Bic Beam The box FM 10

[franciscojose]

Dear friends, and, I would add, brave self-builders, I have a self-switch past limited to only two small pairs of boxes and nowadays I simply assemble the slots for my system. From the height of your knowledge, and know that I have done research of all kinds, do you think you can help me?
My target is "Clone Bic Beam The box FM 10 Antenna"
The material collected on the web shows only the exterior, I found an old article on Radio -Electronics March 1978 page 58,

https://www.americanradiohistory.co...ronics/70s/1978/Radio-Electronics-1978-03.pdf

Then nothing. Now I ask for your help.
Thank you Franciscojose

 

[ejp]

What exactly are you asking for?

 

[franciscojose]

I would like to build an exact replica of the antenna

 

[PRR]

BIC FM 10 Beam box Antenna

The ad had an internal detail.

It was a chipboard case with clear/smoke plastic top and four too-short FM antennas. A switch gave several combinations. A 4-gang(!) tuning cap and two coils (see ad) made up for the antennas being too short for an FM wave. The wide/narrow switch probably threw a resistor across the output.

It was cute, but a serious FM listener will want a large steerable dipole or yagi mounted higher than the road (the car-sparks). If you can't have that, a plain dipole or rabbet-ears is fine IF it can be adjusted for the desired station.

BIC The Beam Box - Manual - Electronically Directable FM Antenna - HiFi Engine
Beam Box by BIC FM-10 Antenna BIC America; Cleveland OH, bui

 

[franciscojose]

Thank you very much for your interest, unfortunately I can't find images to understand how to shape the four metal sections that can be glimpsed beyond the plexiglass, for now thanks

 

[Mr_Zenith]

PRR nailed it: four 1/8 wavelength antennas with a switch and a preselector. The magazine timeline reveals its pedigree as a solution in search of a problem: reviewed in 1978 at $89 US retail ($363 in 2020), sold at a hefty discount five years later for $39 ($103 in 2020). I'm sure it worked OK for what it was, but considering its cost I suspect many hi-fi enthusiasts just hooked up a piece of wire and put their money into other components - like a better receiver.

BUT - I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm. I think it's actually cool you want to try something like that. A lot of us here enjoy reinventing the wheel, or just building stuff for its own sake. It's how we learn. But if your end goal is to get better FM reception I think you'd be much better served with a simple purpose-made antenna. Either way the VHF/UHF section from any recent copy of the ARRL Antenna Book would be an excellent place to start. It's good stuff!

Btw, those DAK advertisements seemed to be all over the place in the late '70's to the mid-'80's. They always had neat-but-oddball stuff (well, to a teenage guy at least), but in retrospect they were apparently just a surplus reseller. One of my buddies was able to get a lot of stereo stuff he otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford, so it definitely filled a niche. They're still around, but (alas) they seem to have sold out of B.I.C FM-10s...

 

[franciscojose]

Dear Zenith,
thanks for your intervention, I have already built a half-wave dipole even cut off the center band even on the precise frequency of the favorite channel. I live in the historic center of a medieval European city and the problem is the proximity of many frequencies and reflections between the nearby walls. I plan to put the dipole on a pole on the roof, my clone was a test to see if it "good" living room put a functional and aesthetically pleasing object had comparable performance.
Thanks for the technical news (1/8 etc.)
franciscojose

 

[craigtone]

I have one of these for sale if anyone is interested. It is in very good condition! The only issue is the previous owner super glued the beam direction knob back on and it does not turn now. A little acetone and patience and it would be like new. PM me if interested.

 

[franciscojose]

Bic beam

Thank for your message,
one month ago i find at venice(!!!!!) near mint one Bic beam FM 10
Sorry
AFJ