On Nov 20, 9:45 am, Rich Grise wrote:
My current UHF antenna is a 14" Radio Shack clip lead clipped from the
center of my coax to the venetian blind. I have to hand-adjust it
for the channel, weather conditions, phase of the moon, etc. I can
do this because I can _see_ an indication of signal strength.

Well, with this new Fascist "No More Free TV" crap, I'm gonna need
a real UHF antenna. My budget is exceedingly limited, but I have
a supply of materials (GTAW filler rod, with some coppery-colored
coating, so it solders like a dream, and is as stiff as piano wire)
to build an antenna with.

But I've been searching the web for some weeks now, and I can't
seem to find any kind of formula, except there was this program
I downloaded - LPDA.EXE, which runs on DOS. Unfortunately, it's
in Russian or Polish or Uzbekistani - one of those East Yurp
languages. Here's a screen snap:http://mysite.verizon.net/richgrise/...rog-Output.gif

Which I went through pretty much by-guess-and-by-gosh - can
anybody read that stuff?

There are a lot of factors I don't know about, like "Tau", and
all of the specific designs on the web are flat - something is
telling me I want one of those pyramid-shaped ones, but I really
don't know the difference (between that and flat) - it's probably
something to do with bandwidth or F/B ratio or whatever.

My local library has no ARRL Antenna Book (!), and did I mention
I have a seriously limited budget?

Are you seriously THAT hard up for cash? :-

So, how do I pursue this? It'd be nice to have a program that will
calculate the whole thing for me, but am I dreaming? If I want to
send myself to Log-Periodic School, where should I start?

Or, does anyone have a UHF-TV log-periodic design that they'd share? :-)

Try this - go to your local hardware or whatever store that sells a
suitable log-periodic antenna with camera and tape measure in hand.
Record it all and then go home and duplicate. Or easier still, buy it,
take home, duplicate, then return for a refund.

Dave.

David L. Jones wrote:
On Nov 20, 9:45 am, Rich Grise wrote:
My current UHF antenna is a 14" Radio Shack clip lead clipped from the
center of my coax to the venetian blind. I have to hand-adjust it
for the channel, weather conditions, phase of the moon, etc. I can
do this because I can _see_ an indication of signal strength.

Well, with this new Fascist "No More Free TV" crap, I'm gonna need
a real UHF antenna. My budget is exceedingly limited, but I have
a supply of materials (GTAW filler rod, with some coppery-colored
coating, so it solders like a dream, and is as stiff as piano wire)
to build an antenna with.

But I've been searching the web for some weeks now, and I can't
seem to find any kind of formula, except there was this program
I downloaded - LPDA.EXE, which runs on DOS. Unfortunately, it's
in Russian or Polish or Uzbekistani - one of those East Yurp
languages. Here's a screen snap:http://mysite.verizon.net/richgrise/...rog-Output.gif

Which I went through pretty much by-guess-and-by-gosh - can
anybody read that stuff?

There are a lot of factors I don't know about, like "Tau", and
all of the specific designs on the web are flat - something is
telling me I want one of those pyramid-shaped ones, but I really
don't know the difference (between that and flat) - it's probably
something to do with bandwidth or F/B ratio or whatever.

My local library has no ARRL Antenna Book (!), and did I mention
I have a seriously limited budget?

Are you seriously THAT hard up for cash? :-

So, how do I pursue this? It'd be nice to have a program that will
calculate the whole thing for me, but am I dreaming? If I want to
send myself to Log-Periodic School, where should I start?

Or, does anyone have a UHF-TV log-periodic design that they'd share? :-)

Try this - go to your local hardware or whatever store that sells a
suitable log-periodic antenna with camera and tape measure in hand.
Record it all and then go home and duplicate. Or easier still, buy it,
take home, duplicate, then return for a refund.

Dave.

You don't really need a new antenna. If your current antenna is working
such that you get a good picture then it should work as a digital tv
antenna.

Another Dave

On Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:52:01 -0600, David G. Nagel wrote:

You don't really need a new antenna. If your current antenna is working
such that you get a good picture then it should work as a digital tv
antenna.

I've heard that there's no "signal strength" meter or anything - it's
either there, or not. With my analog, I can zero in on the proper tuning
(I just futz around with the clip lead until it's "good enough") so
I need something I don't have to screw around with.

Thanks,
Rich

On Nov 20, 12:03 pm, Rich Grise wrote:
On Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:52:01 -0600, David G. Nagel wrote:

You don't really need a new antenna. If your current antenna is working
such that you get a good picture then it should work as a digital tv
antenna.

I've heard that there's no "signal strength" meter or anything

Most digital STB's have a "signal strength" indicator on screen for
each channel.

it's either there, or not.

That's true of the displayed picture, but not the signal.
Poor (or even too much) signal strength can lead to "drop outs" or
"freezing" of the video image.

Dave.

Rich Grise wrote:
I've heard that there's no "signal strength" meter or anything - it's
either there, or not.

Some of the converter boxes have a signal strength
indication. My "Insignia" box does. It allowed me
to find a sweet spot for channel 10 DTV reception
using RS rabbit ears.
--
73, Cecil http://www.w5dxp.com