"Passive" Panel antenna any good? - Page 4 - Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums

ADTech · 2011-09-09, 03:49 PM

We were sent one of those antennas (posts 32 and 39) last year to see if we had any interest in buying directly from the factory in China (we weren't). FWIW, that factory makes a LOT of antennas sold in large retail stores under VERY recognizable names.

The antenna, on UHF, wasn't too bad when I put it on our conference room table and hooked it to my laptop. Didn't test on VHF since we have none in St Louis.

That little ferrite bead is a choke balun. The two wires go through it twice then are soldered to the center conductor and the shield of the slender coaxial cable. There's about 12" of coax, then the actual amplifier module was enclosed in the rear housing behind the reflector. There's an external power supply and inserter.

The box the antenna came in boasted some God-awful gain in the mid to upper 30's. I pulled the amp out and tested it - it was between 15 and 20 dB gain, IIRC. It took almost 40 dB of attenuation on the tracking generator to bring it out of overload on the spectrum analyzer. Noise figure was pretty high, from 8 to as much as 23 dB on a few specific frequencies. Averages were 11-12 dB on high-VHF and 8-9 on most UHF frequencies. Only thing notable is that it has a high pass filter to eliminate below 160 MHz, a notch filter between 240 and 400 MHZ, and a low pass filter around 850 MHz to attenuate Asian and European cellular frequencies. Even excluding the filters, the response curve was terrible. I snapped a photo with my cell camera, I'll try to post it over the weekend.

FWIW, the Chinese manufacturer's name is Qiaohua and you'll all likely have seen their products, whether you realized it or not. The Monoprice 4730 is another of theirs, but it is different than this larger one. For some strange reason, it performed almost identically to a Philips that we bought at the local Walmart store.

300ohm · 2011-09-09, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Noise figure was pretty high, from 8 to as much as 23 dB on a few specific frequencies. Averages were 11-12 dB on high-VHF and 8-9 on most UHF frequencies.

Ive noticed that the actual RF chips (usually just one RF amp) used in these type inexpensive units have low NF specs, like 2.5 or less. And the board layouts and wiring seem to follow good RF practices.

So do you think most of the noise comes from the cheapie power supplies (which are mostly common wall warts) or from some other source ?

meridish · 2012-04-30, 03:23 PM

Hi,

I have bought this antenna's another version 53-6165-1V-L. It is working great. I am getting all the channels in Torbram/Sandalwood area in Brampton including CHCH and CKVR from barrie. Ocassionaly it also catches #12 from peterborough. I have already dumped my DB8.

Thanks

stampeder · 2012-04-30, 03:31 PM

Thanks for that info, meredish - it seems to be a good option for parts of Brampton/Mississauga, but as I've been saying here for years that area of Canada is where OTAers will have the greatest possibilities for number of available channels.

I'm curious how people in less optimal areas might do with the antenna(s) in question.

2012-04-30, 03:23 PM	#48
meridish Rookie Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Brampton, Eagle star 53-6165-1V Antenna, KZ-200 peamp in the attic Posts: 24	This antenna is great Hi, I have bought this antenna's another version 53-6165-1V-L. It is working great. I am getting all the channels in Torbram/Sandalwood area in Brampton including CHCH and CKVR from barrie. Ocassionaly it also catches #12 from peterborough. I have already dumped my DB8. Thanks

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2011-09-09, 03:49 PM	#46
ADTech Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Antennas Direct Tech Support - St Louis Posts: 211	We were sent one of those antennas (posts 32 and 39) last year to see if we had any interest in buying directly from the factory in China (we weren't). FWIW, that factory makes a LOT of antennas sold in large retail stores under VERY recognizable names. The antenna, on UHF, wasn't too bad when I put it on our conference room table and hooked it to my laptop. Didn't test on VHF since we have none in St Louis. That little ferrite bead is a choke balun. The two wires go through it twice then are soldered to the center conductor and the shield of the slender coaxial cable. There's about 12" of coax, then the actual amplifier module was enclosed in the rear housing behind the reflector. There's an external power supply and inserter. The box the antenna came in boasted some God-awful gain in the mid to upper 30's. I pulled the amp out and tested it - it was between 15 and 20 dB gain, IIRC. It took almost 40 dB of attenuation on the tracking generator to bring it out of overload on the spectrum analyzer. Noise figure was pretty high, from 8 to as much as 23 dB on a few specific frequencies. Averages were 11-12 dB on high-VHF and 8-9 on most UHF frequencies. Only thing notable is that it has a high pass filter to eliminate below 160 MHz, a notch filter between 240 and 400 MHZ, and a low pass filter around 850 MHz to attenuate Asian and European cellular frequencies. Even excluding the filters, the response curve was terrible. I snapped a photo with my cell camera, I'll try to post it over the weekend. FWIW, the Chinese manufacturer's name is Qiaohua and you'll all likely have seen their products, whether you realized it or not. The Monoprice 4730 is another of theirs, but it is different than this larger one. For some strange reason, it performed almost identically to a Philips that we bought at the local Walmart store.

2012-04-30, 03:31 PM	#49
stampeder OTA Forum Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: North Delta, BC (96Av x 116St) Posts: 23,338	Thanks for that info, meredish - it seems to be a good option for parts of Brampton/Mississauga, but as I've been saying here for years that area of Canada is where OTAers will have the greatest possibilities for number of available channels. I'm curious how people in less optimal areas might do with the antenna(s) in question.