External antenna as dish?

[Icangelp]

And if you get any hassles, suggest to someone at WVLG 640 (where my buddy from Long Island works) that half the workers along the lovely Villages thoroughfares planting flowers and palm trees just might be illegal aliens.

You mean like from outer space? You can't get any more illegal than that. Actually, I've heard the outer space aliens at The Villages, have some very nice DX'ing equipment, the kind that makes the SDR Perseus type earth state-of-the-art receivers look lke crystal sets. Although I personally haven't seen it, I have been told there are Villages houses where retirees and aliens gather to listen to Australia and Tierra del Fuego AM stations whose signals come in like locals. The DX'ing is so good that they nightly send out QSL requests by the hundreds.

I'm only kidding.........or am I?

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I'm lookin for something that I can run a coAx cable into a tuner such as the Yamaha T-85. I'd like the antenna to be able to be hooked into a roter. This way I can turn it in different directions to pull in stations from Tampa, Crystal River, Jacksonville. I don't think that those would be too far a stretch for daytime listening. Perhaps the night could pull in SE Georgia and Tallahassee too.
I figure it this way. I've been able to pull Tampa Jacksonville and Crystal River in the car when in a standstill with nulling out say WNDD to get WXCV etc, and with the 6 foot whip, I've been able to get Tallahassee at night. I figure if I can do that with a car radio and boombox, that a dish could at least do that much if such a thing even exists.
I realize that I'd have to modify the T-85's filters to get the best reception for recording airchecks and defeat the stereo muting. I may just bring the one I have from PA next time here instead of gettin a new tuner and modding it. But before I bother with the new tuner I wanna be sure that I can get a dish (something that the villages would allow), before investing in a tuner or bringing the one I already got here.

Central Florida is a DX'ers paradise. After the usual afternoon thunderstorms, the atmosphere at night sets up perfectly and about an hour or two after sundown you can start hearing anything within a couple of hundred miles. When I lived in Daytona Beach, Jacksonville was almost like locals - my antenna was enough to bring WCIE Lakeland in - when WCIE still mattered. But it was on a short tower, the same setup brought Tampa Bay stations in like crazy.

When I went to Orlando - often - it was DX central. Just about every frequency would come in on a car radio. Gainesville Ocala, Tampa Bay, Daytona Beach, Melbourne, even Sarasota. Jacksonville, Ft. Meyers, and the Miami stations would start coming in on evening skip.

My setup when I lived in the Palm Bay area was a 10 element yagi on a 20 foot mast - I had everything from Miami almost perfectly 24/7. Over 200 miles. I also pointed a second yagi towards Ft. Meyers for a station over there, it was a bit of a challenge but did OK. But that made Sarasota and Tampa Bay light up all over the dial. I never did point anything much North from there, but I am sure Jacksonville would have come in if I cared. But their oldies station had flipped and so I didn't really care.

 

[rbrucecarter5]

I'm lookin for something that I can run a coAx cable into a tuner such as the Yamaha T-85. I'd like the antenna to be able to be hooked into a roter. This way I can turn it in different directions to pull in stations from Tampa, Crystal River, Jacksonville. I don't think that those would be too far a stretch for daytime listening. Perhaps the night could pull in SE Georgia and Tallahassee too.
I figure it this way. I've been able to pull Tampa Jacksonville and Crystal River in the car when in a standstill with nulling out say WNDD to get WXCV etc, and with the 6 foot whip, I've been able to get Tallahassee at night. I figure if I can do that with a car radio and boombox, that a dish could at least do that much if such a thing even exists.
I realize that I'd have to modify the T-85's filters to get the best reception for recording airchecks and defeat the stereo muting. I may just bring the one I have from PA next time here instead of gettin a new tuner and modding it. But before I bother with the new tuner I wanna be sure that I can get a dish (something that the villages would allow), before investing in a tuner or bringing the one I already got here.

Central Florida is a DX'ers paradise. After the usual afternoon thunderstorms, the atmosphere at night sets up perfectly and about an hour or two after sundown you can start hearing anything within a couple of hundred miles. When I lived in Daytona Beach, Jacksonville was almost like locals - my antenna was enough to bring WCIE Lakeland in - when WCIE still mattered. But it was on a short tower, the same setup brought Tampa Bay stations in like crazy.

When I went to Orlando - often - it was DX central. Just about every frequency would come in on a car radio. Gainesville Ocala, Tampa Bay, Daytona Beach, Melbourne, even Sarasota. Jacksonville, Ft. Meyers, and the Miami stations would start coming in on evening skip.

My setup when I lived in the Palm Bay area was a 10 element yagi on a 20 foot mast - I had everything from Miami almost perfectly 24/7. Over 200 miles. I also pointed a second yagi towards Ft. Meyers for a station over there, it was a bit of a challenge but did OK. But that made Sarasota and Tampa Bay light up all over the dial. I never did point anything much North from there, but I am sure Jacksonville would have come in if I cared. But their oldies station had flipped and so I didn't really care.

 

[JH_Radio]

Hi Steve and CD, this is straying off topic some but here goes...
you are lucky to have gotten WBCB in AM Stereo. I know exactly ware you are as you are only about 20 minutes away from me when I'm up north in Bensalem. Its sad that I cant aprisheate the high quality of the Maduci AMX-2000 tuner there, but here WVLG sounds great with wide-band AM.
I have an antenna up north too, its cool to be able to get Allentown and Atlantic city from my location and WVLT is still playing 50's-70's Oldies. Thunder 106 is cool too.

I'm pretty sure that field that the Buffalo roamed is right behind our house! i was lucky to be able to feed them
It sounds to me that what you are saying is that since this is the older section of The Villages, that there may be different guidelines then say the newer section.
I've heard of Bob's TV too. Perhaps they might know what kinda rules if any are in place and what if anything I could do.
the rules for guests are pretty strict here now, but if they ask for your Villages ID and you tell them your guest is with you there shouldn't be any problems.

 

[kenglish]

Back on the original topic.... ;D
The same FCC OTARD (Over the Air Reception Device) rules that allow you to have a dish (up to 40" diameter), also allow for many other types of antennas, including large TV antennas (up to a 12' high mast, IIRC). They also allow satellite radio and internet antennas....but, not antennas for receiving broadcast radio services ( ??? ..stupid, ain't it??).

You could put up a VHF TV antenna and probably get away with it. The question might be, "Do people ALL have their satellite dishes down low, on the ground or very low on their walls, or do some have them on their roofs?" Although you can legally put it on the roof that you own, you might have better luck with the HOA if there are other things on the roofs...dishes, antennas of other types, weather vanes, solar collectors, etc.

On another hand, you say you are blind, so you could point out to them that it's not fair that others can have outdoor antennas and dishes for (satellite) TV, but you can't have one for listening to the radio. Also, you could make a point that reading services for the visually-impaired are broadcast on FM radio SCA (subcarriers), but often require a good antenna for reliable reception.

Of course, assuming your attic has clear space (not those awkward pre-fab struts every 16 inches), you could go with a 4 to 6 element FM-only yagi and rotor inside the attic. Or, a couple of FM yagi antennas, pointing in different directions, plus a switch for selecting them, if there isn't sufficient room for the antenna to rotate.

A point I should make here (afterthought)...
The FCC OTARD laws specifically say what the landlord/HOA cannot prohibit. The HOA can definitely allow MORE that the OTARD specifies. They CAN allow you to "go wild", putting in whatever you want, even a tower or a huge monster antenna....even a ("gasp") FM antenna.
The FCC just sets the minimum.

(I miss my ten-element Radio Shack FM yagi and rotor that I had in southern Maryland 35 years ago. On the shores of the Chesapeake Bay, it got hundreds of stations, from all directions.)

 

[vibe]

Can't one call the FCC, get the answer, document the conversation, and who they spoke to, and get on with it? Good luck.

 

[kenglish]

The FCC will be happy to send you a letter that you can give the landlord (or, will send it directly to them), but since FM-specific antennas are not covered under OTARD, some subterfuge might have to be used...or, some good, old-fashioned negotiations.

 

[trusty]

It' s the "image" that the Villages is/are trying to protect. A dish means you can afford to pay for your media services; an outside antenna means you're not rich and have to settle for free services . A properly placed dish can blend in to the surroundings when put it in a small flower garden.

My first reaction would be to attach a yagi to a dish (using the dish as a "reflector") and put it on a rotor. Then if anyone says, "There are no satellites in that direction," just smile and say, "You'd be surprised." ;D (The same answer can apply for anyone saying, "You can't do that." Most people are too lazy to research the issue (unless, of course, they're retired and have nothing better to do) and will drop it.)

There are other things you can say like, "Do you know how much more advanced notice of hurricanes and tornados I can get with this setup? Don't you care about protecting YOUR home?" Keep asking questions.

Where there are rules, there are exceptions. If you have to eventually take it down, the experience would be fun and make a memory. By then you would have found a better alternative anyway, so stay cool. 8)