Received an email yesterday from ISS. The long awaited ATU is not too far away. Going through testing now.
Hi,
If you have more news about this ATU, by when it will be available and where, please let me know.
Thanks!
ATU Coming Soon
Scroll down to the bottom of this linked page for connection to latest information about the ATU:
I know its called the RAT 1.0 but not too sure of what (if any) improvements this antenna tuner will have compared with the old one.
Thank you. I guess we have to wait and see what the end product looks like. I requested to put my name on the list.
Just pre-ordered ours after receiving the alert from Bill Baker:
"You are on an exclusive list of people registered to be first in line to receive information on the new R.A.T. 1.0 Remote Antenna & Tuner, which will extend the outdoor range of the i A.M. Radio / Talking House Transmitter to a half-mile or more via standard RG6 Coaxial Cable. We anticipate releasing the product in the first quarter of 2019 and will be entering the production phase soon.
Please call me at 616-772-2300 (extension 102) before December 15th to activate this offer. Thanks."
Getting Ready to Join the Proud New Owners of the R.A.T.1.0
Thanks to spareparts for the good news that the Antenna Tuner is coming out.
What do we know about this technology as of now?
What I recall from a previous ATU is that the transmitter can be kept safely indoors while the Tuning Unit and Antenna can be outdoors at the other end of a shielded coaxial cable.
Mister spare, how do you intend to set yours up?
As close to what passes for an antenna as I can!
If you can get your antenna up as high as possible you'll get more range. Another Church Part 15 station from the Facebook Group Part 15 AM And FM Broadcasting put theirs inside a church steeple (No Ground Lead) more than 30 feet up and got 3 miles to a Tecsun PL-880 Radio.
So height equals might on AM as well. I'm sure the new R.A.T 1.0 will reach more than 1/2 mile unless your receiving it with an Emerson Radio or K-Mart blue light special.
<p>Hi,</p><p>I'm living in a security complex, I wonder what the size of the antenna would be - I think it is a vertical construction? Height is another problem..</p><p>Regards </p><p> </p>
I'm thinking its a 102 inch CB whip antenna mounted on top of the ATU.
Put it like this it can't be above 10Ft this we do know. But you can place the ATU with the antenna up in a high place since you can connect RG6 coax cable to the unit.
Rather or not they give you coax is unknown but you can order about at least 25Ft of the stuff and I thik it only cost me $12 for quad shielded cable. If you order more than 25Ft your going to start to lose power before it gets to the antenna however you may get away with 50 Ft of it. Now your talking some good range.
What We Know So Far
Peet brought up a significant point: "I think it is a vertical construction."
That's what I expect also. From what I have heard AM antennas are almost always vertical so that they will send in all directions, but sometimes stations have used horizontal antennas for special reasons, but horizontal antennas are directional.
A recent edition of This Week in Radio Tech, the weekly radio program, talked about emergency antennas that were set up temporarily following Hurricane Michael in Florida which knocked down a lot of radio towers. One station used wooden poles to erect an "inverted L" antenna, which is part vertical and part horizontal.
Getting back to the R.A.T.1.0 Antenna Tuning Unit, is there any reason to use one indoors? I would think it is only advantageous if used outdoors.
Inside a Wooden building like a church steeple may not hurt as much
OK say the landlord of your place told you that you can't put the antenna outside because of the HOA deal but offered you a solution and that was to put the antenna up in the attic? Yes it may cut the range a bit but surly will be better than that wire antenna inside your house. Plus if you got imaginative you may be able to hide the ATU in a tree. Only thing is that you may need to climb a ladder to tune it but after than it will be tuned and second could more prone to lightning. In this case you could have your coax looped a bit before entering the apartment or building.
I was lucky that my landlord allowed me to to put up the antenna but in Elizabeth city I sort of hid mine in a tree since it was in a highly visable area whereas people would see it as they were walking or driving by the house.
TheLegacy wrote : "...a solution and that was to put the antenna up in the attic? Yes it may cut the range a bit but surly will be better than that wire antenna inside your house. "
Can you actually demonstrate that an antenna in the attic will provide more range than the "wire antenna inside your house."
Maybe the "wire inside my house" doesn't meet the unstated criteria but my test antenna mounted horizontally from the ceiling joists in my basement gives about half the range observed when using my 3m outdoor antenna with the same transmitter. This is observation, not opinion.
I contend you cannot make such a statement unless you have tried it.
Neil
Work Needs to be Done
Radio8Z opens an important question that has not been explored very much through comparative experimentation.
There are two schools regarding AM medium wave antennas at the ground or up in the air.
There have been claims that MW antennas work best at ground level because they emanate a ground-wave that travels on the surface of the earth.
Others swear that altitude gives MW signals better range.
Yet no one that we've read about has tried both and given a comparison.
Some refer to the fact that most AM stations have their antenna towers mounted at the ground, but the thing is that they also reach over 100' into the air, thus being both ground mounted and high at the same time.
I'd do experiments myself if it weren't for being swamped with other projects.
As far as attics are concerned, all kinds of properties might contribute to its working better than lower down in the house or worse. You would have to try both and compare them, which is what Radio8z is saying.
Guessing is legal but not reliable.