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Old 19-Jan-2012, 6:22 PM   #7
Dave Loudin
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: King George, VA
Posts: 659
RenoPaul, note that KAME's predicted signal level is highlighted in grey. That's a warning that it will overload just about anything. You should absolutely never, ever use a preamplifier of any sort in your system. Any professional that has recommended such should be reported for gross negligence! There is no way you will need to spend $400.

Again, to sum up the results of the digitalhome crowd's exploration of fractals:
1) when applied to existing designs, the antenna's fequency range was shifted up in frequency OR the antenna could be 30% smaller. No net change in gain.
2) Ruckman designs tended to suffer from high VSWR (poor match to the coax), meaning less net gain. No magic bullet.

Commenting on your experiences - It's no wonder all the amplified antennas had to be returned. They were all certainly overloaded by KAME. The amount of signal picked up by the CS2 probably overloaded your receiver. When active alements like amplifiers are overloaded, noise and spurious signals are generated throughout the spectrum, potentially swamping out other stations. The offending signal will be passed through, but could also be heavily distorted. The avalanche of signals will cause your receiver to turn its sensitivity way down, so surviving weaker signals aren't locked and the super strong signal will be sensed weakly.

The main reason KAME's strength went up is because your homemade antennas did not have an amplifier and, at the proper orientation, did not have much gain towards KAME and company.

Last edited by Dave Loudin; 19-Jan-2012 at 6:36 PM.
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