If you're in the vally I would suggest something with a high angle of attack like a 1/4 or 5/8ths wave.
For real performance though a vertical beam always makes a difference whatever the terrain.
The on screen signal strength meter will help find the direction your antenna should point. Turn the antenna until you see the highest meter reading.
Get the signal meter on screen then rotate the antenna to the spot the meter reads the highest, this is the point of most signal. Leave the antenna in that position. spreading the rods apart results in more gain.
The flow chart follows this pattern; Transceiver to amplifier then out to swr meter, then into antenna tuner then out to antenna.
You can replace an XM radio antenna with a CB antenna, a ham 40-meter mobile antenna, a cellphone antenna, a GPS antenna, a TV antenna, a wire coat hanger, a 6 GHz microwave antenna, or a chain of paperclips. However, since none of them is optimized to operate at the frequencies of XM radio, like the XM antenna is, none of the others will work as well. Most of them will likely be so inefficient at the satellite radio frequencies that when you use one of those, you hear nothing at all on your radio.
You need a ground (which should be insulated because if you ever get energy on that wire it's going to be very high voltage) on any radio system with an outside antenna because of lightning - lightning likes to find the biggest conductor it can to go to, and your antenna is probably the biggest conductor on your block...especially if you like working the 40-meter, 80-meter and 160-meter bands. If your antenna gets struck by lightning, the ground will help direct the electricity to ground rather than to your headset.
Mount Takao is within the boundaries of Tokyo proper on the west side. Generally, Tokyo is hilly, but not mountainous.
Of course. For a long time, that was the only way to measure an RF voltage. You just have to be careful how you set up your instrument ... grounding & bypassing etc. ... so that you and your meter don't just become an antenna, and so that you don't detune the RF source when you couple your meter to it.
Lawrence A. Dillon-Townes has written: 'Thermal analysis of radiometer containers for the 122 meter Hoop Column Antenna (HCA) concept' -- subject(s): Radiometers
Find out where the local stations transmitter is located and turn your antenna to that direction whilewatching the signal strength meter on screen. An antenna that is just slightly off the correct direction can mean the difference between a prefect picture to NO picture. Go to the web site "tvfool.com for the info you need.
The new digital TVs and Off-Air Converters have an On-Screen Signal Strength Meters available through the menu. This is used to help aim the antenna for the peak signal.
Answer: An antenna is a tuned circuit, so it have to be tuned to the wavelength of the signal that it will transmit. If the antenna is not tuned properly some of the transmitted power will be feed back to the transmitter and will damage the output stage, SWR (Standing Wave Ratio) is very important, that is the ratio between the power that is transmitted by the antenna and the power that is fed back to the transmitter a zero is ideal but not always possible.The lower the frequency the longer the wave length and a 1/4 wave length is the minimum length that will give one a good SWR. The formula to use when one design a antenna is 300/frequency in MHz, if the frequency is 30 MHz then it is 300/30 = 10 Meter divide it by 4 to get the length of the 1/4 wave antenna that is 2,5 meters.Note: The antenna have to be multiples of a 1/4 wavelength like 1/2 wave or full wave, a 5/8 length can be used but it will need a L/C circuit at the input of the antenna to tune it to the frequency.
a meter is longer than a foot