Very surprising to use an omni directional antenna. Out where I live directional antennas are almost required on FM due to multipath but I know the terrain to an extent in Illinois (used to live in southeastern Missouri) and I suppose you can get away with an omni to an extent.
@bratina501 Luckily, multipath hasn't really ever been a problem in my area. This antenna works quite well, although I need to permanently remove the signal amplifier. I'm not sure it has ever worked properly and the attached devices get plenty of signal without it.
Not bad, but the Turnstile type that you installed has a -3db If you were to install a halfwave dipole (stick) you should get more signal. amp? whats the db of the amp 10/20?, and how much noise does the amp produce, 4db?
@estefan2020 I don't recall now how much the amplifier can boost the signal. It has a variable amount of signal boosting ability. To be honest, I'm not sure it has ever worked properly and I need to just remove it from the system. I have found that the two tuners I have attached both work fine without any additional signal boosting. FM reception from 30-60 miles out is no problem, and I did pull in a station from about 80 miles away. That station was on the edge of listenable.
would using a car antenna with some wire to the stereo work any how? cause the nearest station is like an hours drive away n the signal is only strong with some wire
@originalMOON3R Sure, but you'll need another car and enough wire to reach an hour away. ;-)
Sorry, that's my attempt at being funny. If you can find a way to connect the car antenna (removed from the car, of course) to your stereo, it should work passably well. There may be an impedance mismatch, though how critical that is I don't know. A cheap dipole antenna ($5 at most) or even 3 feet of bell wire may produce results that are also good.
I don't think the amp will help that situation. The situation here is good for the equipment I used--the only local station has a transmitter located some thirty miles away, so it isn't a problem. I used the amp because the output from the antenna is going to multiple locations--a Sherwood RX-4109, Insignia NS-R2000 (same thing as the RX-4109), Insignia NS-HDTUNE and a Technics SA-929 receiver all get the signal.
If you're going to get an HD Radio receiver, I think the only one worth bothering with is the Sony XDRF1HD. I've used the Best Buy NS-HDTUNE and it's pretty deaf in terms of sensitivity, barely picking up stations that all the other receivers on the same antenna pull in perfectly. Radio Shack's Auvio HD Tuner comes from the same maker as the NS-HDTUNE, though it seems at least the controls have been improved. (They are sluggish on the NS-HDTUNE at best.)
Cool antenna setup! Hehe, its fun climbin up those towers aint it? I put a CB base-station antenna on top of an old windmill last year, dang tower looked about 40 years old but it was real sturdy yet. It was worth the climb too, the old CB talked a lot further than it did when the antenna was on the garage roof.
No. After my parents found that their outdoor TV antenna was not up to over the air digital TV, they had cable for a short period of time. (It's much higher than mine, and neither I nor the Keykeeper want to go up there.) It was only a basic package, just enough to get the major networks.
Well, they dropped it. Seems nobody watched it. I can't remember when I turned a TV on last.
Some cable services also relay FM radio over their lines, but not here. I do listen to broadcast radio.
@uxwbill Theres a notable difference then, cuz in this region of the planet, we only have 3 channels on a normal antenne, you can either get a satalite dish, or just get cable, if we buy a decoder with the full package, we get over 200 channels!, i have basic cable, i get 36 channels on that :), and all the radio stations in this country
Probably not 40's or 50's - the tower still has the warning sticker on the upright, they don't usually last more than 15-20 yrs exposed to the weather. A good coat of aluminum paint (with a brush of course) on that tower will give it another 20 yrs life. I get to take a 40 ft tower like yours down next weekend to use on my new office/shop building for tv/radio/scanner/wifi/webcam/etc then I can drop this telescoping mast off the house.
That warning sticker is brand new. I found it in the box and put it on there before actually installing the antenna.
The old antenna and its rotor unit both had *completely* rotted wires. A few stragglers still ran up and down the mast, but that was it. As such, I think it could have been up there that long! I've never seen such rotted wiring.
Aha - pulling a fast one huh? ;-) So did the old antenna have 300 ohm twinlead, or old RG59 coax? 40's/50's definitely would have been 300 flat. I've torn down some ancient antennas to replace them and 2 still had 300 ohm, not sure how they even got an analog signal being deep in the woods. Well I have to make a gin pole so I can take down the 40 weekend after Easter - too close to power line and house and I don;t want to drop it (gonna reuse it) so I have to reverse installation.
That's why the Keykeeper did most of the installation. I don't mind going up so far, but I always start thinking about just how long of a way it is down when I get beyond a certain height.
When that happens, I just kind of "freeze up" and have to come down.
Dont forget about lightning - this time of year it can be sunny and bright and once you get up the tower here comes a storm. I do installs all the time but I just pull radio stations through the internet anymore.
Thankfully we didn't have that happen. (I was expecting it, though. I know my life is a comedy.)
At the very least I would have expected the wind to start blowing hard enough to send the house flying off. But that didn't happen either. We were blessed with a quiet and nice day to do the job.
I just installed the grounding block the other day and attached it to a nice long copper grounding rod driven into the ground. It can't hurt.
Yeah too many people think the ground mount in concrete or the metal baseplate is enough ground, till the house burns to the ground. Have reworked our house service entrance and put new on the garage to make the new shop and office and I'm so glad the ground here has no rocks. When we lived on a hillside in my parent's property you couldn't go 12 inches without hitting a rock, makes it a SOB to drive rods, especially since 2 are reqd/
"HD" Radio requires a much stronger signal than analog FM, so in many areas an outdoor antenna (or at least one in the attic) is pretty much necessary to have any reliable "HD" digital radio reception. I tried HD Radio with an indoor antenna and I had to hold it in a certain position in order to decode the digital signals. My body was acting as part of the antenna, so the instant I let go of the wire, the receiver would drop back to analog mode!
I really thought I'd be more impressed with HD Radio than I was...not because of any perceived increase in quality, but just because of the sub-channels. Very few stations broadcast anything in HD here, and those that do often have only the main "HD1" channel.
Some of it might be the tuner too. I have tried the Insignia NS-HDTUNE and been extremely underwhelmed. Both the analog and digital tuners seem pretty deaf in terms of sensitivity.
Maybe other HD Radio tuners are better? I don't know.
@uxwbill The Sony XDR-F1HD tuner has outstanding analog FM reception. In fact some people cut a trace on the circuit board to disable its HD Radio decoding and just use it as an analog tuner. Even here on the New York City radio dial with dozens of stations transmitting HD, I can count only 1 or 2 which sound better on HD than on analog, and only another few which offer anything unique and interesting on the HD2 and HD3 subchannels (most are just simulcasts of co-owned AM stations).
I think that the Sony tuner is the one I should have purchased. Best Buy's Insignia NS-HDTUNE is a joke. You could have a strong station broadcasting in HD right next to it and the thing wouldn't necessarily pick it up. (And I've had it apart far enough to know that anyone paying $100 for one is being robbed.)
When I see the Sony tuner offered at a price I find reasonable, I think I'll try it.
FM reception varies a lot depending upon geography. Technology has improved, but FM still works best with a "line of sight" between transmitter and receiver. It also depends upon how much power the stations are allowed to put out.
I'm in a somewhat hilly area, and that hurts my results.
So far, I've pulled in a station that's 75.1 miles away from here with this antenna. That's not bad at all. I could not get that station's HD feed, but analog was usable.
Just as a general comment, an outdoor antenna will really give you some stations, I have an old VHF/FM antenna sitting on top my shed, that does pretty good, I have an amp inside my house and I split and route as needed to various tuners in the house.
Had the old antenna not been completely wrecked I would have tried to use it. As it was, the wiring had rotted off and several of the elements were bent or broken. Given that it could have had an FM trap on it (turns out it does not) I just decided to replace it.
I'm not an expert on antenna design, but some have suggested this antenna could also be useful for TV reception. I might test that, before I finalize the hookups.
A lot of that is the height, although the factory installed whip antenna on my truck will get that same station pretty well. (The receiver in the truck is a Pioneer KEH-1900--yes, it's a cassette receiver, yes I replaced the factory CD player and yes, I make mix tapes. So I'm old school!)
You will want to be sure that there are NO powerlines (sorry if I sound like a stuck record) in the area and that you can use the pole. It may be the property of the telephone company.
That is a good point, and I would assure you that we take our safety pretty seriously. The rope seemed like an OK compromise for a "one off" installation. If we were going to be making a habit of this, you can be sure we'd get an appropriate climbing harness and use it.
Very surprising to use an omni directional antenna. Out where I live directional antennas are almost required on FM due to multipath but I know the terrain to an extent in Illinois (used to live in southeastern Missouri) and I suppose you can get away with an omni to an extent.
bratina501 9 months ago
@bratina501 Luckily, multipath hasn't really ever been a problem in my area. This antenna works quite well, although I need to permanently remove the signal amplifier. I'm not sure it has ever worked properly and the attached devices get plenty of signal without it.
uxwbill 9 months ago
Not bad, but the Turnstile type that you installed has a -3db If you were to install a halfwave dipole (stick) you should get more signal. amp? whats the db of the amp 10/20?, and how much noise does the amp produce, 4db?
estefan2020 11 months ago
@estefan2020 I don't recall now how much the amplifier can boost the signal. It has a variable amount of signal boosting ability. To be honest, I'm not sure it has ever worked properly and I need to just remove it from the system. I have found that the two tuners I have attached both work fine without any additional signal boosting. FM reception from 30-60 miles out is no problem, and I did pull in a station from about 80 miles away. That station was on the edge of listenable.
uxwbill 9 months ago
Which amp did you use for this installation?
billchase01 1 year ago
would using a car antenna with some wire to the stereo work any how? cause the nearest station is like an hours drive away n the signal is only strong with some wire
originalMOON3R 1 year ago
@originalMOON3R Sure, but you'll need another car and enough wire to reach an hour away. ;-)
Sorry, that's my attempt at being funny. If you can find a way to connect the car antenna (removed from the car, of course) to your stereo, it should work passably well. There may be an impedance mismatch, though how critical that is I don't know. A cheap dipole antenna ($5 at most) or even 3 feet of bell wire may produce results that are also good.
Maybe someone sells an adapter for this? Dunno.
uxwbill 1 year ago
@uxwbill yea like an antenna from an old car with some wire but never know till i try
originalMOON3R 1 year ago
I don't think the amp will help that situation. The situation here is good for the equipment I used--the only local station has a transmitter located some thirty miles away, so it isn't a problem. I used the amp because the output from the antenna is going to multiple locations--a Sherwood RX-4109, Insignia NS-R2000 (same thing as the RX-4109), Insignia NS-HDTUNE and a Technics SA-929 receiver all get the signal.
uxwbill 1 year ago
If you're going to get an HD Radio receiver, I think the only one worth bothering with is the Sony XDRF1HD. I've used the Best Buy NS-HDTUNE and it's pretty deaf in terms of sensitivity, barely picking up stations that all the other receivers on the same antenna pull in perfectly. Radio Shack's Auvio HD Tuner comes from the same maker as the NS-HDTUNE, though it seems at least the controls have been improved. (They are sluggish on the NS-HDTUNE at best.)
uxwbill 1 year ago
Cool antenna setup! Hehe, its fun climbin up those towers aint it? I put a CB base-station antenna on top of an old windmill last year, dang tower looked about 40 years old but it was real sturdy yet. It was worth the climb too, the old CB talked a lot further than it did when the antenna was on the garage roof.
wildwelder87 1 year ago
Dont you have cable?
Cuz i have cable radio en cable tv pretty much every where in my house =)
thepaashaas 1 year ago
No. After my parents found that their outdoor TV antenna was not up to over the air digital TV, they had cable for a short period of time. (It's much higher than mine, and neither I nor the Keykeeper want to go up there.) It was only a basic package, just enough to get the major networks.
Well, they dropped it. Seems nobody watched it. I can't remember when I turned a TV on last.
Some cable services also relay FM radio over their lines, but not here. I do listen to broadcast radio.
uxwbill 1 year ago
@uxwbill Theres a notable difference then, cuz in this region of the planet, we only have 3 channels on a normal antenne, you can either get a satalite dish, or just get cable, if we buy a decoder with the full package, we get over 200 channels!, i have basic cable, i get 36 channels on that :), and all the radio stations in this country
thepaashaas 1 year ago
Probably not 40's or 50's - the tower still has the warning sticker on the upright, they don't usually last more than 15-20 yrs exposed to the weather. A good coat of aluminum paint (with a brush of course) on that tower will give it another 20 yrs life. I get to take a 40 ft tower like yours down next weekend to use on my new office/shop building for tv/radio/scanner/wifi/webcam/etc then I can drop this telescoping mast off the house.
rhblakeman 1 year ago
That warning sticker is brand new. I found it in the box and put it on there before actually installing the antenna.
The old antenna and its rotor unit both had *completely* rotted wires. A few stragglers still ran up and down the mast, but that was it. As such, I think it could have been up there that long! I've never seen such rotted wiring.
uxwbill 1 year ago
Aha - pulling a fast one huh? ;-) So did the old antenna have 300 ohm twinlead, or old RG59 coax? 40's/50's definitely would have been 300 flat. I've torn down some ancient antennas to replace them and 2 still had 300 ohm, not sure how they even got an analog signal being deep in the woods. Well I have to make a gin pole so I can take down the 40 weekend after Easter - too close to power line and house and I don;t want to drop it (gonna reuse it) so I have to reverse installation.
rhblakeman 1 year ago
Got to keep people guessing, you know. I don't know if they even *had* those signs in the 40s. I never used to see them like I do now.
The old antenna was twinlead all the way. The rotor used four leads, all of which had been molded together in its better and younger days.
uxwbill 1 year ago
I'd have been scared to death up there.
mgospeed31 1 year ago
That's why the Keykeeper did most of the installation. I don't mind going up so far, but I always start thinking about just how long of a way it is down when I get beyond a certain height.
When that happens, I just kind of "freeze up" and have to come down.
uxwbill 1 year ago
Dont forget about lightning - this time of year it can be sunny and bright and once you get up the tower here comes a storm. I do installs all the time but I just pull radio stations through the internet anymore.
rhblakeman 1 year ago
Thankfully we didn't have that happen. (I was expecting it, though. I know my life is a comedy.)
At the very least I would have expected the wind to start blowing hard enough to send the house flying off. But that didn't happen either. We were blessed with a quiet and nice day to do the job.
I just installed the grounding block the other day and attached it to a nice long copper grounding rod driven into the ground. It can't hurt.
uxwbill 1 year ago
Yeah too many people think the ground mount in concrete or the metal baseplate is enough ground, till the house burns to the ground. Have reworked our house service entrance and put new on the garage to make the new shop and office and I'm so glad the ground here has no rocks. When we lived on a hillside in my parent's property you couldn't go 12 inches without hitting a rock, makes it a SOB to drive rods, especially since 2 are reqd/
rhblakeman 1 year ago
The Key keeper is a great antenna! LOL!
andersonvillas1277 1 year ago
Good Work, they are coming in great.
Ajaces 1 year ago
We have a station on 107.3 Here in WV that appears to play the same music. WKAZ is the call sign.
jefferyb304 1 year ago
Cool. This station plays the 60s/70s/80s programming from Dial Global (formerly Westwood One).
uxwbill 1 year ago
Well, way back, every homeowner that wanted TV reception had to have one of those antennas. They were sometimes referred to as "aerials".
WhoSaidTyler 1 year ago
Not quite everyone did. Those who lived in or near the city usually got along passably well with a good old set of rabbit ears.
If you lived in a rural area or expected to receive UHF stations, you could certainly have to use an outdoor antenna.
You can still call them aerials, although I think that term is primarily used in British English today.
uxwbill 1 year ago
"HD" Radio requires a much stronger signal than analog FM, so in many areas an outdoor antenna (or at least one in the attic) is pretty much necessary to have any reliable "HD" digital radio reception. I tried HD Radio with an indoor antenna and I had to hold it in a certain position in order to decode the digital signals. My body was acting as part of the antenna, so the instant I let go of the wire, the receiver would drop back to analog mode!
vwestlife 1 year ago
I really thought I'd be more impressed with HD Radio than I was...not because of any perceived increase in quality, but just because of the sub-channels. Very few stations broadcast anything in HD here, and those that do often have only the main "HD1" channel.
Some of it might be the tuner too. I have tried the Insignia NS-HDTUNE and been extremely underwhelmed. Both the analog and digital tuners seem pretty deaf in terms of sensitivity.
Maybe other HD Radio tuners are better? I don't know.
uxwbill 1 year ago
@uxwbill The Sony XDR-F1HD tuner has outstanding analog FM reception. In fact some people cut a trace on the circuit board to disable its HD Radio decoding and just use it as an analog tuner. Even here on the New York City radio dial with dozens of stations transmitting HD, I can count only 1 or 2 which sound better on HD than on analog, and only another few which offer anything unique and interesting on the HD2 and HD3 subchannels (most are just simulcasts of co-owned AM stations).
vwestlife 1 year ago
I think that the Sony tuner is the one I should have purchased. Best Buy's Insignia NS-HDTUNE is a joke. You could have a strong station broadcasting in HD right next to it and the thing wouldn't necessarily pick it up. (And I've had it apart far enough to know that anyone paying $100 for one is being robbed.)
When I see the Sony tuner offered at a price I find reasonable, I think I'll try it.
uxwbill 1 year ago
Wow, that's pretty cool! And i've never seen a radio setup as complicated as that lol.
I guess it must be where I live, because here 40 miles is nothing! I can get 3 or 4 stations from over 70 miles away using a pocket radio!
Great video!
themaritimeman 1 year ago
FM reception varies a lot depending upon geography. Technology has improved, but FM still works best with a "line of sight" between transmitter and receiver. It also depends upon how much power the stations are allowed to put out.
I'm in a somewhat hilly area, and that hurts my results.
So far, I've pulled in a station that's 75.1 miles away from here with this antenna. That's not bad at all. I could not get that station's HD feed, but analog was usable.
uxwbill 1 year ago
Just as a general comment, an outdoor antenna will really give you some stations, I have an old VHF/FM antenna sitting on top my shed, that does pretty good, I have an amp inside my house and I split and route as needed to various tuners in the house.
weasel2htm 1 year ago
I agree 100%--it really does make a difference.
Had the old antenna not been completely wrecked I would have tried to use it. As it was, the wiring had rotted off and several of the elements were bent or broken. Given that it could have had an FM trap on it (turns out it does not) I just decided to replace it.
I'm not an expert on antenna design, but some have suggested this antenna could also be useful for TV reception. I might test that, before I finalize the hookups.
uxwbill 1 year ago
I want to buy one and put it on my car if it gets stations 40miles out! cool!
Motorfordtoyota 1 year ago
A lot of that is the height, although the factory installed whip antenna on my truck will get that same station pretty well. (The receiver in the truck is a Pioneer KEH-1900--yes, it's a cassette receiver, yes I replaced the factory CD player and yes, I make mix tapes. So I'm old school!)
uxwbill 1 year ago
y not a cb antenna ? u could talk sum good skip off that litte tower @uxbill
ACDCEvan 1 year ago
We have one of those on the other house, although none of us really do anything with it (and it's not hooked up to a radio right now).
uxwbill 1 year ago
roach palace lololol
patrick560sl 1 year ago
I will have to save your video for future tense because I have a telephone pole beside my house, it would be a good spot to put it
bubba007ss 1 year ago
You will want to be sure that there are NO powerlines (sorry if I sound like a stuck record) in the area and that you can use the pole. It may be the property of the telephone company.
uxwbill 1 year ago
@uxwbill No problem there Bill!" I am a Carpenter, Electrician, and Plumber all rapped up into one. Plus an all around problem solver
bubba007ss 1 year ago
great vid,
that car is awesome!!!
mattd28 1 year ago
Hey everything was fine till I saw the rope holding him to the tower .
VE9REJ 1 year ago
That was his idea, but I didn't find anything so wrong with it either. Would you elaborate?
uxwbill 1 year ago
@uxwbill Was expecting a Climbing harness ,I never climb my tower without it .
VE9REJ 1 year ago
That is a good point, and I would assure you that we take our safety pretty seriously. The rope seemed like an OK compromise for a "one off" installation. If we were going to be making a habit of this, you can be sure we'd get an appropriate climbing harness and use it.
uxwbill 1 year ago
@uxwbill Good Rule Thanks .
Reg
ve9rej Chnl
VE9REJ 1 year ago
Good job guys!
mongo5888 1 year ago
Why didn't you trim the tree around the antenna?
Juggla17 1 year ago
We don't have equipment suitable for trimming trees that tall. I may hire it done.
uxwbill 1 year ago
Glad to see you back uxwbill!!!!!!
hotwad88 1 year ago
Alright! New videos!
"uxwbill 2010"
odius94 1 year ago
Is that a K30 on the trunk of the Buick?
1974Alfa5Spd 1 year ago