I've been using a Scatter Forager antenna in attempt to get CKCO RF13. Since the transition though, this along with CFTO on RF9 have been the most problematic Canadian stations to receive. The Yagi used in attempt to receive CFTO has its own issues, but I decided a different antenna from the Scatter Forager is required to get CKCO. The Scatter Forager is a low gain antenna. Even though it is low gain, I think I was right on the cusp of receiving it. Commercially there is an antenna made by the company Antenna Direct called the C5. It is a high gain VHF antenna, where the gain values are around 8dB or so for RF13. One of the members on digitalhome.ca built a "clone" C5 and modeled this clone in 4nec software. The post can be found here:
Modeling this DIY antenna gave a value of around 7.5 to 8dB gain value across the VHF spectrum. Considering the Scatter Forager's gain was most likely a lot lower than this antenna, and the station was in and out when using it. Once I get this antenna constructed, I'll be looking very forward to trying it out.
*November 7th, 2011*Over the weekend, I bought the copper tubing and PVC couplers. I already had a length of 1" conduit left over from a previous project, so I opted to use that up. Last night I started the construction. I cut a vertical piece of the conduit at 28". I drilled a hole thought the top to feed the copper pipe through. I forged the copper pipe into a 23" diameter circle, and after feeding it through the hole in the conduit, I attached it at the bottom end, leaving a 1" gap between the feed ends.
   
*November 11th, 2011*The antenna is up and running. What a great antenna, and one of my best builds. During testing today, I sat this antenna on my bed, and pointed out the window towards CKCO, and it picked it up steady at 7-8 bars on the Samsung TV it was connected to.
After testing, I took it up to the attic and set it up. CKCO is now a very reliable station. The only issue now is that CHCH is now on the backside of the antenna, and therefore blocked. I'm still getting it, but it is not reliable on all TV's, depending on the length of cable from the antenna to the TV. Excellent build, and qudos to the designer.
*November 13th, 2011*Sine installing this antenna, I haven't experienced any drops on CKCO RF13. I've also noticed no drops on CFTO RF9 either. This would indicate that the Scatter Forager antenna that I was using before (which is being used now as the reflector of the VHF Loop) was interfering with the signal coming in that direction. To solidify CHCH again, I may build another one of these antenna, and point it between CFTO and CHCH (more towards CFTO), as I'm thinking this will have a wider beamwidth than the current YAGI antenna that I have pointed towards CFTO. Overall, I have been extremely happy with this antenna and would recommend it to anyone trying to snag VHF-Hi frequencies.
Besides CHCH, I did try and point this antenna in the direction of WNGS RF7 out of Buffalo. But currently with their transmitter at such a low output power (transmitter damage), I didn't even catch any signal on the TV that was used for testing. Mind you, this TV has the longest cable run from the antenna (~120 feet).
*November 26th, 2011*This past week I built up a second VHF Loop antenna and tonight I installed it in the attic. This loop was to be used to pick up RF9 and RF11. It worked as expected and now I receive both channels without issue on the TV furthest from the antennas. At this point my antenna projects have come to an end, as I think I can't build a better antenna than what I have at this point. Below are a couple of pics of the new antenna up in the attic.
Now CHCH and CFTO are again solid channels. |
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