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Tiny Tenna any good?
Anybody here use the tiny-tenna?
Is it any good? |
Tiny Tenna any good?
I bought a Tiny Tenna years ago.It didn't work for me.I paid $10.00 for
it.I don't know what the price is nowadays. cuhulin |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On Sat, 1 May 2010 21:18:36 -0700 (PDT), Arky Bob
wrote: Anybody here use the tiny-tenna? Is it any good? Looks like a transistor and two resistors. 25 bucks!!! Plus shipping?? Build one of these. At least it has adjustable gain: http://www.allspectrum.com/store/pro...oducts_id=1607 Jim |
Tiny Tenna any good?
I have considered before tying a fish hook on my non working/it didn't
work at all when it got here, Tiny Tenna and see if it will catch any fishes. Spencer Tracy crankin the handle on that Hurdy Gurdy and singing, Don't cryyyy little fishie,,,, don't cryyyyy,,,, don't cryyyyyyy,,,,,,,,, ~ Captains Courageous movie. cuhulin |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On Sat, 1 May 2010 21:18:36 -0700 (PDT), Arky Bob wrote: Anybody here use the tiny-tenna? Is it any good? Overpriced, underdesigned. Prone to overload. Fails in very high signal situations. A random wire will do better on most receivers. Even a short random wire. Does it do what's claimed? It does amplify the signal, and feed the front end of your receiver. Does it boost the signal over noise floor? No. It raises the noise floor with the signal. A well designed passive will less so. Spend your money on something better engineered. For your $25 you can buy/build a lot better. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On May 2, 3:14*pm, "D. Peter Maus" wrote:
* On Sat, 1 May 2010 21:18:36 -0700 (PDT), Arky Bob * *wrote: Anybody here use the tiny-tenna? Is it any good? * *Overpriced, underdesigned. Prone to overload. Fails in very high signal situations. * *A random wire will do better on most receivers. Even a short random wire. * *Does it do what's claimed? It does amplify the signal, and feed the front end of your receiver. Does it boost the signal over noise floor? No. It raises the noise floor with the signal. A well designed passive will less so. * *Spend your money on something better engineered. For your $25 you can buy/build a lot better. I have that little Radio Shack active antenna / preselector / preamp combo thingie they discontinued awhile back, and it ain't too bad. Runs a good loog while on a 9v battery. Built-in antenna or outboard, your choice. Usually can be had on EBay for $20 or so - If you get it and it's not your cuppa, you can turn it around pretty easily. Bruce |
Tiny Tenna any good?
I think Ramsey Electronics sells some decent antennas, some other
thingys too.Send them an email for a free snail mail catalog. http://www.ramseyelectronics.com cuhulin |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On May 2, 6:21*pm, bpnjensen wrote:
On May 2, 3:14*pm, "D. Peter Maus" wrote: * On Sat, 1 May 2010 21:18:36 -0700 (PDT), Arky Bob * *wrote: Anybody here use the tiny-tenna? Is it any good? * *Overpriced, underdesigned. Prone to overload. Fails in very high signal situations. * *A random wire will do better on most receivers. Even a short random wire. * *Does it do what's claimed? It does amplify the signal, and feed the front end of your receiver. Does it boost the signal over noise floor? No. It raises the noise floor with the signal. A well designed passive will less so. * *Spend your money on something better engineered. For your $25 you can buy/build a lot better. I have that little Radio Shack active antenna / preselector / preamp combo thingie they discontinued awhile back, and it ain't too bad. Runs a good loog while on a 9v battery. *Built-in antenna or outboard, your choice. *Usually can be had on EBay for $20 or so - If you get it and it's not your cuppa, you can turn it around pretty easily. Bruce- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Heck yes Bruce, I got two of them. I was a newbie or just learning my way around when I bought them. They definitely work well but because of my lack of RF out here, it's just not needed. But they definitely do what they say and are alot cleaner than the tinyt. Like Peter said about the noise floor and all - I agree. I would imagine the Rat Shack active may do well if I drove out farther to BooFoo....then I'm sure it would help. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On May 2, 12:18*am, Arky Bob wrote:
Anybody here use the tiny-tenna? Is it any good? You're better off with the Big-Tenna. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
How laughable. Who buys into the whole "active antenna" thing? Some of my best SWLing has been with a 5 or 6 foot hunk of wire laying on the floor. Put your effort into a getting a good alignment. That will do you far better than these red herring gadgets that are just like a shiny lure to a sucker. When you amplify, you amplify EVERYTHING...noise, distortion and often these gadgets inject products into the mixer that screw up your IF tracking, reducing the inherent performance of your receiver. Quit looking for a "magic pill" and get back to basics: 1. Good alignment. 2. Wire antenna in unobstructed free space. That's all you need. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On May 3, 3:02*pm, "Clive" wrote:
How laughable. Who buys into the whole "active antenna" thing? Some of my best SWLing has been with a 5 or 6 foot hunk of wire laying on the floor. Put your effort into a getting a good alignment. That will do you far better than these red herring gadgets that are just like a shiny lure to a sucker. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
"Clive" wrote in message
m... How laughable. Who buys into the whole "active antenna" thing? Some of my best SWLing has been with a 5 or 6 foot hunk of wire laying on the floor. Put your effort into a getting a good alignment. That will do you far better than these red herring gadgets that are just like a shiny lure to a sucker. When you amplify, you amplify EVERYTHING...noise, distortion and often these gadgets inject products into the mixer that screw up your IF tracking, reducing the inherent performance of your receiver. Quit looking for a "magic pill" and get back to basics: 1. Good alignment. 2. Wire antenna in unobstructed free space. That's all you need. You're basically right that the TinyTenna can't achieve miracles. But what do you mean (or think you mean) by a) Alignment. b) IF Tracking. There are more complex kinds of active antenna that can, to some extent, help you fight against local interference. -- Brian Gregory. (In the UK) To email me remove the letter vee. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On 5/4/10 05:03 , Brian Gregory [UK] wrote:
wrote in message m... How laughable. Who buys into the whole "active antenna" thing? Some of my best SWLing has been with a 5 or 6 foot hunk of wire laying on the floor. Put your effort into a getting a good alignment. That will do you far better than these red herring gadgets that are just like a shiny lure to a sucker. When you amplify, you amplify EVERYTHING...noise, distortion and often these gadgets inject products into the mixer that screw up your IF tracking, reducing the inherent performance of your receiver. Quit looking for a "magic pill" and get back to basics: 1. Good alignment. 2. Wire antenna in unobstructed free space. That's all you need. You're basically right that the TinyTenna can't achieve miracles. But what do you mean (or think you mean) by a) Alignment. b) IF Tracking. A series of tuned circuits, such as those found in a superheterodyne receiver are said to be in alignment when all paths are tuned to the correct frequencies. Correct alignment raises output of desired signals, while reducing noise floor. A receiver in proper adjustment-- proper alignment -- will perform often remarkably better on the same antenna, in the same location as the same model receiver out of alignment. Often by only a very small amount. IF tracking is the property of two variable tuned circuits to produce a single output frequency across their entire range. Forgive me if this is something you already know. A gross oversimplification, here, if you don't, will explain. IF, or intermediary frequency, is a property of a superheterodyne receiver that improves selectivity, improves rejection of undesired signals, and produces a single, easily manageable signal for detection. IF is produced by mixing the incoming desired signal with a locally generated signal of a frequency above the desired signal that is a fixed difference from the desired incoming signal. By mixing these two frequencies, the intermediary frequency is generated the frequency of which is the exact difference between the incoming and the locally generated frequency. There is also a frequency generated that is the sum of the two mixed frequencies, but that is rejected by the tuned intermediary frequency circuits which are tuned to a single fixed frequency. In order for the intermediary frequency to pass through the tuned IF circuits, the intermediary frequency needs to be the same as one tunes incoming signals across the dial. That means that the mix frequency needs to vary along with the incoming frequency to remain precisely higher than the incoming frequecy by the amount of the IF. This is referred to as tracking. One signal tracks the other to retain the proper relationship as the tuning dial is moved. Implements, like the Tiny Tenna, in some inexpensive receivers, can, if overloaded, produce their own mix frequencies that, in turn mix with incoming and locally generated frequencies to yield un expected mix products that produce variations in the intermediary frequency. In some receivers, a very strong signal alone can cause the IF to shift. So, what the poster was referring to is proper adjustment of tuned circuits within the receiver, and the injection of instability by frequencies created by cheap active antennae disturbing the frequencies that must pass through those tuned circuits. Again, apologies, if your technical understanding exceeds these oversimplified descriptions. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
Arky Bob wrote:
Anybody here use the tiny-tenna? Is it any good? Two instances where an active antenna comes in handy a 1. "Portable" use - I have a milspec preamp and a 3m whip I use with my AOR 7030+ for camping and vacations. I can set everything up in 5 minutes. 2. If the neighbors generate a lot of RFI, an active antenna placed as far from RFI sources as possible might make sense. RFI goes down as a square of the distance, so if you can have your antenna twice as far from a noise source, the rfi will go down by a factor of 4. In that case, while the active antenna will amplify noise as well as the signal, you're still getting a signal to noise improvement. I have one of those too - a 65' random wire that feeds a preamp, and the coax runs underground in a pipe that comes back to the house. There, the preamp is mostly to compensate for the signal loss of a few hundred feet of coax. The tiny-tenna does "work", but it's a very simple circuit you could make yourself with parts from Radio Shaft. Unless you've got a soldering iron and at least some of the parts on hand it's not apt to cost less than buying the ready made one. The Tiny Tenna guy is probably making about $10 an hour after you figure in all the expenses of making a product and running a business. Milspec preamps are very well made and can often be found on eBay at a fraction of what they sold for new. ($40 is typical) Brands to look for include Avantek, Anzac, Watkins Johnson, Norlin, Aiken, & Applied Communications. (the last 3 are really the same company - they changed names often) Years ago I tried an Ar2 preamp and it worked well, but died young. The milspec ones are much more robust. But the place to start is identifying what the problems are with your current antenna, and thinking about ways to solve those problems. You can accomplish a lot with wire, coax or ladder line, and an impedance matching transformer. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
Yeah. Ok. Whatever.
Go ahead and convince yourselves the money you spend on this stuff is worth it. Alignment is not rocket science. A piece of wire strung in the open air is what they used during the Depression for Pete's sake. Don't make this out to be more complicated than it needs to be. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On May 4, 8:47*am, "Clive" wrote:
Yeah. Ok. Whatever. Go ahead and convince yourselves the money you spend on this stuff is worth it. Alignment is not rocket science. A piece of wire strung in the open air is what they used during the Depression for Pete's sake. Don't make this out to be more complicated than it needs to be. Lot less RFI during the Depression. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
"D. Peter Maus" wrote in message
... On 5/4/10 05:03 , Brian Gregory [UK] wrote: wrote in message m... How laughable. Who buys into the whole "active antenna" thing? Some of my best SWLing has been with a 5 or 6 foot hunk of wire laying on the floor. Put your effort into a getting a good alignment. That will do you far better than these red herring gadgets that are just like a shiny lure to a sucker. When you amplify, you amplify EVERYTHING...noise, distortion and often these gadgets inject products into the mixer that screw up your IF tracking, reducing the inherent performance of your receiver. Quit looking for a "magic pill" and get back to basics: 1. Good alignment. 2. Wire antenna in unobstructed free space. That's all you need. You're basically right that the TinyTenna can't achieve miracles. But what do you mean (or think you mean) by a) Alignment. b) IF Tracking. A series of tuned circuits, such as those found in a superheterodyne receiver are said to be in alignment when all paths are tuned to the correct frequencies. Correct alignment raises output of desired signals, while reducing noise floor. A receiver in proper adjustment-- proper alignment -- will perform often remarkably better on the same antenna, in the same location as the same model receiver out of alignment. Often by only a very small amount. IF tracking is the property of two variable tuned circuits to produce a single output frequency across their entire range. Do you mean the ability of the RF tuned and local oscillator tuned circuits to stay separated by exactly the IF frequency? That's just part of alignment. Forgive me if this is something you already know. A gross oversimplification, here, if you don't, will explain. IF, or intermediary frequency, is a property of a superheterodyne receiver that improves selectivity, improves rejection of undesired signals, and produces a single, easily manageable signal for detection. IF is produced by mixing the incoming desired signal with a locally generated signal of a frequency above the desired signal that is a fixed difference from the desired incoming signal. By mixing these two frequencies, the intermediary frequency is generated the frequency of which is the exact difference between the incoming and the locally generated frequency. There is also a frequency generated that is the sum of the two mixed frequencies, but that is rejected by the tuned intermediary frequency circuits which are tuned to a single fixed frequency. In order for the intermediary frequency to pass through the tuned IF circuits, the intermediary frequency needs to be the same as one tunes incoming signals across the dial. That means that the mix frequency needs to vary along with the incoming frequency to remain precisely higher than the incoming frequecy by the amount of the IF. This is referred to as tracking. One signal tracks the other to retain the proper relationship as the tuning dial is moved. Implements, like the Tiny Tenna, in some inexpensive receivers, can, if overloaded, produce their own mix frequencies that, in turn mix with incoming and locally generated frequencies to yield un expected mix products that produce variations in the intermediary frequency. In some receivers, a very strong signal alone can cause the IF to shift. Maybe in a really ancient receiver. In all my receivers the local oscillators are either crystal controlled or locked by PLL to crystal controlled references. So, what the poster was referring to is proper adjustment of tuned circuits within the receiver, and the injection of instability by frequencies created by cheap active antennae disturbing the frequencies that must pass through those tuned circuits. Again, apologies, if your technical understanding exceeds these oversimplified descriptions. A good modern receiver will stay adequately in alignment unless it's been fiddled with, all the important selectivity will be in crystal or ceramic filters anyway. Alignment and IF tracking seem like really weird things to quote as important nowadays. They might help improve sensitivity, and reduce intermodulation problems but other things like adding a preselector will produce more exciting results. -- Brian Gregory. (In the UK) To email me remove the letter vee. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On 5/4/10 13:28 , Brian Gregory [UK] wrote:
"D. Peter wrote in message ... On 5/4/10 05:03 , Brian Gregory [UK] wrote: wrote in message m... How laughable. Who buys into the whole "active antenna" thing? Some of my best SWLing has been with a 5 or 6 foot hunk of wire laying on the floor. Put your effort into a getting a good alignment. That will do you far better than these red herring gadgets that are just like a shiny lure to a sucker. When you amplify, you amplify EVERYTHING...noise, distortion and often these gadgets inject products into the mixer that screw up your IF tracking, reducing the inherent performance of your receiver. Quit looking for a "magic pill" and get back to basics: 1. Good alignment. 2. Wire antenna in unobstructed free space. That's all you need. You're basically right that the TinyTenna can't achieve miracles. But what do you mean (or think you mean) by a) Alignment. b) IF Tracking. A series of tuned circuits, such as those found in a superheterodyne receiver are said to be in alignment when all paths are tuned to the correct frequencies. Correct alignment raises output of desired signals, while reducing noise floor. A receiver in proper adjustment-- proper alignment -- will perform often remarkably better on the same antenna, in the same location as the same model receiver out of alignment. Often by only a very small amount. IF tracking is the property of two variable tuned circuits to produce a single output frequency across their entire range. Do you mean the ability of the RF tuned and local oscillator tuned circuits to stay separated by exactly the IF frequency? That's just part of alignment. Yes, on both counts. I did say it was an oversimplification for those without the technical understanding. :) Forgive me if this is something you already know. A gross oversimplification, here, if you don't, will explain. IF, or intermediary frequency, is a property of a superheterodyne receiver that improves selectivity, improves rejection of undesired signals, and produces a single, easily manageable signal for detection. IF is produced by mixing the incoming desired signal with a locally generated signal of a frequency above the desired signal that is a fixed difference from the desired incoming signal. By mixing these two frequencies, the intermediary frequency is generated the frequency of which is the exact difference between the incoming and the locally generated frequency. There is also a frequency generated that is the sum of the two mixed frequencies, but that is rejected by the tuned intermediary frequency circuits which are tuned to a single fixed frequency. In order for the intermediary frequency to pass through the tuned IF circuits, the intermediary frequency needs to be the same as one tunes incoming signals across the dial. That means that the mix frequency needs to vary along with the incoming frequency to remain precisely higher than the incoming frequecy by the amount of the IF. This is referred to as tracking. One signal tracks the other to retain the proper relationship as the tuning dial is moved. Implements, like the Tiny Tenna, in some inexpensive receivers, can, if overloaded, produce their own mix frequencies that, in turn mix with incoming and locally generated frequencies to yield un expected mix products that produce variations in the intermediary frequency. In some receivers, a very strong signal alone can cause the IF to shift. Maybe in a really ancient receiver. In all my receivers the local oscillators are either crystal controlled or locked by PLL to crystal controlled references. Many of mine, as well, yes. But there are those, even today which are not so. So, what the poster was referring to is proper adjustment of tuned circuits within the receiver, and the injection of instability by frequencies created by cheap active antennae disturbing the frequencies that must pass through those tuned circuits. Again, apologies, if your technical understanding exceeds these oversimplified descriptions. A good modern receiver will stay adequately in alignment unless it's been fiddled with, all the important selectivity will be in crystal or ceramic filters anyway. Alignment and IF tracking seem like really weird things to quote as important nowadays. They might help improve sensitivity, and reduce intermodulation problems but other things like adding a preselector will produce more exciting results. The original poster's point is that with a properly aligned receiver, one begins with an optimized platform that will respond to less complex configurations with more satisfactory results. Better performance, lower cost, on the same radio. My personal choices include preselectors, and a variety of antennae, active and passive. |
Tiny Tenna any good?
On May 1, 9:18*pm, Arky Bob wrote:
Anybody here use the tiny-tenna? Is it any good? Arky Bob, Build your own 1-Transistor Active Antenna http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=7550 http://www.ee.washington.edu/circuit...activeant.html http://circuitdiagram.net/active-radio-antenna.html TIP - Mount the Whip {Antenna Element} and Amplifier outside a Window at 45* like a Flag Pole. Coax Cable to Radio with Speaker Wire for power leads to a Switch & Battery near the SWL Radio. Better a make your own 2-Transistor Active Antenna http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=22731 http://www.dxzone.com/cgi-bin/dir/jump2.cgi?ID=16539 http://www.qrp.pops.net/probe1.asp Fancier "Tuned Active Antenna for 5 to 22 MHz http://www.hard-core-dx.com/nordicdx.../swactive.html SWL -Newbies- Beyond the "Tiny-Tenna" * DIY- Active Antenna Kits and a lot more . . . http://groups.google.com/group/rec.r...d90a539eb30f90 TSE - Instead of a Short (18"~39"} Whip Antenna Use a Mini 12"16" Hula-Hoop as a Frame for a piece of 300 Ohm Twin-Lead [TL] taped all the way around it. On one end {left-side} use one wire of the TL going CW, and on the other end {right-side} use the other wire of the TL going CCW. This gives you two parallel wires that are equal and opposite that act as a circular-dipole. This Mini-Loop-Dipole Antenna Element can then be both 'rotated' and 'positioned' to reduce your local noise pick-up. hope this helps a 'tiny-tenna' itty-bitty - iane ~ RHF |
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