[robman50a]

Hi guys, I've been cleaning up my stuff and I was wondering, what can I make out of the following?
Rabbit ear antenna (2x metal rods),
Bow-tie antenna (twin lead wire connected),
Loop antenna (just a metal loop with hooks),
300 Ohms twin lead wire,
300 to 75 Ohms F plug transformer,
and a 75 to 300 Ohms matching transformer.

It is just going to be something small to use indoors probably on the desk.

 

[stampeder]

D|G|WAVE? Just Ask The Pros

I came across these quotes in other threads today to add to the advice for everyone:

looking to replace my current setup (two 8-Bay Digiwave knockoff antenna's, one aimed at Buffalo and the other at Toronto) that have caused me some grief. They are huge and really effected by the high winds we get. (Parts recently broke off during the last ice storm in dec)

Digi wave products are inferior to those made by antennas direct, winegard and channel master. Poor quality construction makes it more prone to damage by the elements and less likely consistently pull in weaker signals in the long term.
If your value the time and effort involved in a roof installation spend the extra money to buy an antenna made by a reliable manufacturer. Why climb the roof more than once?

We have fixed up a few installs made by the company who installed your antennas and always insisted in junking their D|G|WAVE antennas and replacing them with either Channel Master or Antennas Direct with much better results.

Too bad people weren't getting our advice here!

 

[domii]

Well, I had to start somewhere, and I only found the forums after having the Digiwaves installed and running into issues. If I had a chance to read the threads before, I would have never bought them.

The Antennas Direct db4e I have now is doing better just on its own than the two Digiwave 7288's from before..

 

[stampeder]

Blogger posts DIY 16-bay antenna plans - comments?

In our French OTA sub-forum G225 has posted this link asking for comments about the DIY 16-bay antenna posted here:

http://moneyrhythm.com/diy/how-to-build-a-db16-antenna/

Any comments on it, or anyone want to model it for performance?

 

[stampeder]

For those of you who may not have read it previously, here is Ken Nist's HDTVPrimer entry on 16-bay antennas:

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/16bay.html

and on a 32-bay antenna:

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/32bay.html

 

[G225]

First link indicate DB16 but this is DB32... Sorry!

 

[holl_ands]

What a WASTE OF METAL....he SAYS it's a "DB-4", but Bowtie-Bowtie Separation is only 5.25-in with 7-in Whiskers, which is closer to the U-Tube "DEFECT" 4-Bay. A REAL DB-4 measures out as just under 8-in Separation with just over 6-in Whiskers:
http://imageevent.com/holl_ands/multibay/4bay
http://imageevent.com/holl_ands/multibay/4bayrefl
BOTH of these antennas are ill suited for the NEW UHF BAND, providing very low Gain on lower channels and Excessive SWR.

Note that the suggested design doesn't appear to even use the DB-4's Reflector....thereby throwing away 3 dB of Gain, which letting in Multipath and Noise from the rearward directions...

Since the Impedance is very low on lower channels and very high on higher channels, simply "shorting together" all four Antennas to a common Feedpoint will result in extremely low impedance on lower channels and MAYBE an acceptable SWR on the higher channels....but only modeling will reveal the actual performance... [PS: I'm not volunteering for this fool's errand.....]

HDTVPrimer 16-Bay and 32-Bay Antennas use a 2-Way and a 4-Way RF Splitter/Combiner respectively, thereby avoiding the interconnect Harness Hassle (NOT an easy process). AND they use the larger CM4228 Antennas, which come with a Horizontal Harness between each set of 4-Bays (such as it is). A pair of equal-length transmission lines (parallel wires) could then be used to interconnect the Vertically Stacked 8-Bays, as I have modeled and Optimized for several Vertically Stacked 4-Bays.

However, using an array of antennas actually DESIGNED for the NEW UHF Band, such as M4, FF4 or A-D DB-8e would be even better....

 

[stampeder]

Thanks holl_ands, that antenna's another prime example for our OTA Clone, Coat Hanger, and Junk Antennas thread!

 

[Tonino71]

Eagle Star Antennas

There have been some of the people that live around me installing these eagle star antennas like the 53-6165-1v and claiming that they are great antennas...anyone have any experience or feedback on these?

I am curious as I do like the size of them and they look good and priced low.

any thoughts?

 

[ProjectSHO89]

It appears to be a typical Chinese import (built to their channel bands) with an amplifier with grossly overstated performance.

 

[Tonino71]

But I am hearing positive results...this unit comes in a active and passive model.

 

[ProjectSHO89]

You can find positive results about coat hangars or paper clips but it doesn't mean a coat hanger or a paper clip is a very good antenna.

 

[stampeder]

Another bad Digiwave experience - happy ending

As posted today in the Scarborough thread:

Low and behold guys!

After all that annoyance with my Digiwave POS and unstable Fox29 viewing I got my hands on a DB4-E, pointed it a 188 degrees (Whitby -> Buffalo) and watched my signal stregh JUMP from 47% on Fox to 77%. Using that same meter I adjusted the antenna (lucky for me I can see the TV from the antenna mount) and got it up to 90%!

After a quick re-scan on all my TVs I was shocked. I went from 26 channels (sorta) to 50! Most of those channels work during the day and a few drop off at night.

Once again to anyone looking for OTA, avoid the digiwave nonsense. Speaking of which my ANT-7287 is for sale on Kijiji hahaha.

The real world examples of Digiwave junk just keep piling up here at our site. As I always say, if it isn't on the Antenna Chart I would not buy it.

 

[pips]

16 bay total cost 10 bucks lol

ok so first and foremost clones are not quality antennas and in my opion if u are not gonna build an antenna go buy a quality unit from channel master ect..
that said my wife won 4 antennas at a chinese auction.for those who dont know a chinese auction is a fundraiser that local stores donate items and people buy envelopes full of slips of paper with a number.u drop the numbers in a cup and they draw the winner.wife spent 5 bucks and won the lot of antennas
2- 8 bay blades-brand is labeled stellar labs but the same one all the companies sell a low quality 8 bay
2-dat 75 clones-they have the double boom attachment so pretty large

just for fun i got a ideal 4 way splitter and stacked the 8 bays.i was going for 10 inch seperation but didnt get it with existing coax.to my surprise they really pull strong.i was using my 7mm jeds gapless hoverman that has a net of 14 to 15 dbi.i has dropouts on alot of far away channels that the 16 bay has fixed.the nice thing is i dont have anything in them really.if they fail or get mangled who cares lmao.im gonna stack the dat clones.and see what they can do next.ill post pics tom as im whooped from hauling stuff up and down tower.

 

[pips]

hmmm new egg carries the dat clone says manufacturer is 3m solutions.

 

[stampeder]

Another example

Once again a clone antenna is replaced with a recommended antenna and the results are superb:

QC - West Island, Laval, Laurentides, Lanaudière - Réception OTA Post #876 and newer (in French)

 

[stampeder]

WallTenna

We can add the WallTenna to the list of junk antennas. Take a look at the Analysis: "WallTenna" Design & Capabilities thread to see how disappointing it is. Good work, holl_ands and freezer!

 

[Ultra]

How good is the Volfe HD-007?

I can't find anything about this antenna. What are its characteristics and quality? I found a guy offering 25$ for it.

 

[Jase88]

Volfe

Ultra, I've moved your post to the clone thread. I've not heard of this brand. But based on the price, and the few pics that I could find of it, it seems like one of those bargain store clone brands that typically disappoint.

 

[Ultra]

The price I gave you or the price you found on your own? I found this on Kijiji, see?
I've come across a few of these high gain antennas that are priced to disappoint, but from where does the disappointment come? Is the gain overstated? What's left after that? Material durability? Esthetic value?