Funny how electronics fundamentals still remain true...ANTENNAS

[Retirednsmilin308]

OK, one of my major chores during this brief semi-hiatus period is to install three antennas of different frequency bands up-top my tower.

projects 009.JPG

One of the previous owners of the house put up this stacked Yagi TV antenna up there but forgot one important detail fundamental to all antennas...COUNTERPOISE !

Giving it a good grounding earth system to push off from. It is like trying to pound a nail in a board, but you put it on your pillow on the bed to do so. You gotta have a solid push off point to get the very best out of your system and any range.

Well....after I noticed there was no ground on the tower as a counterpoise, I got an 8 foot solid copper grounding rod and pounded it in the ground and attached it to the tower after wire brushing off some of the galvanizing for a good connection.

I get back into the house and do an automatic channel search on the TV and before i had 13 channels, I now have 21.

21 over-the-air free digital TV channels.

Picked up 8 new ones just by grounding my antenna tower.

PS...deleted 3 because they were bible thumping (and boring) religious broadcasts.

One was yet another home improvement channel called TWIST, and another one is similar to MeTV with all of their oldie but goodie shows from when i was a little kid, hilariously called ANTENNA TV.

...and the wife still got to keep her MURDER PORN channel.
(why to women love Murder Porn so much, anyway ?...I swear she is taking notes)

[hanger4]

We get 24 off our antenna, 37 if you count the duplicates.

[Peter1469]

OK, one of my major chores during this brief semi-hiatus period is to install three antennas of different frequency bands up-top my tower.

Attachment 38391

One of the previous owners of the house put up this stacked Yagi TV antenna up there but forgot one important detail fundamental to all antennas...COUNTERPOISE !

Giving it a good grounding earth system to push off from. It is like trying to pound a nail in a board, but you put it on your pillow on the bed to do so. You gotta have a solid push off point to get the very best out of your system and any range.

Well....after I noticed there was no ground on the tower as a counterpoise, I got an 8 foot solid copper grounding rod and pounded it in the ground and attached it to the tower after wire brushing off some of the galvanizing for a good connection.

I get back into the house and do an automatic channel search on the TV and before i had 13 channels, I now have 21.

21 over-the-air free digital TV channels.

Picked up 8 new ones just by grounding my antenna tower.

PS...deleted 3 because they were bible thumping (and boring) religious broadcasts.

One was yet another home improvement channel called TWIST, and another one is similar to MeTV with all of their oldie but goodie shows from when i was a little kid, hilariously called ANTENNA TV.

...and the wife still got to keep her MURDER PORN channel.
(why to women love Murder Porn so much, anyway ?...I swear she is taking notes)

A very valuable skill to have.

[carolina73]

OK, one of my major chores during this brief semi-hiatus period is to install three antennas of different frequency bands up-top my tower.

Attachment 38391

One of the previous owners of the house put up this stacked Yagi TV antenna up there but forgot one important detail fundamental to all antennas...COUNTERPOISE !

Giving it a good grounding earth system to push off from. It is like trying to pound a nail in a board, but you put it on your pillow on the bed to do so. You gotta have a solid push off point to get the very best out of your system and any range.

Well....after I noticed there was no ground on the tower as a counterpoise, I got an 8 foot solid copper grounding rod and pounded it in the ground and attached it to the tower after wire brushing off some of the galvanizing for a good connection.

I get back into the house and do an automatic channel search on the TV and before i had 13 channels, I now have 21.

21 over-the-air free digital TV channels.

Picked up 8 new ones just by grounding my antenna tower.

PS...deleted 3 because they were bible thumping (and boring) religious broadcasts.

One was yet another home improvement channel called TWIST, and another one is similar to MeTV with all of their oldie but goodie shows from when i was a little kid, hilariously called ANTENNA TV.

...and the wife still got to keep her MURDER PORN channel.
(why to women love Murder Porn so much, anyway ?...I swear she is taking notes)

You should create a library of the ones that she watched and leave them for future investigators. Label the box "I think she did it this way".

[Retirednsmilin308]

You should create a library of the ones that she watched and leave them for future investigators. Label the box "I think she did it this way".

I had to bring her and my son in here and show them this.

+ 3 points.

[gamewell45]

OK, one of my major chores during this brief semi-hiatus period is to install three antennas of different frequency bands up-top my tower.

Attachment 38391

One of the previous owners of the house put up this stacked Yagi TV antenna up there but forgot one important detail fundamental to all antennas...COUNTERPOISE !

Giving it a good grounding earth system to push off from. It is like trying to pound a nail in a board, but you put it on your pillow on the bed to do so. You gotta have a solid push off point to get the very best out of your system and any range.

Well....after I noticed there was no ground on the tower as a counterpoise, I got an 8 foot solid copper grounding rod and pounded it in the ground and attached it to the tower after wire brushing off some of the galvanizing for a good connection.

I get back into the house and do an automatic channel search on the TV and before i had 13 channels, I now have 21.

21 over-the-air free digital TV channels.

Picked up 8 new ones just by grounding my antenna tower.

PS...deleted 3 because they were bible thumping (and boring) religious broadcasts.

One was yet another home improvement channel called TWIST, and another one is similar to MeTV with all of their oldie but goodie shows from when i was a little kid, hilariously called ANTENNA TV.

...and the wife still got to keep her MURDER PORN channel.
(why to women love Murder Porn so much, anyway ?...I swear she is taking notes)

Good you ground your antenna. So many people forget to do that and if they take a lighting hit most if not all of their electrical equipment ends up being ruined. My AM antenna was struck by lightning last September, however I had installed a proper grounding system and the none of my equipment was damaged including the antenna.

In my job there were times when I was out at the transmitter while lightning storms occurred and I can recall one time during a particularly bad storm, the tower was hit 4 times by lightning. The spark gap at the base would handle the lightning hit, but it would sound like a shotgun going off and sometimes if there was enough static electricity in the air it would go off scaring the crap out of you if you were outside close to it.

[Peter1469]

Good you ground your antenna. So many people forget to do that and if they take a lighting hit most if not all of their electrical equipment ends up being ruined. My AM antenna was struck by lightning last September, however I had installed a proper grounding system and the none of my equipment was damaged including the antenna.

In my job there were times when I was out at the transmitter while lightning storms occurred and I can recall one time during a particularly bad storm, the tower was hit 4 times by lightning. The spark gap at the base would handle the lightning hit, but it would sound like a shotgun going off and sometimes if there was enough static electricity in the air it would go off scaring the crap out of you if you were outside close to it.

The material I used to study for the HAM tech test included a chapter on grounding. Very detailed.