Testing New Antenna

[Fred-OH]

Just put together a new UHF antenna consisting of (2) Antenna Direct DB8 side by side into a combiner, and down to the set in RG11. Antenna is at 60' above ground here in Lima OH, and first catch was Channel 20 from Detroit. No preamp on antenna.

picture of antenna (http://www.wlio.net/Files/UHF_Array.jpg)

Fred Vobbe, Grid EN70wr
Lima OH

[Mike-CT]

What's a bigger wind catcher...your antenna or a 7 foot dish? Winter should be interesting :-)

I have a 4228 in the basement and to me it's not particularly light.

[cd637299]

This begs the Q.....whatever happened to those parabolic UHF antennas, anyway? Weren't they the creme-de-la-creme of UHF antennas? Certainly, if he were still in WTFDA, Fernando Garcia would give testimonial!

Now, with DTV being +/- 75% UHF stations (correct me here if the % is off), couldn't these units be built again? And if they are, who is selling 'em?

cd

[Danny]

My five-foot dish was hit by a tree. It is screened with chicken wire, and it is more directional than the CM old-style 4228 8-bay. However, I don't think the gain is actually that much more than the 8-bay.

Someday I'll repair the dish and put it back into use. Right now I'm doing OK with 8-bay.

Yes, Fernando received a lot of long-haul DX on his seven foot dish.

When I bought my dish, the seven foot Antennacraft was not much more expensive than the five footer that I purchased. I was concerned about wind-loading (especially after attaching chicken wire), so I settled on the five foot model.

[antennanut]

http://www.rocketroberts.com/cm4251/cm4251.htm

[John Wilke K9RZZ]

This spring I was out in western Wisconsin and saw three of those CM4251's on one road. This was some 50 or 60 miles northwest of Madison and really OUT there, so they must work!

That 2 x 8 bay array looks like a killer!

[pjdyer]

Shortly after moving here in 1972 I was asked if my 8-bay bow-tie UHF antenna was "radar" (there is a resemblance to some WW2-era non-parabolic radar antennas). The only local UHF (on since 1955) then was KWEX-41 with 500-kw on a 500' downtown tower (6-mi away) so large UHF arrays didn't abound in this area. I had been toying with maybe getting a 5' parabolic, but with the other VHF TV and 6-m ham antennas up I figured that I'd best go slow there :) That UHF antenna was out of service Aug 2003-Apr 2008 when a CM-4228 finally replaced it.

73, Pat - WA5IYX

[KA9UVY]

Fred, Your new antenna looks like a real killer and I hope it does well for you but I would be a little uncomfortable when there was any Icing events.
I run a 7 foot parabolic here and always worry about Ice and extreme winds but I just don't think you can beat the gain on a parabolic especially when on the high channels and the tight beamwidth is great for separating channels.
I installed a 7 footer on a side mount at 100 feet this fall so I could DX over the woods North of me and can get 240 deg of rotation with it.
The other 7 footer is on a windmill tower at 65 feet and has given me great service.
Both of mine are P-7 Finco's and I also have a 4251 but I like the Finco better due to the grounded feed and weight of it's frame.

Pat, always a lot of maint. here!

[pjdyer]

One can only cram so much on a 65'x120' residential lot with a 25'x50' house (and 14' between adjacent houses) and maintaining it isn't as easy as 10-20-30 years ago.
http://www.qsl.net/w/wa5iyx//images/09071604.jpg (Jul 2009 - 432 and CM-4228)
http://www.qsl.net/w/wa5iyx//images/09071603.jpg (Jul 2009 - FM Phasing antenna)
http://www.qsl.net/w/wa5iyx//images/03051102.jpg (May 2003)
http://www.qsl.net/w/wa5iyx//images/02022704.jpg (Feb 2002)
http://www.qsl.net/w/wa5iyx//images/02030602.jpg (Feb 2002)

73, Pat - WA5IYX