Updated TV Antenna Thoughts

[bunyip]

Some years ago we got a K band satellite dish and mounted a yagi pointing at the dish, point the dish at the signal source, extremely directional but the gain was incredible.

 

[B7510HSD]

Yeah, test gear gets expensive. AND you don't need it all the time. Of course when I worked in TV shops (back in the day) we had access to everything I needed. That was nice , but those days are long gone. I went to the telephone industry and into application engineering. Now antenna work and RF is all just hobby to me now. I bet we would have fun together, I could teach you some RF things and you could teach me more networking. Shame you live so far away. If you ever have a hankering into getting your Amateur radio license and working on some of the new digital techniques that we use, I sure would help you get started. I have helped dozens of guys over the phone and using Teamviewer.

Good for you James!!! I do the same but mostly as being a Trainer for MARS!!

 

[buickanddeere]

Again, read the manufacturers instructions. Yes, you are correct that's the amp is supposed to be mounted close to the antenna. No, you are incorrect that the power supply has to be near the TV. It does not.

Why mount the power supply up at the antenna with the amp? When the power supply can be on the coax inside the house ?

 

[k0ua]

^^^ Growing up in the 60's we had a neighbor in a residential neighborhood with a tower... he was a long haul truck driver for a time.

He would be on the radio Saturday mornings... we could hear everything he said as it came through the Blaupunkt Stereo the folks had and we were not the only ones.

Another neighbor just had a Genie Door Picker-Upper installed... when the radio guy Key Up the mike the door would open or close...

As kids we were amazed... some of the drown ups not so much.

Later we moved next to the Navy Hospital... the church had PA system and the Medivac Helicopters would come through crystal clear sometimes...

I only got as far as CB... my Radio Shack Antenna is still on the roof of the house where I grew up... my radio was all chrome and had tubes... good memories.... collected a lot of cards from far off places back then.

Do you understand the "why" of the garage door opener response and the stereo and PA systems responding to radio transmissions?

 

[MossRoad]

Why mount the power supply up at the antenna with the amp? When the power supply can be on the coax inside the house ?

I never said to mount it up near the antenna. How did you come up with that?

 

[MossRoad]

Do you understand the "why" of the garage door opener response and the stereo and PA systems responding to radio transmissions?

Because he was a government agent broadcasting out of his lair?

 

[MossRoad]

Back in the CB craze, there used to be a couple people in our town that would run illegal amplifiers, try to dominate the channel, proclaim their almighty power, and in the process, blast in over people's TV and stereos during the 6 o'clock news. Every once in a while, the local CB hooligans would get drunk, get out their meters, triangulate the offender's location, tie a monster mud truck to his antenna and yank it down the alley.

 

[k0ua]

Back in the CB craze, there used to be a couple people in our town that would run illegal amplifiers, try to dominate the channel, proclaim their almighty power, and in the process, blast in over people's TV and stereos during the 6 o'clock news. Every once in a while, the local CB hooligans would get drunk, get out their meters, triangulate the offender's location, tie a monster mud truck to his antenna and yank it down the alley.

Well, I was going to pontificate on consumer products susceptibility to RF fields and rectification of Amplitude Modulated signals, BUT your vigilante story is probably more interesting. :laughing:

 

[MossRoad]

I probably told this story already, but what the heck, it has some humor.

So I was maybe 13-14 years old when I got my first CB radio. A T-Berry tele-T 23. I installed it in my mom's VW bus, on a slide-out mount, so I could pull it out and slide it into a mount in my bedroom, hooked to a 12V supply. I had a cheap 1/4 wave antenna on a 30' mast next to my bedroom. And I started striking up conversations with folks around town. I found a home on channel 8 (similar to my home on TBN, I suppose), and the people on that channel were pretty fun to talk with. There was hydro-man, leather lady, her old man, and some other kid that lived a mile or so away from me. After a few months of talking, we decided to go to lunch together, at a diner down the road. Being a naive kid, I told them where I lived and they said they'd pick my up.

So, into the driveway rolls a dark green kidnapper van with no windows. The sliding door opens, an old biker chick and her bearded old man step out in full biker leather. Behind them is the kid that lived a mile or so away, who appeared to have a slight case of down's syndrome. And driving the van is a very scruffy, skinny African American guy in a wheelchair..... I kid you not. So what do I do?

"HI! Nice to finally meet you!" Hop in the van and go to lunch with complete strangers without telling my parents what I was doing. That's what I did! :laughing:

Leather Lady, her old biker man, hydro-man the parapalegic, a kid with mild down's syndrome, and me, a skinny kid with hair 1/2 way down to my belt. Lunch was fun. We took the kid home. His mom was not too happy. We all kept in touch for a few years after that. The bikers and the parapalegic all moved away. And I'm not sure what happened to the kid. I drove by his house one day and his antenna was gone. I think they moved too.

And me? Well....

I'm still here. Not on the CB. But I still talk to strangers. :thumbsup:

 

[ultrarunner]

Have not turned on my CB in decades... I'm guessing it would still work... set up a radio room in the attic under the shingles...

It was an old 23 channel unit with 23A added if memory serves.

The Model A club all used CB to keep in touch on tours... worked really well and they still do for long tours... I guess using a CB when driving is still legal but I don't know... holding a cell isn't in California.

 

[bunyip]

Back in the CB craze, there used to be a couple people in our town that would run illegal amplifiers, try to dominate the channel, proclaim their almighty power, and in the process, blast in over people's TV and stereos during the 6 o'clock news. Every once in a while, the local CB hooligans would get drunk, get out their meters, triangulate the offender's location, tie a monster mud truck to his antenna and yank it down the alley.

We were much more subtle, stick a pin through the coax and nip off the ends, very hard to find but effectively shorted out the coax.

 

[MossRoad]

We were much more subtle, stick a pin through the coax and nip off the ends, very hard to find but effectively shorted out the coax.

They weren't so covert here... ice pick was what I heard them mention.

 

[prichard]

We were much more subtle, stick a pin through the coax and nip off the ends, very hard to find but effectively shorted out the coax.

That's the one I've, um, heard about.

 

[bunyip]

That's the one I've, um, heard about.

I have decided to correct you on your spelling error, it is OHM not UM, a pin reads 0

 

[buckeyefarmer]

New antenna came today, unfold, hook cable to tv, and presto, it works great. Now to mount outside. Or, i have an unfinished room upstairs, maybe hang it there for now.. as long as i dont have to hold it.

 

[ultrarunner]

I was touring a home for sale and noticed in the hall closet a knob hanging drown about a foot from the ceiling.

Asked about it and learned the original owner put the TV antennae in the attic, mounted on a pole so he could rotate it... the hall closet was in direct view of the TV...

Clever 1950 solution...

 

[k0ua]

I was touring a home for sale and noticed in the hall closet a knob hanging drown about a foot from the ceiling.

Asked about it and learned the original owner put the TV antennae in the attic, mounted on a pole so he could rotate it... the hall closet was in direct view of the TV...

Clever 1950 solution...

We always called that the "armstrong" rotator method.

 

[MossRoad]

I was touring a home for sale and noticed in the hall closet a knob hanging drown about a foot from the ceiling.

Asked about it and learned the original owner put the TV antennae in the attic, mounted on a pole so he could rotate it... the hall closet was in direct view of the TV...

Clever 1950 solution...

We always called that the "armstrong" rotator method.

Nice! :laughing:

 

[k0ua]

Nice! :laughing:

At my parents home my first outside VHF 2 meter antenna installation was a pair of 5 element yagis I made (with my dads help) from #10 aluminum wire and 3/4 inch conduit for the booms. Dad showed me how to hard draw the aluminum wire to make it stiffer. It was mounted on a piece of 20 foot well pipe and we kept the house bracket slightly loose so I could reach out the window with my "strong arm" and rotate the array between the two repeaters that I could hit at the time. One was in Pittsburgh Kansas and the other was in Springfield Mo. I was near Aurora Mo. Those were good carefree times for a 17 year old and a new ham. I sure made a lot of contacts and ham friends with that array. It lead to employment and my career too.

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

New antenna came today, unfold, hook cable to tv, and presto, it works great. Now to mount outside. Or, i have an unfinished room upstairs, maybe hang it there for now..View attachment 541169 as long as i dont have to hold it.

I was kind of surprised to hear the flat antenna failed. Does your new TV have a graph meter to show signal? Let us know how your new antenna works out.