Winegard FM Omnidirectional Antenna Brings in VHF and UHF HD TV Signals!

May 28, 2020

#388

Gentle reader,

I am old school in many ways, I read real books and magazines, I drive a car with a manual transmission that has NO "tech" of any kind.

I greatly prefer my PC with a 24" screen to a tablet or any other "device". 

I use a flip phone. There I said it.

I also enjoy streaming, and prefer to get my TV over the air via an antenna.

And, I still listen to the radio. I have a retro floor radio that I updated with speakers far older than it is. I added a coaxial terminal to the back of it so I could screw an antenna to it. It sounds wonderful.

I have a stack of vintage Yamaha stereo equipment next to my PC with an excellent FM tuner. And, yes, even a cassette deck.

For the longest time I used an old pair of "rabbit ears" TV antenna for it, but decided to mount a good FM antenna above the roof.

We have a chimney on the other end of the house and I had already installed a TV antenna there.

So, I made these brackets. I drilled holes through the studs bordering this vent inside the attic, inserted 1/4" threaded rods through the holes and bolted everything together. 

At first I bought this simple dipole antenna that a fellow makes out of car aerials and sells via eBay. It worked OK.

I did some research and the reviews of other types of omnidirectional FM antennae had mixed results. Here are two other types:

Both use looped elements. 

FM radio bands reside between TV channels 6 and 7 on the frequency spectrum. Since car radio antennae have always been straight and the Winegard model had consistently good reviews, I bought one.

 The Winegard model is solidly constructed and not very heavy.

Since I have a TV in this room (for simulation racing) I decided to hook this antenna to it to see what results it might bring.

To my utter surprise, it pulls in stations as far away as Baltimore, Maryland (we live 25+ miles southeast of Washington, D.C. as the signal flies) and the signal strength from the D.C. TV stations are 100% ?!?

I knew that splitters lose a minimum of 3 decibels for every split and found out that distribution amplifiers solve that problem.

Amazon.com: GE 4-Way TV Antenna Amplifier Splitter Clears Up Pixelated Low-Strength Channels Distributes Signal to Multiple TVs 50-1006MHz Low Noise Antenna Signal Booster HD Digital VHF UHF Indoor 34479: Electronics  

This General Electric model is compact and works perfectly. With it off, the reception suffers greatly. But then, as I said we are more than twenty-five miles southwest of the TV towers in D.C. and almost fifty miles in the same direction from Baltimore.

Before I knew much about TV antennae, I bought one of these cheap Chinese "150 Mile Range HD TV Antenna!" which the Antenna man (2) Antenna Man - YouTube repeatedly tells us not to buy. But I did not know about him either. It worked OK for a while. 

After coming across Tyler's YouTube channel and watching a lot of videos, I bought this Channel Master 45-mile-range antenna and mast mounted a preamplifier.

I am in the process of replacing the white RG6 cable with black quad-shield RG6 cable. The extra shielding blocks interference better and won't degrade from UV sunlight like white does.

That antenna gets ALL of the Baltimore channels with no problem. 

Our local TV stations are 4, 5, 7 and 9. Only seven and nine still broadcast on VHF frequencies, all the rest are on UHF. 

See the smaller metal pieces above? All are UHF elements. The higher the frequency, the shorter, in length, the antenna elements need to be. 

Yet, these elements are L-O-N-G. So it makes NO sense that it pulls in stations as high as 68 on the UHF spectrum. But it does.

I will be replacing the cables to this antenna with the same black quad-shield as the TV antenna will have. As well as securing the cable to the mast.

I have three televisions and the Yamaha AM/FM tuner hooked, via the GE distribution amplifier to it. All of the pictures are excellent and all but the Baltimore stations show 100 per cent reception!




The Robb Collections: FM Radio, A Thing of The Past? Choosing and Installing External FM Antennas.

The Robb Collections: Cord Cutting. Get TRUE HD Television Via A Roof Mounted TV Antenna.

The Robb Collections: Dissection of "200 Mile Range" "HD" TV Antenna.  

Above are links to previous articles about my adventures with antennae. Please take a look for more information on the various things I showed you here.

Thanks SO much for reading my humble blog! Please click FOLLOW above and feel free to leave comments below.

Scott

May 28, 2020

#388

Real Cars I Have Owned In Diecast Miniature Chapter Three: Triumph Spitfire

May 25, 2020

#387

Gentle reader,

I have been a car guy since I was very young, two or three. Mom claims that I could identify any car I saw, year make and model at an early age. Methinks she exaggerates.  

I did know early on that I wanted to be a car mechanic when I grew up. Which I was.

To make things easier for you, I spent a whole week compiling my 380+ articles into indexes. Here is a link to the list for this category:

The Robb Collections: INDEX To EVERY Diecast Die Cast Car And HO Slot Car Article I Have Written

 

I bought my first car as a senior in high school in September, 1973, it was a 1964 Chevy Impala two door hardtop. I first bought a cheap 1:24th scale diecast car because it was the same color. I modified it and painted the interior the same color mine was. I later scored a much better model and wrote about it here:

The Robb Collections: Johnny Lightning 1964 Chevy Impala 1:24 DieCast Car Super Detailed  

My wife and I both chose the wrong person to marry when we were young, and refer to our previous marriages as, "In a former life...."

In a former life, unbeknown to me, my wife sold her bright yellow 1978 Datsun F10 and bought me this 1974 Triumph Spitfire. 

The car came with those large rubber bumper guards front and rear. 

I added a light kit with a driving light on the right and fog light on the left between the guards. Lucas Electrics leave much to be desired.

I am six foot three with long legs and Triumph sports cars are very small and light. But I fit just fine. 

That is our first born son who is now six foot seven and he will be forty this year. 

The car also had similar bumper guards on the rear with brackets that reached down to bolt to the frame. 

I removed them as they were hideous. US regulations later required even larger bumpers.

All of these photos were made with a JCPenney 110 camera which used film 16mm wide. So, very small negatives and large grain.

This shot I found on the Internet of a later model. The circular plaque on mine and smaller one on this dash commemorate their many SCCA championship racing seasons.

I have this factory sales brochure, but found these scans on line.

Mine did not have the black spoiler beneath the front bumper. I added one I found.

The rear bumper guards mine had. I painted the area inside the chrome trim black like it's big brother, the TR6 has.

A later model above with the all-plastic front and rear bumpers, above. The cars are TINY, only 12 1/2 feet long!

My car was a 1500 model which had a larger engine, but only one carburetor and due to US emission regulations had little more horsepower than the previous Mark IV 1300cc engine.

The engine compartment of the same car of which I showed you the interior. I do not know why he added diamond plate sheet metal on this car. He did other customization.

I have the uncanny knack of finding bargains on eBay. This was only $45.00.

The UK price is £79.99 which is $97.50.

This is 1:18th scale and is a Mark IV European model, thus left hand drive and no side marker lights.

The black plastic pieces that double as bumper guards also cover the front opening hood hinges.

Prior to looking for a Spitfire model, I had never heard of Chrono diecast which is a British company.

The models details are excellent. Yes, that is the gas cap.

Due to the hood's weight, that is as far as it would stay open. Below, I laid the car on it's side to show you the underhood components.

The Mark IV was made from 1967 to 1974 with the 1500 coming out in September, 1974. The Mark IV's engine is 1296cc or 1.3 liters to the 1500's 1.5 liters which are actually 1493cc.

Two carburetors mean more power, but also more gasoline burned.

Like the Lotus Elan, the Spitfire and GT6 Triumph cars had X frames.

I'm not sure what the bottle in front of the radiator is for.

The Spitfire and GT6, seen below, have independent rear suspension which have very thin axles and tiny inner axle needle bearings which wear out quickly. AS I found out.

The sleek GT6 fastback coupe body hides a 2 liter six cylinder engine. I have always wanted one. Last year of production was 1973. Image courtesy of Wikipedia. 

If you would like to learn more about these tiny, slow but very fun car, go here: Triumph Spitfire: Mark IV & 1500 – Moss Motoring

I have bid on a 1:18th scale 1967 Chevrolet Impala Super Sport which was my third car. 

In a former life, we did not have a camera until buying the aforementioned JCPenney 110 camera. This is a photo of my first new car, a 1976 Chevy Monza outside my first (and crappy) apartment in 1979. I put the same lights on this car that I did the Spitfire. 

This is the car I traded for the Audi 100LS in Chapter Two, link below. 
The Robb Collections: Real Cars I Have Owned In Diecast Miniature Chapter Two: Audi 100LS  

Thank you SO much for taking the time to read my humble blog. Take a moment to Click FOLLOW above and feel free to leave comments below or on Facebook.

Scott
May 25, 2020
#387