Is there a product you can recommend as "The Best Omnidirectional FM
antenna"?

If so, which one is it? (brand/model and/or URL please)

Oh - one significant constraint is that it cannot be larger than about
3 feet (1 meter) in any dimension, because it is going to be installed
in my attic. I know it cuts the signal by 50%, but I am willing to
live with that since I am assuming that if a whip antenna on a
portable radio works great in my basement, a **good* omnidirectional
FM antenna in the attic must work *at least* as good...

An extensive search yielded only the Triax omni FM:
http://www.towerhillaerials.com/view...&orderNumber=0
But where can you buy it in the USA?

I also found an ANTENNACRAFT FMSS at STARK Electronics:
http://www.starkelectronic.com/acantena.htm#FMSS, but the specs at
that site say Boom length is 8' and Maximum Width say 55'. These can't
be feet, right? They surely confused the foot symbol (') with the inch
symbol (") - or did they?

Anyway, any tip you can provide on finding such an omnidirectional FM
antenna would be highly appreciated. VHF/UHF omnidirectional antennas
that do *not* trap the FM band with a notch filter are welcome, too.

Thanks,
Lynn

"Linux Lover" wrote in message
om...
Is there a product you can recommend as "The Best Omnidirectional FM
antenna"?

If so, which one is it? (brand/model and/or URL please)

Oh - one significant constraint is that it cannot be larger than about
3 feet (1 meter) in any dimension, because it is going to be installed
in my attic. I know it cuts the signal by 50%, but I am willing to
live with that since I am assuming that if a whip antenna on a
portable radio works great in my basement, a **good* omnidirectional
FM antenna in the attic must work *at least* as good...

An extensive search yielded only the Triax omni FM:
http://www.towerhillaerials.com/view...&orderNumber=0
But where can you buy it in the USA?

I also found an ANTENNACRAFT FMSS at STARK Electronics:
http://www.starkelectronic.com/acantena.htm#FMSS, but the specs at
that site say Boom length is 8' and Maximum Width say 55'. These can't
be feet, right? They surely confused the foot symbol (') with the inch
symbol (") - or did they?

Anyway, any tip you can provide on finding such an omnidirectional FM
antenna would be highly appreciated. VHF/UHF omnidirectional antennas
that do *not* trap the FM band with a notch filter are welcome, too.

Thanks,
Lynn

Lynn -

2 of the largest manufacturers of outdoor TV and FM antennas are Antenna
Craft and Winegard -- BOTH located in Burlington, IA ... a small city with
a big reputation for TV reception!
Radio Shack was one of Antenna Craft's biggest customers (what you buy in
their stores)

Antenna Craft
http://antennacraft-tdp.com/

Winegard
http://www.winegard.com/


HERE ARE THE OMNI-DIRECTIONAL FM ANTENNAS

The Antenna Craft FM-SS are a pair of cross folded dipoles
http://antennacraft-tdp.com/pdfs/FMSS.pdf

The Winegard product is PR-6010 (Turnstile)
http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/pr-6010.pdf


Greg
w9gb

BTW, who grew up 35 miles SE of Burlington (definite Deep Fringe TV & FM
territory)

"Linux Lover" wrote in message
om...
Is there a product you can recommend as "The Best Omnidirectional FM
antenna"?

If so, which one is it? (brand/model and/or URL please)

Oh - one significant constraint is that it cannot be larger than about
3 feet (1 meter) in any dimension, because it is going to be installed
in my attic. I know it cuts the signal by 50%, but I am willing to
live with that since I am assuming that if a whip antenna on a
portable radio works great in my basement, a **good* omnidirectional
FM antenna in the attic must work *at least* as good...

[snip]

Anyway, any tip you can provide on finding such an omnidirectional FM
antenna would be highly appreciated. VHF/UHF omnidirectional antennas
that do *not* trap the FM band with a notch filter are welcome, too.

Thanks,
Lynn

Lynn -

2 of the largest manufacturers of outdoor TV and FM antennas are
AntennaCraft and Winegard -- BOTH located in Burlington, IA ... a small
city with a big reputation for TV reception!
Radio Shack was one of Antenna Craft's biggest customers (what you buy in
their stores)

Antenna Craft
http://antennacraft-tdp.com/

Winegard
http://www.winegard.com/

While there are a number of Directional FM antennas, here are the
Omni-Directional FM Antennas - that you asked for:

The Antenna Craft Model FM-SS (crossed folded dipoles)
http://antennacraft-tdp.com/pdfs/FMSS.pdf

The Winegard Model PR-6010 (Turnstile)
http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/pr-6010.pdf

Greg
w9gb

BTW, who grew up 35 miles SE of Burlington (definite Deep Fringe TV & FM
territory)

Ummmm, look: Here is why answering an open ended question like yours is essentially impossible.

Who has a large financial interest in reaching an answer to this exact question? FM broadcast stations, that's who.
For transmitting. But, there remain about a half-dozen manufacturers still in that business, competing, and if one were
"The Best", then the others would quickly disappear from the business. For example, Andrew, Dielectric, Jampro,
Shively, and Superior are all still in business, AFIK, but are likely too pricey for your requirement. I happen to
prefer the Jampro myself. And Richard Harrison may have newer catalogs than I have at the moment.

And, when you put the unrealistic 1 meter dimensional restriction on it, then this "Best" description fails totally.

--
Crazy George
Remove N O and S P A M imbedded in return address
"Linux Lover" wrote in message om...
Is there a product you can recommend as "The Best Omnidirectional FM
antenna"?

If so, which one is it? (brand/model and/or URL please)

Oh - one significant constraint is that it cannot be larger than about
3 feet (1 meter) in any dimension, because it is going to be installed
in my attic. I know it cuts the signal by 50%, but I am willing to
live with that since I am assuming that if a whip antenna on a
portable radio works great in my basement, a **good* omnidirectional
FM antenna in the attic must work *at least* as good...

An extensive search yielded only the Triax omni FM:
http://www.towerhillaerials.com/view...&orderNumber=0
But where can you buy it in the USA?

I also found an ANTENNACRAFT FMSS at STARK Electronics:
http://www.starkelectronic.com/acantena.htm#FMSS, but the specs at
that site say Boom length is 8' and Maximum Width say 55'. These can't
be feet, right? They surely confused the foot symbol (') with the inch
symbol (") - or did they?

Anyway, any tip you can provide on finding such an omnidirectional FM
antenna would be highly appreciated. VHF/UHF omnidirectional antennas
that do *not* trap the FM band with a notch filter are welcome, too.

Thanks,
Lynn

w9gb wrote:
While there are a number of Directional FM antennas, here are the
Omni-Directional FM Antennas - that you asked for:

The Antenna Craft Model FM-SS (crossed folded dipoles)
http://antennacraft-tdp.com/pdfs/FMSS.pdf

The Winegard Model PR-6010 (Turnstile)
http://www.winegard.com/offair/pdf/pr-6010.pdf

Thank you Greg. I guess these are the only available options that meet
my "specifications" (omnidirectional, can fit my attic).

Between these two, do you happen to know (or have an opinion) which one
is better?

Thanks,
Lynn

Crazy George wrote:

Ummmm, look: Here is why answering an open ended question like yours
is essentially impossible.

Who has a large financial interest in reaching an answer to this exact
question? FM broadcast stations, that's who.
For transmitting. But, there remain about a half-dozen manufacturers
still in that business, competing, and if one were
"The Best", then the others would quickly disappear from the business.
For example, Andrew, Dielectric, Jampro, Shively, and Superior are all
still in business, AFIK, but are likely too pricey for your requirement.
I happen to prefer the Jampro myself.
And Richard Harrison may have newer catalogs than I have at the moment.

And, when you put the unrealistic 1 meter dimensional restriction on it,
then this "Best" description fails totally.


George, thank you for this very informative answer. I was completely
unaware of these companies and I can now try to perform a Google search
- if only to satisfy my curiosity (if the antennas are too expensive,
then perhaps I am not interested in the "best").

As for the "unrealistic 1 meter dimensional restriction", you are right.
I actually meant "the best omnidirectional FM antenna within that 1
meter size restriction". Also, if I am lucky I may be able to fit even
the Winegard PR-6010 (67" or 1.7m wide) in my attic.

BTW, what do you think of a wide 25-1300 MHz Discone antenna as an
FM/VHF/UHF omnidirectional antenna (http://tinyurl.com/4anu7). Can this
work? (assuming ghosting for TV is not a problem...)

If so, is there a solution to matching its 50 ohm impedance to the
cable's 75 ohm?

Thanks,
Lynn

On Thu, 28 Oct 2004 01:04:42 -0400, Linux Lover
wrote:

Crazy George wrote:

Ummmm, look: Here is why answering an open ended question like yours
is essentially impossible.

Who has a large financial interest in reaching an answer to this exact
question? FM broadcast stations, that's who.
For transmitting. But, there remain about a half-dozen manufacturers
still in that business, competing, and if one were
"The Best", then the others would quickly disappear from the business.
For example, Andrew, Dielectric, Jampro, Shively, and Superior are all
still in business, AFIK, but are likely too pricey for your requirement.
I happen to prefer the Jampro myself.
And Richard Harrison may have newer catalogs than I have at the moment.

And, when you put the unrealistic 1 meter dimensional restriction on it,
then this "Best" description fails totally.


George, thank you for this very informative answer. I was completely
unaware of these companies and I can now try to perform a Google search
- if only to satisfy my curiosity (if the antennas are too expensive,
then perhaps I am not interested in the "best").

As for the "unrealistic 1 meter dimensional restriction", you are right.
I actually meant "the best omnidirectional FM antenna within that 1
meter size restriction". Also, if I am lucky I may be able to fit even
the Winegard PR-6010 (67" or 1.7m wide) in my attic.

BTW, what do you think of a wide 25-1300 MHz Discone antenna as an
FM/VHF/UHF omnidirectional antenna (http://tinyurl.com/4anu7). Can this
work? (assuming ghosting for TV is not a problem...)

If so, is there a solution to matching its 50 ohm impedance to the
cable's 75 ohm?

Thanks,
Lynn
Lynn,,
Were I in your position I'd go with the Winegard Prostar 1000
referenced in an earlier post. That and the Antennacraft FMSS are
essentially the same so you may just want to choose between the two
based on price. Radio Shack used to sell this antenna also, not in the
current listings but perhaps a store near you has one left in 'old
stock', their price was about $15 less the coax feedline. Forget the
discone, it will work - though I can't say any better than the two
antennas mentioned - but what you gain in reduced footprint is lost in
the discone being taller. Also, you can expect to spend more for the
discone.

FWIW, I put up the Radio Shack crossed dipole antenna at a friend's
cabin and it took him from getting no FM reception to two stations.
Okay, not an "FM DX antenna" but consider that he is 40 miles from any
town of significance, the cabin is in a valley and there are taller
mountains between him and anything else.

Good luck,
Howard

Howard wrote:

Forget the discone, it will work - though I can't say any better
than the two antennas mentioned - but what you gain in reduced
footprint is lost in the discone being taller.
Also, you can expect to spend more for the discone.

If I can fit it in my attic *and* eliminate the need to have two
antennas (TV and FM), I am willing to spend the extra cost (up to $100).

I get most of the TV stations that I want through basic cable service.
There are two local TV stations that I receive very well with a simple
rabbit ear antenna (came with the TV), so my requirements from a TV
antenna are not very high.

I guess the only questions I have regarding the discone antenna a

1) Are there any issues in regard to wave polarization? Is it true that
both TV and FM broadcasts are polarized both vertically and horizontally?

2) How does one match between that about 50 ohms antenna impedance and
the cable's 75 ohm impedance?


FWIW, I put up the Radio Shack crossed dipole antenna at a friend's
cabin and it took him from getting no FM reception to two stations.
Okay, not an "FM DX antenna" but consider that he is 40 miles from any
town of significance, the cabin is in a valley and there are taller
mountains between him and anything else.

Yes, that is exactly the kind of result I want to achieve. I know there
is no magical solution that defies the laws of physics (50% signal loss
when placed in the attic, size, etc.) such as the "bogus antennas"
described he http://www.kyes.com/antenna/antennat...ennatypes.html

Good luck,
Howard

Thank you very much!
Lynn

"Linux Lover" wrote in message
...
Howard wrote:

Forget the discone, it will work - though I can't say any better than the
two antennas mentioned - but what you gain in reduced
footprint is lost in the discone being taller.
Also, you can expect to spend more for the discone.

If I can fit it in my attic *and* eliminate the need to have two antennas
(TV and FM), I am willing to spend the extra cost (up to $100).

I get most of the TV stations that I want through basic cable service.
There are two local TV stations that I receive very well with a simple
rabbit ear antenna (came with the TV), so my requirements from a TV
antenna are not very high.


Lynn -

This really gets to the heart of your design and selection question. From
your location you need to determine the bearings 0 to 359 (with North at
0/360 and E at 90 degrees), where the FM (or TV stations) transmitting
antennas are. Geography and population density usually "clump" these large
transmitting towers in a small area. (Chicago - Sears and Hancock
skyscrapers; New York - Empire State Building and Palisades (NJ))

The layout of these transmitting antennas in a 60 mile radius will help you
select the ideal antenna pattern for your location. Instead of an omni, you
may be able to use a beam, if all of the stations (that you really wish to
listen to) are in a 30 degree or less spread.

Greg