Some Tv antennas are rated by the average gain of all the channels the tv antenna will receive. This is a deception of the true rating of the antenna. Some tv antennas are rated by the channel that has the highest gain of one Tv channel. This is a deception of the true rating of the Tv antenna. Some Tv antennas are rated by the gain of each of the channels the Tv antenna will receive. And this each channel rating will be the closest to the truth about the actual gain of a Tv antenna.
I was somewhat skepticle of the V21's gain do to it's size but I thought I would ask.
While doing a little research I came across a vintage antenna that's really interesting, the Finco 400-A. It's really a unique antenna, it appears to be fairly large in size. I don't know what the gain is on the Finco but it would be interesting to know.
Folks at digitalhome.ca have analyzed this antenna, and someone has actually built their own version. Within the OTA TV forum, check out the antenna research and development sub-forum.
My dad and my grandmother next door each had one of these colinear arrays on a 40 ft mast mounted to the peak of their roof.
From what I remember it was a great antenna.
We lived in Carlsbad, New Mexico and our regular NBC station (Ch. 8) tower was 88 miles north of us but we were able to pull in a sharp and clear signal while the station was on the air (they shut down after the Tonight Show back in those days and came back on with the Today Show the next morning).
Having a rotator I was also able to get stations out of the Midland Odessa (Ch 7 and 9) area at any time but they were nearly always pretty snowy - at 150 miles away.
NOW THAT IS A 150 MILE ANTENNA - not one of these over-amplified Chinese POS's you see in the margin.
It was occasionally able to get channel 28 out of Lubbock on UHF channel 28 at 175 miles.
Sadly as the guy wires aged that antenna suffered several falls and finally was damaged beyond repair.
I'd love to have one, I have the copies of the Finco patent maybe someday I'll take the time.
