Antenna questions

Hi gang,

Thanks for the good info, keep the comments coming!

I bought the $22 Radio Shack antenna and played with it extensively last night in my attic, to compare with the current roof-mount omnidirectional antenna. The public radio station in question now sounds "good" but not "very good" or "excellent". I can listen to it without going crazy. A few other stations now sound "very good" (good bass, very little static, good stereo separation) and one station verges on "excellent" (you forget you are listening to the radio).

OK, so a few more questions:

1. I guess I expected even better. I will have to decide whether I can stomach the size of the ALPS antennas. Any votes for Wineguard or others?

2. I wonder if my Adcom GTP-506 and my old Technics receiver are part of the problem. How much better can a tuner do at rejecting multipath, in particular? Anyone know the Adcom tuners?

3. There are a few stations that are much worse off with the directional antenna (they're in the other direction). How bad an idea is it to attach two antennas to the same tuner? An omni or a dipole in addition to the main antenna? Can you just connect two atennas to the same terminals, or would you need some sort of "blending" device?

Thanks for all the interest!

- Eric

Eric you'd need a tuner with an internal antenna switch for two inputs (Magnum Dynalab MD102 is the one I use, but there are others) or attach an external coaxial antenna switchbox (going back to RadioShack).
No you cannot connect the two antennas together.
Although I'm unfamiliar, your Adcom / Technics units can certainly be improved upon.
Another option for additional gain up to +30dB is the Magnum Dynalab Signal Sleuth model MD205. Lists around $250; available discounted. The Sleuth is a tunable preselector with variable gain / loss as required. The Sleuth not only provides additional gain as needed, but can be offset-tuned or the gain-reduced even into a lossy mode, for rejecting undesired signals as required. Two knobs on the front panel make this easy, combined with the tuner's tuning & multipath meters.

To answer some of Eric's other questions. Yes, The Winegard
is a serious antenna. I'm using the HD6065 with a Fanfare
FT-1A tuner and it works extremely well.

Get the antenna up as high as possible but be careful not
to get near power lines! (Where will the antenna and mast
fall if the wind blows it over?)

Also, if you live in area that is prone to thunderstorms,
you MUST ground the mast and line - and unplug it from your
tuner during bad weather.

As long as yoou are up on the roof, install a rotor (or
rotator). It can really make a difference and it's cool
watching your 10 foot antenna rotate ;-) I use a Channel
Master 9521A.

John.

Hi John,

Thanks for your reply. This is the Winegard antenna I am looking at.

It's cheaper than the APS-9, and it's bigger, but not as big as the enormous APS-13. It has about the same gain as the APS-9, per the APS website. It doesn't have as high a "front to back" ratio -- do I care about this? Does this mean the APS will be better at dealing with multipath distortion?

Anyone know of FM-specific antennas other than this Winegard and the APS antennas? I haven't found any others...

Thanks!

I wouldn't get too wound up in the spec's - they are all
good antennae and will serve you well. Buy what you can
afford. Get it up as high as you can. Use a rotor.

Happy listening.

John.