RS Antenna- a few (hopefully easy) questions on setting up...

Frustrated with the fact I still haven't got my Radio Shack antenna up (see my avatar for the reason why), I opened the box in the living room and played around a bit. The box came with no directions inside. Locking the aluminum arms in place puts them perpendicular with the center spine (see pic). I always thought that the antennas had the arms angled back, kind of like the way the grain of feathers are on the end of an arrow. Should they be swept back or in fact should they be perpendicular?

Also, there are two wing-nuts (see circles in second pic) that I imagine I attach the wires to. But what if I'm using a co-ax cable like one used for cabler tv? How do I properly attach the cable? Do I need an adaptor? Or is there a ground that goes to one, a stripped end of co-ax to the other?

So far, sitting in the living room and waving the antenna over my head, the stereo comes in very clear. I'm a little dissapointed that the tuner (Kenwood 7500) seems to be rejecting my two favorite channels- WZBC and WBRU. Drat. See pic of WBRU's broadcast range- I'm just past the distant line (purple), represented by an orange dot. WZBC's broadcast map is nearly identical to my situation for WBRU.

Lastly, where should I attach stablizer wire (should I even?), and how/where do I attach the ground wire for those inevitable lightning strikes?

I'm using a ratchet-style chimney attachment to attach this to, you guessed it, the chimney.

EDIT- Oh, and most importantly, thank you.

The elements go out at right angles, perpendicular to the main shaft.

Connect to the wing nuts with a 300 ohm transformer. Then screw your coax to the other end of the transformer. Put Seal All over the coax connection to keep moisture out.

Go here for the owners manual:

http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/uc/rsk/Support/ProductManuals/1502163_PM_EN.pdf

Well I have had my antenna farm hit by lightning once and my house survived. It was a direct hit. So, if you really want to prevent catastrophic damage, you'll need about 2-4 8-ft copper ground rods, and a minimum of 4 gauge solid copper wire.

But, unless your antenna is is 75-90 feet up in the air like all of mine, you don't need to worry about lightning.

use a balun to match your 75 ohm coax to the 300 ohm output of the antenna.

While you are going to the trouble of putting up a yagi antenna for FM, install a rotor so you can take full advantage of the front to back ratio of your beam.

Good luck man. :thmbsp:

Without a rotator and on a 5 to 8 foot mast off a chimney, you probably don't need bracing on this small of an antenna.

It might not survive a hurricane (say 50% odds) but how often do those hit? Just rebuild it if it breaks. The antenna might only last 5 to 10 years in any case.

I'll leave lightening protection to others but you will want to ground the outer coax shield. That might happen at the tuner connection if the metal tuner case is grounded via the house ground. If not, a small ground rod at the house entrance might reduce the noise and RFI. I did a thread with photos of my shield ground.

Ouch!! is that hardware in your back? (I am just guessing - I'll never be a doctor)

I bought the same antenna earlier this year and it came with the instructions. If the link that Paul posted doesn't answer all your questions, let us know. There is also some helpful installation information here: http://www.channelmaster.com/pdf/AntInstallGuide.pdf

On the topic of grounding.

If you are going to ground the beam, ground it well enough for a lightning strike. If you can't ground it that well then don't do it. Im sure this sounds counter intuitive, but by grounding it you will discharge any static build up on it and give it the same potential as the earth. Now this is good and this can be bad. With no static build up in the storm it is going to be negatively charged, this is what lightning likes, meaning if a lightning bolt is going to be in the neighborhood in general, as in real damn close to your house, it's going to hit the antenna. Now if the ground system is not capable of supporting a lightning bolt then it will still get hit, but all that power will go else where at the same time. That is bad!

An ungrounded antenna that isn't really high in the air is less likely to get hit. I know this sounds strange but it's true.

Ungrounded means a static build up, a positive charge. Well lightning is positively charged so it really is looking for something else. Grounding puts the antenna at the same potential as the earth, but the earth is negatively charged, so it doesn't make the antenna more likely to get hit, but if it gets hit there will be no doubt in your mind as to what has happened.

So either ground it really well or do not ground it.

When I got hit, my 3 element beam took the bolt. It blew the rotor apart, the gama match was, well, gone and my massive ground system did it's job. I use (8) 8 ft. copper ground rods. And what you would call a 4 buss ground rail system. Actually to pat myself on the back a bit. The lights in the house didn't even flicker when we got hit. It was loud as hell!

The lightning strike didn't fry your tuner? I used to have a bedroom TV (RCA), on cable, that one board would go out in it every time there was a nearby lightning strike. First time I got it fixed it was $150. I found out this model was known for this problem. The next time, I just got another TV and have not had a problem since.

Phil H said:

Ouch!! is that hardware in your back? (I am just guessing - I'll never be a doctor)...

Click to expand...

Yep, that's my new back. I may just have as good luck as a YAGI by sitting on the roof and clutching the cable in my teeth, eh?

I do want to get a rotor, and will hopefully pick one up this weekend. If I don't get one in time, I may have the friends bolt up the antenna before hand and retrofit the rotor to the antenna after. I have to say, waving the thing around in my living room, it did an excellent job pulling in stereo signals with quietness in the backround on almost all of them.

My goal is to get these elusive stations WMBR ans WZBC in- I'll keep you posted...

And thanks for all your help and advice- it's been perfect!

Oh, by the way, my tuner collection-

Kenwood KT-7500
Sansui 717
Technics 7600
Pioneer 608 (dark-dial version of the 6800)
Kenwood 5500

A couple of things to consider in addition to the excellent info posted in this thread. The narrow end of the antenna get pointed toward the station, the largest element is the back of the antenna. People are electrocuted every year (day?) because antennas or their wires come in contact with high voltage wires either during the installation or long afterward when they blow down. Don't install your antenna where their is any chance that any part of it could come in contact with the power lines that enter your home or those that may be overhead or nearby. While they very well may look like they are thoroughly insulated it is best to assume that they are not. The rule of thumb is that no part of your antenna or mast should be within twice the distance that it is tall. Antennas and power lines generally don't like each other very much. They talk to each other and the reception can really get screwed up if they are too close to each other. Actually noise bars, hum, wavy lines, pops and ticks, and other miscellaneous static can result from antennas that are too close to power lines. Plan to carry at least one or two extra washers and nuts for the U-bolts up onto the roof with you. Sure as anything you will drop one and have to climb back down off of the roof if you don't carry a spare with you. Lastly, make sure that you pick the nastiest, coldest, windiest rainy or snowy day to install your antenna. At least that is what I have always done!
Don't take any chances.
Good luck!

Paul C said:

The lightning strike didn't fry your tuner? I used to have a bedroom TV (RCA), on cable, that one board would go out in it every time there was a nearby lightning strike. First time I got it fixed it was $150. I found out this model was known for this problem. The next time, I just got another TV and have not had a problem since.

Click to expand...

Oh, well this is all translated from my Ham radio antenna farm. It blew up mass **** in the ham shack. State farm had to buy me 7400.00 bucks worth of new ****. Yeaaaah homeowners.

I would prefer it never happen again though of course.

It took out a 1.5KW tube amplifier, rotor, Kenwood, Icom, ranger, 1.5KW tuner, 70 amp power supply. 400 watt SS RF amp, melted (2) 100' runs of mil-spec coax and blew up my TV in the shack. This was a few years ago so there was probably more I just forget. Oh and a bootleg Galaxy 99. and the antenna.

Lightning will always win to some degree, the goal is to save your house!

Edit; and a Yeasu rig. :thumbsdn: