Albert's Attic Gallery

When I was a young aerial rigger, fitting countless ten-element UHF aerials at breakneck speed for TV rental companies, I knew nothing of the man who had invented the very device that was giving me my living. At that time Dr Hidetsugu Yagi was still alive, and he must have marvelled daily that his invention could be seen on almost every roof in the world.

The Yagi aerial was invented by Dr Yagi, of Tohoku Imperial University, and his assistant, Dr. Shintaro Uta. It was patented in 1940, but maybe only in Japan, because over the next two decades every TV aerial manufacturer in the western world was making yagis. Most TV aerials, in fact, are based on the original yagi design, which has a half wave dipole, a reflector, and a series of directors. Dr Yagi died in 1976.

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