Missing directors Winegard 7697P

[RBAUD]

Hi
I am Missing the four J shaped directors on the UHF section of a Winegard 7697P and was wondering how this effects gain and direction.

They broke at the plastic insulators on both units that i have from an ice storm last winter here in New Hampshire.

My signals have no noticeable loss but I can't help but wonder why?

[winegard]

Good morning RBAUD -

These director elements help the performance of the antenna on VHF channels 11, 12, and 13. Without these elements you will loose about 10% performance on those channels. So if you have a strong signal you will not see any difference in performance.

[KNP 2516]

The directors acts like putting a ball of tin foil on the end of rabbit ear antenna's.

It increases gain and also reflects the signal back to the main array of the antenna.

Basically it makes the antenna think and act like it is bigger than it really is.

It also squeezes the signal a little which makes the antenna a little more directional.

The easiest example would be a balloon. If you squeeze a balloon in the middle, it bulges out in the front and the back. The bulge is what causes the antenna to become a more directional and also increases it's strength - because it can reach out further than a rabbit ear antenna which only has two antennas and very little directional capability.

Just think of the balloon as the area in which your antenna is able to receive a signal and just think of the bulge as the area that increases in two directions and squeezes in the middle to make the balloon bigger - without increasing it's diameter - putting more air into it.