I wonder what’s happened to this Perth based remote TEF site.
Has been down for two to three weeks now. Never operational when the green
icon is showing during that time. Was briefly operational for an initial week or two.
TEF6686 connected to 3 El Vert FM Antenna 47m AGL located in Waikiki/Perth Western Australia
Alek is on the ICDX chat group so I’ll see what I can find out, and maybe direct him to this forum.
I have a roof-mounted FM loop antenna (Matchmaster 03MM-1EFM) – just curious if anyone else here uses the same antenna and how it performs for them?
I find that my car radio or the TEF-6686 with its built-in whip antenna at ground level gets more stations than my roof-mounted FM loop antenna, which is a bit disappointing.
Or perhaps it’s because I have too many antennas tightly packed together:
I see the birds like it!
I did read somewhere that antennas should be a metre apart for best performance.
That immediate thought came to mind too.
In an ideal world minimum of 2 wavelengths separation at the lowest frequency, that said rarely would you ever see that with several antennas mounted on same mast. One wavelength separation at the lowest frequency could be not so bad. Given that the above TV antennas are also horizontally polarised there would also be more effect on radiation pattern of your horizontally polarised omni directional FM antenna than if the TV antennas were vertically polarised.
All nearby objects in terms of wavelength from trees, rooftops & objects will have an effect on radiation pattern. If your FM antenna was a directional horizonal Yagi with a few directors, the effect on radiation pattern could possibly be more significantly affected compared to your omni-directional antenna in that scenario, I suspect, given the same mounting positions.
I see so many poor TV antenna installations whereby the TV antenna is mounted too close to the rooftop surface, whether tiled or worse with metallic roof.
Can you acquire a taller mast & guy wires etc? Or put antenna on a separate mast?
As a general rule of thumb - give your antenna some air & separation.
I do have an identical FM antenna by a different manufacturer that I’ve used in a portable/travel situation. A standard folded dipole will out perform it. Element 14 did/do(?) did have a 4 element outdoor FM antenna, the plastic in them is cheap, but the FM performance is better.
I have exactly the same setup as you @tvcl with the Matchmaster omni FM antenna, and I can get great dx signals.
I have the UHF antenna for Wollongong at the top of the mast and about approximately 30cm gap between it and the FM antenna, and then another 30cm approximately to the VHF TV antenna below. I do run my FM antenna through a matchmaster masthead amp that boosts FM / VHF / UHF.
When I was working out the best positioning of the FM antenna I tried it underneath the 10 element VHF antenna and reception of FM dx signals was significantly worse as it was shielding those signals.
I would try moving your FM antenna above the UHF antenna, that may improve things.
Here’s my setup and after hours of tinkering this is the positioning I went with for the best FM dxing.
Thanks for the replies and info, everyone.
Unfortunately, the antenna is on top of a two-storey house so I’m not too keen to go up there myself to try to adjust things. Ideally, I’d like to have it on a separate or taller mast, but don’t have the budget for it.
Mine does still get some fairly distant signals on a regular basis like RN on 104.3 but yet it struggles with others like Coast FM on 96.3 which is typically a much stronger signal.
Link to my SDR: http://116.255.0.168:58080/
On another note, does anyone how how this type of antenna compared to the loop one?
The issue with Coast FM on 96.3 is vertical polarity V mixed polarity, and the FM antenna we both use is Horizontal. By being horizontal I can completely null out the Central Coast community stations to receive Power fm even with the front bit facing north towards the Central Coast.
The other FM antenna you are asking about is mixed polarity and would get much better reception of Coast fm. However it is more directional with nulls to the side. If you are wanting North / South signals your Orange signals would suffering with the alternative FM antenna. Also you would need a dedicated mast for this antenna as it would not fit under your existing antennas.
I was considering getting this FM antenna when my original Matchmaster Omni broke but just don’t have the space on the mast.
Thanks for the reply. I’m thinking of setting up a second SDR located elsewhere on my property with this alternate antenna.
My front bit faces towards the Illawarra, but I also get 93.3, 94.1 and 94.9 from the south rather than from the Central Coast.
I found the opposite with mine, the back of the antenna picks up more signal than the front. When I spin it around the opposite direction Rhema dominates Power fm and Triple M Newcastle over 2ST.
With the current facing, and with enhancement I get Goulburn / Canberra, and as far north as Mt Moombil. Triple M Newcastle will dominate 2ST with only the slightest northerly tropo.
I’ve got a similar set up with the circular antenna. It is mounted on a mast with 3 other antennas. However, in this case I use it to multiplex with a Band III TV antenna for distribution in the house to multiple outlets. Otherwise there is no poor FM pick up with the Band III set-up. That brings in FM to stereo systems etc and is good enough to allow reception of Gold and Sunshine Coast, Breeze/Rebel etc.
I have a second one on another mast that is diplexed with the DAB antenna and is set up for DXing. It supplements north and south facing FM antennas when required.
With one of the eve mounts, mounted on the eve fascia, just below a metallic gutter, you can mount a folded dipole horizontally on this with insulator & use the gutter as a reflector. It’s obviously directional & the distance between the dipole & the gutter will need to change a little between the top & bottom of the FM band frequencies for optimum gain on a specific frequency.
It’s just a thought for a fixed direction cheap directional horizontally polarized FM antenna. Just use an old FM folded dipole or make one & purchase the eve mount & a couple of coach bolts & feeder & you’re done.
There’s no substitute for an 8 element Yagi in my book, but they are no longer manufactured locally. I’m not sure what I’ll do once the birds have their way!
I think a standard 3 element Yagi would outperform that omni antenna easily, though you then have to add a rotator to the setup to make it worthwhile.
I wonder if any of your neighbors have a higher gain old ABC Canberra VHF 3 antenna on their roofs still in good condition (since you are somewhat shielded from Black Mountain there). You could buy one from them?
Agreed. Sometimes people try to reinvent the wheel, and there’s nothing wrong with antenna experimenting, but you can’t beat a good old fashioned yagi.
That said, all I’m using at the moment is a $10 home-made dipole, and it’s working great.
I swapped one of those circular omnis for a 3-el yagi here a few months ago and I’m much happier. Signals off the back/side of the yagi are basically as strong as they were on the omni, and I can aim for some stuff that I want.
I’d love to invest in a rotator (if they even still exist/are manufactured), but I can always climb the roof if I’m really desperate to swing it around 
Just got me a second FM antenna to compare with the circular one.
Now the hard part of getting it on a mast on the roof .
Out of curiosity, how many positions does the clamp allow you to orientate the antenna?
In that position, looks like vertical polarisation is favoured, rotate 90 degrees then likely horizontal.
Then if mounting either 45 degrees left or right you might with ‘some’ broadcasters using circular polarisation you might obtain some interesting results. The fun will be in the experimenting & discovery 
Where does one get one of these antennas?
