on the drip loop. I will put one on so the water does not run down the side of the house.
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