How do I use a satallite dish as a UHF antenna?

ken2400

SatelliteGuys Pro

Original poster

Sep 4, 2004

1,309

144

Central NY State

• Aug 11, 2019

• #1

I would like use a satellite dish as a UHF antenna.
I have old Primestar dishes, 18" dishes, offset Ku dish 36", C band 6' dish.
I was thinking of putting a bow tie antenna at the focal point.

I have one set of channels I want to get so this being directional is not big deal.

Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks

 

primestar31

SatelliteGuys Master

Lifetime Supporter

Mar 15, 2005

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Beta Omicron Delta III

• Aug 11, 2019

• #2

You can try, but it won't work very well UNLESS it's at least a 6 FOOT prime focus dish size, and then put a simple 2 bay uhf antenna at the focal point. Haul it up to the top of at least a 30' tower, and then you'd have a uhf antenna that can't easily be beat.

Channel Master 4251 Tribute Page

 

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ken2400

SatelliteGuys Pro

Original poster

Sep 4, 2004

1,309

144

Central NY State

• Sep 13, 2019

• #3

Found one of theses antennas xium antenna "dish looking"
xium dish looking one

 

ken2400

SatelliteGuys Pro

Original poster

Sep 4, 2004

1,309

144

Central NY State

• Sep 13, 2019

• #4

ken2400 said:

Found one of theses antennas xium antenna "dish looking"
xium dish looking one

Click to expand...

About 20"

Sent from my XT1526 using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

harshness

SatelliteGuys Master

May 5, 2007

18,812

4,017

Salem, OR

• Sep 13, 2019

• #5

Dishes have never been the reflector of choice for OTA TV but some think they look cool so they dummy something up.

Radio Shack (and by extension, probably RCA) used to hide a UHF loop inside something that looked like a small plastic satellite dish on one of their indoor antennas. Other antennas had the dish but no loop.

The wavelength of channel 14 is a little over 25".

 

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TheKrell

A mighty and noble race originating on Altair IV.

Pub Member / Supporter

Jan 4, 2007

38,737

46,160

Fairfax, VA

• Sep 13, 2019

• #6

harshness said:

Radio Shack (and by extension, probably RCA) used to hide a UHF loop inside something that looked like a small plastic satellite dish on one of their indoor antennas.

Click to expand...

I couldn't find a picture of that one. But this one is reminiscent of the wankel rotor! Kind of cool. Indoor HDTV & FM Radio Antenna I thought Radio Shack was completely dead and gone.

 

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harshness

SatelliteGuys Master

May 5, 2007

18,812

4,017

Salem, OR

• Sep 14, 2019

• #7

While not the specific one that I was thinking of (it had kind of a Death Star pattern of raised bumps), here are some other examples.

I'm not sure what these are supposed to represent. It looks like they outfitted the dish with divining rods to make some sort of dipole.

 

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danristheman

SatelliteGuys Pro

Jan 25, 2011

3,146

1,142

85w

• Sep 15, 2019

• #8

Here is one for you guys. Picked up WSTR from Cincinnati from Connersville Indiana.

 

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907TECH

SatelliteGuys Pro

Aug 29, 2018

389

400

Alaska

• Oct 22, 2019

• #9

harshness said:

While not the specific one that I was thinking of (it had kind of a Death Star pattern of raised bumps), here are some other examples.

View attachment 140498View attachment 140497

I'm not sure what these are supposed to represent. It looks like they outfitted the dish with divining rods to make some sort of dipole.

View attachment 140500

Click to expand...

 

907TECH

SatelliteGuys Pro

Aug 29, 2018

389

400

Alaska

• Oct 22, 2019

• #10

These dish looking indoor antennas are a joke. They are not dishes, just toys that make some people think they have secret sauce. Give up on the satellite dish idea, I suggest a conventional aluminum outdoor antenna with decent gain.

 

Jim5506

SatelliteGuys Master

Pub Member / Supporter

Lifetime Supporter

Oct 19, 2004

8,132

3,484

Slaton, Texas

• Oct 23, 2019

• #11

Channel Master made such an antenna, called the Parascope UHF antenna.

The reflector was very large (like 5-6 ft across) and two bow tie elements were placed at the focal point with a small reflector behind them to block direct reception of signal.

These antennas were very good, but not better than yagis by enough to make them commercially viable.

Comparing a Dish reflector at 1.5 ft diameter with an antenna 4 times the diameter (1/7th the surface area) that was perhaps 3 dB better than the best yagi tells me your Dish reflector antenna would be a poor performer compared to $50 antennas available today.

 

907TECH

SatelliteGuys Pro

Aug 29, 2018

389

400

Alaska

• Oct 23, 2019

• #12

Another problem with parabolic UHF antennas is that they offer the most gain on higher frequencies, which no longer exist. They did make sense many years ago, not today. They had to be 6 feet or larger in size. When the 8 bay UHF antennas became more popular it was found they were as good or better than the parabolics, making dishes pretty much obsolete.