On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 11:36:59 +0100, Paul Morgan
wrote:

Thanks, the HAL3 looks *almost* reasonably priced... but when you can
manufacture and sell FM aerial for £3 it gives an idea of the mark-up
(by the manufacturers moreso than the retailers) ;-)

One of the biggest problems up to now is the low volumes involved.
Manufacturers like JVC, Sony, etc tend not to produce the parts
themselves, as the market's not big enough to warrant it, so there's
an extra step in the chain, with the associated cost.

Yes, you can buy an FM antenna for £3, but it'll be a cheap, poorly
made one. At this point in time, DAB aerials tend to be much better
made - JVC's look as though they could well be made by Hirschmann.
Hirschmann's FM aerials generally cost as much as, if not more than,
typical DAB aerials.

Many of the others
I've seen (particularly the inductively-coupled glass mounts) have been
around 45cm - I assume those are half-wave and should give a lower loss?

All of the exterior glass mounts we've seen have been stupidly long
(to the point that the bases never seem to stay stuck down) and not
especially good with it. The interior type (HAL1/DFA1 or Sony's
supplied one with the DAB6650) seem pretty good though and more than
adequate with the signal levels around here.

Jon
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