🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <C04xsF.LL0@inews.Intel.COM>, dsehr@morticia.intel.com
(David Sehr ~) writes, in part:

>A while back I was at a friend's place and he had a VHF/UHF radio
>(army surplus stuff) hooked to what he called a ``disc-cone'' antenna.
	More commonly spelt discone.

>He claimed the antenna covers a reasonably wide band of frequencies,
>and what really attracted me was how small it was.  Well, I was
	Errrr welll.  The lowest usable frequency is (roughly) the
	frequency at which the skirt is a quarter wave.  So it will be
	roughly the same size as a conventional antenna.  Its wide band is
	in the upwards direction, in frequency.

>wondering if such an antenna might be useful for TV reception in an
>apartment.  I know essentially nothing about antennas, but it would be
>nice to have a nice omnidirectional antenna so that I don't have to
>keep fiddling with rabbit-ears.  (I realize this may cause multipath
>problems, though.)  Any ideas whether such an antenna would be useful
	Not may.  8)>>  WILL.  The fiddling is deghosting, in technical terms,
	nulling the multipath.  The older "bow tie" (at both UHF, and its larger
	cousins at VHF) antennas are, effectively, two discones
	"center-to-center" without the disc.

>as a TV antenna?  Suggestions for how to build one?
	TV runs from 50 odd to 200 odd (without digging out charts...)
	Scanners can work 30-50, 120-170 ("blank spot" in the middle of TV
	band), and 400 and up.  So the scanner style will work as well as any.
	(Fancy scanners cover it all, and let you watch tv.  8)>>)
	(This is the "tip of the iceberg" on ALL these subjects.  I decline to
	become verbose on any.  Unless argued with.  8)>>)

	Also, the classic discone is vertically polarized, and most TV is
	horizontally polarised, so the discone should go on its "side".  At
	which point it ceases being omnidirectional.  And has to be reaimed for
	each channel.

thanks
dave pierson			|the facts, as accurately as i can manage,
Digital Equipment Corporation	|the opinions, my own.
40 Old Bolton Rd		|I am the NRA.
Stow, Mass, USA	
01775				pierson@msd26.enet.dec.com
"He has read everything, and, to his credit, written nothing."  A J Raffles