View Single Post
  #1   Report Post  
Old October 31st 03, 12:23 AM
Stinger
 
Posts: n/a
Default Justice AM Antenna (from C. Crane Company)

As promised, here is a brief review of the Justice AM Antenna.

I got it a couple of weeks ago (for $50.00 -- they had an "orphan"-- their
term for returned "like new" merchandise). It arrived in perfect condition.

It is very simple to put together. In fact, they made it so that it can't
be put together wrong -- the plugs are all different. The kit consists of a
pad with the adjustment knobs, a short coax (they offer a 20' as an
accessory), a "universal" ferrite attachment, an A/C adapter, and the actual
antenna assembly (which is about the length of a telephone handset, but only
about 1/2 inch thick). The antenna unit is weatherproof and has screws
included for external mounting.

The tuning pad has an outer bezel with a mark on it, which serves as the
coarse adjustment, and an inner knob that serves as fine-tuning. Numbers
corresponding to AM frequencies are on the dialpad.

Using it is simple. To listen to WOAI (1200AM - San Antonio -- I'm near New
Orleans) you first tune your receiver to 1200. Then, watch your signal
strength indicator (I have a CC Radio Plus) for a spike as you tune the
dialpad to 1200. When you see a spike, move to the fine adjustment to
maximize it.

That said, I believe it would be fairly difficult to use this antenna to its
full advantage without a signal strength indicator. On typical nighttime
stations, you will hear a slight volume increase as you tweak in your
station, but the biggest difference is that you'll find that it no longer
fades out.

My power bar for WOAI/1200 would normally read 1/4 to 1/3 -- with the
Justice antenna properly tuned, it pegs out full strength. This ratio seems
to be universal, as I tried stations from 600 to 1610, and the boost in
signal is always about + 2/3. If you already get a station at 1/3, it's
going to peg out. I do not have the antenna module in an optimum spot,
either (but I'll get into that later).

There are two ways to connect the antenna: The first is an adapter plug
that plugs into a standard RCA phone jack and gives you two wires to screw
onto your external antenna terminals. I found this was not as sensitive
as -- The second method: There is a little ferrite adapter (about the size
of the cap of a sharpie marker) that is flattened on one side and has an RCA
jack on the end. Plug the RCA lead from the dialpad into that, and put the
adapter on your existing radio (near the internal ferrite antenna -- you'll
be able to tell optimum position by watching the signal strength meter). My
first foray into custom mods was attaching a little Scotch tape under the
ferrite adapter so that it doesn't fall off my radio. Worked perfectly
until my daughter's cat....well, I digress.

The performance of this thing is simply amazing. I have definitely not
given this antenna any advantage, because the actual antenna unit is under
my bed, on the floor. (I know -- that's heresy in the rec.radio.shortwave
newsgroup. Please -- no flames -- I'll move it this weekend.) My radio is
on my bedside nightstand, and my bedroom is on the bottom floor of a 2-story
house and has other rooms on 3 sides (I do have windows facing west).

I was able to do away with the turntable I used to use with my radio. This
antenna lets you actually have the radio face you (instead of the distant
station). The antenna is omnidirectional. If you have a couple of stations
on the same frequency, all of them will come in stronger. It is an antenna,
not a sync mechanism -- your radio will have to sort it out. That said, I
have been able to tweak some signals very well using the dialpad.

For me, this thing is perfect. It's easy to use, and only has the footprint
of a credit-card on my nightstand next to my CC Radio+.

The only improvement I could think of for this antenna would be luminescent
numbers on the dialpad. It's not terribly difficult tuning in the dark once
you've done it for a while (due to the signal strength meter on my radio),
but it would be handy.

I hope this has been helpful.

-- Stinger
Picayune, MS