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Anyway I can improve this?

J

jras20

I got a directional antenna I have a place about 30 miles south of Austin, I got my antenna pointed towards San Antonio.,, my only problem with this, is that a few Austin stations arnt comming in very good on my main stereo with the antenna hooked on. Is there any way I can improve the reception? Its tunned and stereo, but its kind of distorted in some of the Austin stations. I tried most anything, I dont realy know what else to do or is there anything esle I could do.
Thanks,
J
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jras20</P>
 
What type of directional antenna are you using? Some of them have pretty good front to back ratios, and you might not have enough gain on Austin stations.

I use multiple antennas. If I had only one mast, I would use a rotor.
 
I use Radioshack's High-Gain FM stereo antenna #15-2163, I have it about 20 or so feet up in the air, along on that same pole is my TV antenna about 5 or so more feet up, that one is pointed to Austin, I never realy had this problem before now, I had to re rotate it about a month ago because of some storms came through and moved it, Now it just seems like its just those 3 stations that is having the problem, i'm wondering maybe they could be working on the tower? I think Mix, Majic and Kvet & Jammin are all on the same tower, theres are realy the only ones i'm having trouble with. The rest of Austin's stations are comming in fine.
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jras20</P>
 
Your antenna is fairly directional, so having it pointed toward San Antonia will effectively null out Austin's stations to a degree. If the stations are distorted, you could be receiving multipath interference since the antenna is facing AWAY from the signal's path. By having the antenna pointed toward Austin, you'll null the multipath interference and get clear reception as intended. But then the signals from San Antonio will be weaker or have heavy interference.

Solution, have two FM antennas... one facing San Antonio and the other facing Austin. Or, use a rotor for the one FM antenna. (Like Bruce Carter said!)

> I got a directional antenna I have a place about 30 miles
> south of Austin, I got my antenna pointed towards San
> Antonio.,, my only problem with this, is that a few Austin
> stations arnt comming in very good on my main stereo with
> the antenna hooked on. Is there any way I can improve the
> reception? Its tunned and stereo, but its kind of distorted
> in some of the Austin stations. I tried most anything, I
> dont realy know what else to do or is there anything esle I
> could do.
> Thanks,
> J
>
 
> I use Radioshack's High-Gain FM stereo antenna #15-2163, I
> have it about 20 or so feet up in the air,


A rotating mast is the way to go. You could buy mine; in DFW I can see all the fm's and tv's on the cedar hill towers from my back yard.
It's odd that you should have trouble with KVET, they're not too far from you, to the northwest, on the same tower with KPEZ. They're due south of Austin, about 15 miles south of the river. Also, check your connections at the antenna for corrosion. Other than that, it might be atmospherics. Many of the broadcast antennas are above the boundary levels in the morning and evening.
 
I have no trouble at all getting KVET in Plano - which has to be over 200 miles. It was always the second strongest Austin station over the Metroplex after KLBJ - which got obliterated by a new local. What type of receiver do you have? That might be your problem.
 
> I have no trouble at all getting KVET in Plano - which has
> to be over 200 miles. It was always the second strongest
> Austin station over the Metroplex after KLBJ - which got
> obliterated by a new local. What type of receiver do you
> have? That might be your problem.
>
I have tried that before I had a technics stereo reciver that had bad reception on stations that I can get with my JVC stereo. I used the current antenna that I have wich is a VU 75XR TV antenna from Radio Shack. I have been able to pick up stations out of Austin. KLBJ is lost up in Dallas like what Bruce Carter had said. I would check the connections at the antenna and the radio its self and check the cable to make sure that there are no knicks or corrosion at the antenna end and the stereo connection. <P ID="signature">______________
"I'm a gonna go to hell when I die!" Connan O'Brien

"yay boo, yay boo, it's lots of fun to do, if ya like it holler yay, and if ya don't ya holler boo!"

Connan O'Brien
</P>
 
My tuner is a DENON TU-380RD, I have noticed in my truck radio that kvet was a little weak this morrning, but then again it could of been a hepburn skip.
<P ID="signature">______________
jras20</P>
 
> My tuner is a DENON TU-380RD, I have noticed in my truck
> radio that kvet was a little weak this morrning, but then
> again it could of been a hepburn skip.

That model doesn't show up at fmtunerinfo.com, so very likely it is not a good performer like the classic models of the 70's.

For near to medium fringe, if I lived where you did, I would have a Radio Shack 6 element yagi pointed north. When I lived in South Austin that antenna did a great job on Dallas stations, so you should have no trouble at all with local Austin, even if they are up to 50 miles away.

I would point a fairly good deep fringe Yagi at San Antonio, since it is farther away. You should be able to get all San Antonio locals except for low power ones. I think you said you had a 20 foot mast - I would put a deep fringe yagi at the top, and the medium fringe 5 or 6 feet down. Run two wires, and use an A/B switch to select the city you want routed to your tuner. I do a variation of that here in Dallas, only with an Austin, Houston, and East Texas setup. In many cases I can get two or three stations on the same frequency, just by switching antennas.
 
Thanks for the info, I'll look into some antennas, I am also using a smaller antenna inside the actic for my other stereo tuner, it pulls in Austin fairly well. What would you do for a back-up antenna? just in case if my pole ever brakes i'd like to have something that would still be able to pull in fairly good, I hope that will never happen, but you never know.
<P ID="signature">______________
jras20</P><P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by jras20 on 09/07/05 05:45 PM.</FONT></P>
 
> Thanks for the info, I'll look into some antennas, I am also
> using a smaller antenna inside the actic for my other stereo
> tuner, it pulls in Austin fairly well. What would you do
> for a back-up antenna? just in case if my pole ever brakes
> i'd like to have something that would still be able to pull
> in fairly good, I hope that will never happen, but you
> never know.

I found FM-10 yagis from Antennacraft for $50, cheap enough I bought a couple for backup. I have them deployed towards cities that are more distant, like Tulsa at 300 miles. Sometimes I get their stations, sometimes I don't. But if I have a lightning strike that takes out a primary antenna, I can re-aim quickly. All of mine are in attics, hidden in trees, etc. to keep the homeowner's association off my back.

I used to use a 20 foot mast in Florida - at least 2 or 3 times a year I had to take it down for an approaching hurricane or tropical storm. So I didn't use guy wires, just two bolts on a bracket to the side of the house. Storm comes, ladder, wrench, down, folded - DONE! After the storm, back up in 10 minutes.
Still a pain in the rear, though.
 
I know what you mean by there a pain, down at my place near Victoria, My TV antenna the connection broke off on the top of the antenna, I had to pull it down and change out the adapter now its picking up San antonio clear as can be. I cant believe how well my antenna down there works, I got that same radioshack antenna same highth, pointed to Houston, I can pull in even most Beaumont stations like they were local, I gues flat lands realy make a diffrents?

On another note, I might of cleared up my problem here a little more, I rotated my antenna more to about 249-253 degreese West South West, that lined it up better to San antonio, and seemed to cleared up Kvet more. Its a pain trying to move that thing without a rotator, but I normally just listen to San antonio or Austin radio anyways here. Houston and Victoria down at my place near Victoria.

Thanks for the help, hopefully now its all fixed up.
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jras20</P>
 
> I know what you mean by there a pain, down at my place near
> Victoria, My TV antenna the connection broke off on the top
> of the antenna, I had to pull it down and change out the
> adapter

I was puting up my antenna one day which is a radioshack VU75XR antenna.
And the connection just broke off and man that was a pain to replace it to knowing that the antenna only likes the adapter that comes with it. so What I did was take two peices of number 24 solid wire bend the wire in a hook shape and fed it under the lugs at the antenna and then spliced the two wires and connected it to a Coax coupler since.

>On another note, I might of cleared up my problem here a little more, I >rotated my antenna more to about 249-253 degreese West South West, that lined >it up better to San antonio, and seemed to cleared up Kvet more. Its a pain >trying to move that thing without a rotator, but I normally just listen to San >antonio or Austin radio anyways here. Houston and Victoria down at my place >near Victoria.
All I have to do is rotate the mast since I have my antenna mounted on a chain link fence using U-Bolts, and the mast touches the ground. But I know exactly what you Mean

>Thanks for the help, hopefully now its all fixed up.
>then I have not had a problem.<P ID="signature">______________
"I'm a gonna go to hell when I die!" Connan O'Brien

"yay boo, yay boo, it's lots of fun to do, if ya like it holler yay, and if ya don't ya holler boo!"

Connan O'Brien
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I'm starting to not like radioshack now, they seemed to have gotten rid of a lot of antenna // communacation stuff and gone more to satilite radio crap.
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jras20</P>
 
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