Aerial photography - Ancient Gallery

Jay Beam, or J-Beam as it later became, sold a range of high gain UHF aerials, the ‘Multibeam’ range, based on a square dipole, with matching reflector. These were the first TV aerials to have quad bay director elements. The original product range was the MBM30, MBM46 (pictured), and MBM70. The MBM46 later became the MBM48, and the MBM70 was replaced by the MBM88. The gain of all these aerials was excellent, with the MBM46/48 probably providing the best practical compromise between size and performance. The aerials had baluns built into the connector box. The build quality was excellent with solid elements and diecast dipole, but deteriorated in later years. The Achilles’ heel was the front/back ratio, which was poor. These aerial were no good if there were reflections from the rear. For pure gain, however, they were the tops. Antiference had nothing comparable.

Previous

Next