Hi Les,
Directive Systems used to make a pretty FB FM broadcast antenna just for
FM DXing and serious audiophiles. It was an 8 element dual driven yagi
on a 16 ft boom, optimized for 88-92 MHz. All of the "listenable"
stations were located at the bottom of the band and that was the focus
for the audiophiles. My dentist was a serious FM listener and he was
complaining to me while drilling one of my teeth, that he could not pull
in WERU, in his favorite station from Blue Hill, Maine. WERU had it's
beginnings with the help of Noel Paul Stookey, the Paul, of Peter Paul
and Mary fame. WERU was about 100 miles up the coast and his stacked
array of old Channel Master yagis was not doing it. Sometimes, he could
get it in the morrning when there was some tropo enhancement. I offered
to make him something and came up with the design after hearing what was
needed. Bear in mind that FM has the dreaded (or good) capture effect,
meaning that the stronger station will blot out any weaker station on
that channel. I felt that a great pattern was a necessary trait for FM
listening and DXing. I could not get great patterns across all of 20
MHz with any design that was practical, and still maintain the amount of
gain needed to pull in those distant stations. I settled on a 4 MHz spam
of great patterns and fantastic gain and then it all degraded as you
went above 92 MHz. It was OK up to about 95 or 96 and then would pick up
stations above that but had the gain and pattern of a bed spring.
My Dentist was thrilled. A single DS88-8 pulled in WERU all day every
day, winter and summer in stereo even!! He was so enthused that I made
a 2nd antenna for him, and he stacked them on a Rohn 25 tower. He
marveled that he could rotate that array and pick up many low power FM
stations on the same frequency. I made the antenna available to WERU
listeners and the radio station even had a link on their web page for
Directive Systems. I sold a few of the yagis to the FM translator
people who used off air signals pumped into new areas, but also sold
them to end users who just wanted to hear a certain FM station. Then the
trouble began. Dealing with consumers turned out to be a huge time sink
and general time waster for me, while trying to run a small antenna
shop. Not only was I the antenna designer, but I was also the customer
service agent. Any of my employees had no background to handle customer
service. I found that an antenna that required assembly and proper
siting was beyond he capacity of many people. I remember spending so
much time with one customer that I started dreading to hear the phone
ring! I finally told her that she should return the antenna and I would
refund her money. The next spring, a pickup truck appeared in my yard. A
old Mainer hobbled out of the driver's seat, while the woman who owned
the DX88-8 exited the passenger side with her large poodle. I looked in
the bed of the truck and there was only about 1/2 of the antenna. The
boom was missing along with a few elements. What was left was all
covered with chicken shit. Apparently the antenna, or what was left of
it, spent the winter in her chicken coop. The poodle saw my huge hay
field and immediately bounded off happily barking and howling and
checked out his new digs. The smelling must have been great as he had no
desire to answer the calls of his master. She started yelling and
screaming at the dog to come back. The dog paid her no attention. She
started running after the poodle, while I was trying to explain that she
had forgotten to bring back most of the antenna. She was getting more
upset by the second, so I went back to the shop and talked to the old
Mainer who drove her down to my place. We both leaned against the truck
while observing the lady running all over the field chasing after the
poodle. She was now screaming vile epithets and was truly unhinged. It
actually was a surreal vision! I told her driver that it was my
opinion that she had anger management issues. He replied "Ayuh".
While watching all of this, I decided that life was too short to try to
sell any product to the general public. My customers who bought yagis
and loop yagis were great. They knew what they wanted. They always asked
reasonable questions, and any problems that surfaced would always get
solved very quickly. I realized that the VHF/UHF ham population was a
great group and any time spent on the phone was very rewarding for me.
The general public? Not so much!I discontinued the FM yagi shortly after
the poodle incident.
I think I still have the design available on paper.
I could write a book!
73
Dave K1WHS
On 7/29/2022 8:44 PM, Les Rayburn wrote:
For those VHF weak signal operators who also enjoy FM DXing, you may be aware
that antennas for the FM Broadcast band 88-108 Mhz are nearly impossible to
find now in the US. Those available are of limited performance. Dipoles,
4-element beams, etc.
The days of running down to Radio Shack or an electronics shop and buying an
APS-13 fringe-FM antenna are gone.
InnovAntenna makes some large OP-DES Yagis for the FM band, but they’re
expensive, shipping costs to the US are high, and delivery times have been
unpredictable.
https://www.innovantennas.com/en/our-antennas/240/26/88mhz-108mhz-broadcast/11-element-88-108mhz-op-desInnovAntennas%20shop.html
<https://www.innovantennas.com/en/our-antennas/240/26/88mhz-108mhz-broadcast/11-element-88-108mhz-op-desInnovAntennas%20shop.html>
Antennland in Germany makes the famous Korner 9.2 FM antenna, which are well
built, and perform great. A few years back, I imported ten of them into the US
and sold them immediately. We discussed bringing the larger Korner 14 design to
market, but their vendor in Italy went out of business, and shipping costs
became prohibitive.
https://www-antennenland-net.translate.goog/3H-FM-9M19?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc
<https://www-antennenland-net.translate.goog/3H-FM-9M19?_x_tr_sl=de&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=sc>
I believe there is a market of FM DXers and audiophiles seeking
high-performance FM antennas. Albeit a limited market, where the antennas would
have to be expensive to be profitable.
It seems like the perfect market for a small, specialty antenna manufacturer. There
used to be such a company in Maine that manufactured VHF weak-signal antennas. But I
can’t recall who that was.
I’d be interested in discussing this as a business venture and am willing to
help with development costs to explore the idea further. Does anyone know a shop that
might be interested?
73,
Les Rayburn, N1LF
les@highnoonfilm.com <mailto:les@highnoonfilm.com>
121 Mayfair Park
Maylene, AL 35114
EM63nf
NRC & IRCA Courtesy Program Committee Chairman
Member WTFDA, MWC
Perseus SDR, AirSpy + Discovery, SDRPlay RSP Duo, Sony XDR-F1HD [XDR Guy
Modified], Korner 9.2 Antenna, FM-6 Antenna, Kitz Technologies KT-501 Pre-amps,
Quantum Phaser, Wellbrook ALA1530 Loop, Wellbrook Flag, Clifton Labs Active
Whip.
“Nothing but blues and Elvis, and somebody else’s favorite song…”
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