wjm (02/08/83)
BIC's Beam Box FM antenna can be quite useful in getting rid of multipath and other urban interference problems since it is VERY directional, but for suburbanites it is worse than useless, since its directionality carries a price - about -8 dB of gain relative to a dipole (the T shaped piece of wire that comes with your tuner and/or receiver). Out here in the suburbs, you need GAIN more than anything else, and the best way to get it is a good outdoor antenna. If you can't hang up an outdoor antenna, see my comments that I posted to the net yesterday for some alternatives. Bill Mitchell Bell Laboratories Whippany, NJ (whuxk!wjm)
sdo (02/09/83)
It was said that, out here in the suburbs, you need GAIN more than anything else. Maybe for some stations, but there are New York and Philly stations which are on ADJACENT channels (like 102.7 and 102.9) which can both be received in central New Jersey. In this case, directionality is more important than gain. The figure 8 pattern of a dipole won't help because the stations are 180 degrees apart. I have a Beam Box and find that it works best on its SIDE (although it doesn't look good this way). Scott Orshan Bell Labs Piscataway 201-981-3064 houxm!u1100a!sdo