HFU HF Underground
Loggings => FM DX Loggings => Topic started by: Dxer92 on June 07, 2016, 0226 UTC
-
I have been looking for a good FM DX antenna for quite sometime now... I used to have a Antrnnacraft FM6 but no longer have it since the damn thing broke on me.... I tried finding another one but of course they are now discontinued. I have a Antennacraft FMSS but eh it is only ok. I was wondering if anyone knew about any good FM DX antennas out there and yes outdoor please.
-
Oh and also forgot to include i was thinking of using a Discone Antenna for FM Dxing is this such a good idea? A buddy of mine tells me it works wonders for him and throughout the Ham bands as well and anywhere else. But really was wondering if this antenna would do all that great on FM broadcast band. If anyone has any other suggestions on some good outdoor FM DX antennas please feel free to reply to this post, thank you.
-
Discone for DX, I'd say, NO!
Any 'Omni' antenna has NO GAIN and therefore fairly useless.
You need a Yagi with lots of gain an a pre amp for any 'SERIOUS' DXing.
OK!
-
Wander over here, http://dxworld.com/tvfmlog.php and have a look.
-
See I thought so which is why exactly I didn't want to get a dis one, thanks guys.
-
But wait!!! What kind of Yagi how about a Channelmaster Masterpiece antenna? Will this work? http://www.channelmaster.com/Masterpiece_Digital_HDTV_Antenna_p/cm-5020.htm
-
I've never been particularly thrilled with any of the multiband antennas, it seems to me they are a poor compromise for all they try to accomplish. FM only yagis these days are almost impossible to find new, and for serious work your only real option is to build something. Not difficult, calculators and designs are all over the net, and your local hardware store should have all the raw materials you need. The rest is engineering things like insulators from plumbing parts, ect. Back in my assistant chief days, I even build some circularly polarized emergency antennas to keep my stations on the air following an antenna burnout.
Necessity is the mother of invention ;)
+-RH
-
The Stellar Labs 30-2460 four-element FM broadcast band yagi is rather affordable. Usually around $30 to $35 shipped. It has directional gain, but modeling shows rather limited front-to-back performance, especially as frequency increases. YMMV for FM DXing.
http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/stellar.htm
If homebrewing, a relatively simple circularly polarized loop could be of interest. Modeling shows it to be about as good, or perhaps slightly better in some cases, than a small basic yagi for the FM broadcast band.
http://ham-radio.com/k6sti/cploop.htm
-
You can use a TV antenna. I've done that for years, and you can tweak them. To MAX out FM performance on multi-element antennas, elements towards the front, have each element about 28", behind them make those elements 29", and behind them make those element 30", and finally behind those make those elements 31". And behind those, keep those elements long. That should make the difference.