DIY Db8

[Jason l]

Yes part of my decision on canceling dish permanently was the channels I started to receive over the air. However I actually did cancel my dish permanently before I got 3.1/3.2. I was able to pick up cbs 9.1 but that requires turning my antenna and losing some channels.basically yes if you have a clear shot at the skyline facing south southeast you should be able to get everything I get. Being just 5 miles north. But it's not going to hurt to get it higher in the air. I think you'll be pleasantly surprisedEven at your current height if you follow the 10 inch whisker design from above and
add a good high gain preamp.

[kojo]

did you ever try setting your DB8 up with the whiskers 4x4 like the Antennas Dirrect DB8 comes or have you always had them stacked straight up and down on top of eachother from the start?

[kojo]

I just of an AD DB8 but it is 4x4 rather then stacked like the one you are using. I debating on whether i should modify it to be stacked. also, did you play around with whisker lengths? or did you just start off with 10"? the ones that are on it are 6.5", I m wondering if I might need to modify those as well....

[Jason l]

hey I just replied to your other post. Yes I've tried 8 inch whiskers 9 inch 9 1/2 and 10"with all the bay spacing a half inch less than whisker length. And I've tried 4 x 4 side to side. The one real noticeable difference is the 10 inch whisker length I've always use reflectors. Real channel 8 would come in sketchy with the 9 1/2 inch whiskers at its best. The 10 inch whiskers have no problem it actually amazed me when I tried it the first time. I actually get channel 44 and 45 which are UHF channels I did not get with the smaller whiskers go figure. In the mclap design he states the further your reflector is away behind your whiskers the better VHF works the cost of some UHF of course. I believe he states up to 14 inches behind the whiskers. I have no need for that far away 4 inches works great for all my channels. with the vertical stack I can pretty much keep the antenna pointed one direction. When I mounted side-by-side some channels were cut short unless I turned antenna slightly than others would be cut short. Not sure why but I hear the side-by-side have a narrower beam width. And the vertical stack have a tighter vertical beam width instead of narrower side to side

[kojo]

thanks for the info. I think I might have to do some modify with this DB8 that I have from Antennas Dirrect to make it more like your. I didnt have any luck with it today. The C5 did better and actually added real 7. but I wasnt able to get real 8. 44 would be nice to get too but not that big of a deal.

you have any pics that you can share of your build? the link above is not working for me.

[Jason l]

try clicking on the paperclip. I tried to attach the picture above I have several pictures but I don't know how to use this for him to show them to you if I had your email address I could send them to you probably easier

[Jason l]

maybe this will have an attachment of the above link this one is sitting on my deck attached to my facia. Hope this works I'm having a hard time attaching pictures to this form. This antenna is the one I'm actually using now on three of my TVs I just added the long ugly wires sticking out on the reflector the other day to see if it would improve channel 44 it had no difference on channel 44 but ironically I'm picking up 9.1 and 9.2 from behind the antenna I'm still able to watch 44 and I added Real channel 9. Channel 44.3 virtual channel 43.3 ion life watching space cowboys I'm not a Super Bowl person. The above picture is the eight Bay at 40 feet that antenna picks up channel 8 real channel better but it's not working on the UHF as well right now it got hit by tree branches in the fall I had a tree removed that was hanging over it and got quite beat up from the limbs falling. I took it down and put it back together best I could but I think that Balun has moisture in it works well when it's dry and not so well when it's wet

[Jason l]

I think this picture if it's working is the copper wire I've been working on slowly over the year. Maybe you can see this a little better. I just need to make a reflector for this one and I want to try regular copper wire for the replacement of the ribbon wire. I'm not in any big hurry because the one on my deck is working quite well.

[kojo]

Thanks for sharing, I was able to see them. I also PMed you my email. I ll have to start building one. Do you always use kits from the site posted above?

I have to figure out an easier way to test antennas. its nice you can test them from your deck. Right now my cables and mast are in the north side of my house and most of the signals are to the south. I have to get above my metal roof too.

[Jason l]

I've never used a kit from him. I have Old homes in Muskegon that I rent out. I rewired them and had leftover aluminum ground wire and a lot of copper just stripped the copper wire the aluminum wire was wound up I had to unwind it.The site above has PDF pages. All the measurements you need to make one and a lot of information on different reflectors how they workit took me a while to decipher which one would work good on VHF hi. I'm really glad I did the CW is one of the better channels I feel. I've really grown to like MeTV yeah I'm real channel 45as well. Mine Is #10 wire 10" Wisker 4"spred-9.5" bay space and roughly1.25 phase lines -two 4 bays connected with 3ohm ribbon wire.reflector is same #10wire laid out between half-inch PVC roughly 1 inch apart laterally

[kojo]

Interesting, I ll have to look at the site closer. I agree CW is good, we miss it. We moved up here a year ago from Grand rapids.we miss arrow and would love to see flash soon.

[Jason l]

Yeah the Flash is pretty neat I like the sci-fi the 100 is a good show as well if you like sci-fi. So what brand DB8 do you have. I have a buddy that just bought one with the flat type whiskers instead of wire.he gets channel 45 but not channel 44 and he cannot pick up real channel 8 as well. He also has a bigger Fishbone style UHF VHF and that does not get him Channel 8 either.he wants me to make an antenna for him but I don't have time to finish my another one. His situation is south of me 5 miles and about 10 miles west. Not sure how to find your email Pmed?

[Jason l]

http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweath...0Drawings.html

[kojo]

Top right corner of your screen, should be a box thst says welcome Jason l and under thst in thst box should tell you have you have private messages or something like that. You can click on thst or your name and you should be able to get to your private messages. sending a private message or PM, is like email within the forum

[kojo]

I have a db8 from Antennas Direct.it can yesterday in the mail. I haven't done much with it. But I guess it's different then yours and it will only get UHF signal and not vhf. I might have to start from scratch and build one like yours.

[rickbb]

Originally Posted by kojo

I have a db8 from Antennas Direct.it can yesterday in the mail. I haven't done much with it. But I guess it's different then yours and it will only get UHF signal and not vhf. I might have to start from scratch and build one like yours.

The AD DB8e is a UHF only antenna by design. You will need to add a VHF antenna and a UVSJ, (UHF, VHF, Splitter, Joiner), to the down lead.

[Jason l]

so just have to state yes uhf only is all manufactures make with bowties.........that being said that's why I made my own with vhf capable of over 60 mile reception.

[rabbit73]

Originally Posted by kojo

I have a db8 from Antennas Direct.it can yesterday in the mail. I haven't done much with it. But I guess it's different then yours and it will only get UHF signal and not vhf. I might have to start from scratch and build one like yours.

The new bowtie antennas don't pick up VHF as well as the older bowtie antennas because the baluns (4:1 matching transformers) now being used by the manufacturers are printed circuit board baluns. The older bowtie antennas used ferrite core baluns that were good for UHF and VHF signals.

DB4e and DB8e use PCB (Printed Circuit Board) Baluns, which are VERY lossy in Hi-VHF Band

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/show...10&postcount=3

To use this antenna for VHF, I recommend replacing the feed harness with two baluns and a splitter (in reverse as a combiner).

http://www.hdtvprimer.com/antennas/temporarypage.html
scroll down about 1/3 of the page to just before The 4228HD balun images.

When you use two baluns, one for each 4-bay, you must reverse the wire leads on one of the baluns as a test, to see which way is better. This is so that the two 4-bays are fed in phase so that the signals from each are added together.

[rickbb]

There is also a method of using exactly the same lengths of 300ohm twin lead to a single balun. Note the word exactly.

This is supposed to prevent the loss of using a reversed splitter as a combiner.

[Jason l]

how well did this work for you guys ??