RCA Simple Dipole Antenna

[Fabius]

I came across this in a local hardware store.

http://tinyurl.com/neo2p7n

I bought one and it works on both AM & FM. Has spade connectors. Great for those tube radios with a external antenna connection.

[twocvbloke]

They're pretty common over here, not a fan of them myself though, as they're not that directional when you have them mounted to the wall, and of course if the signal's Vertical, it's a pain to mount them vertically if there's not enough ceiling height...

The spade to Coax adaptors that we have for them are handy though, made myself a Dipole TV aerial, though reading up on the lengths it ought to be just now, it seems I used the total length calculation for each element, so it's actually trimmed wrong, but works, probably cos Pontop Pike (the local TV transmitter) is only 2 miles away, I should fix it, but, if it works, then it's fine, for now...

[HarrySmith]

A coat hanger and some tin foil work well too! IIRC.

[19and41]

I live in a relative fringe area and got an amplified set of rabbit ears from Big Lots.  I can put a matching balun on its' F connector and use it with my RCA Victor 8R71 AM/FM radio, or use it on my TV when the cable goes out.  Those passive dipole antennae gives a big value for little spent.

[DavePEI]

I came across this in a local hardware store.

http://tinyurl.com/neo2p7n

I bought one and it works on both AM & FM. Has spade connectors. Great for those tube radios with a external antenna connection.

I use one over in the museum on the Bogen AM/FM Tuner that I use for my MOH on my Norstar system... It is just enough of an antenna that the stations are all reasonably strong.

Dave

[TelePlay]

I came across this in a local hardware store.

http://tinyurl.com/neo2p7n

I bought one and it works on both AM & FM. Has spade connectors. Great for those tube radios with a external antenna connection.

I quit buying those a long time ago. I have hundreds of feet of 300 ohm antenna cable and make my own. The business end is one meter long. The ends are tied together and one side is split in the middle for the downlink 300 ohm cable which can be as short or as long as you want it. Can even put a 300 to 72 ohm adapter just below the split and run coax to your TV or radio. Lot cheaper to make than buy if you have the almost now useless 300 ohm cable.

[paul-f]

John,

I've used that design as well with good results.  They're really handy and hide easily.

Strictly speaking, adding the conductor to make it a loop makes it a "folded dipole."  There are many on-line references and calculators that explain the benefits of this design, and several alternatives.

One is: http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/antennas/dipole/folded_dipole.php