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Coat-hanger HDTV antenna

My parents used to have cable up until I was about 2 years old-- when they started being plastered with ads-- and ever since we've had an antenna tower and I've never complained. We played with satellite now and then, but wind and story weather wrecked that. Our 'old' antenna now run into an HD set gets 18 digital channels (720p~1080i, DD) and 22 analog. WAY better than when I was a kid (14 analog, five of which were always snowing).

Been wanting to build this one-- same idea, but with a reflector; http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/
 
Well how cool is this?! I have everything I need to build one of these. Thanks PM and Snade!
 
Mine sucks but it looks good!

hdtvantennabu2.jpg


:banana::thmbsp::D

Seriously, thanks, I will continue to refine this mess!

jiggawattstd3.jpg
 
it's an array of bowties. I was looking at old Radio Shack catalogs and thinking an indoor or outdoor array like that would probably make a decent HDTV antenna.

I saw someone somewhere near here (deep NW burbs of Bahsten) with two big (long) UHF Yagis with corner reflectors stacked. Bet that gets the job done...
 
With a few construction mods

I built one of these yesterday; rather impressive performance and of course ideal for the fanatically frugal (aka cheap).
I made mine a little differently. I had some scrap plexiglass floating around so I used that instead of the wood. I took some ring connectors, pulled off the insulation crimped and then soldered those in place. Much more reliable then pinching the wires together with wood screws. I screwed it all together with some stainless steel hardware I had floating around.
When I used my 300:75 ohm balun it didn't work so I just put in a stray F-type connector and wired it directly. Might have just been my balun was junk; YMMV.
Works great!
JimB
 

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thisOne said:
so does anyone know if after Feb 17th there will also be new and better digital TV programs or will we be just watching the same analog crap but just converted to digital??? :scratch2:
Click to expand...

Just got my digital converter - Same old crap, just a clearer picture. A few more channels too but they are crap also.

Seriously though, as to the antenna, the digital nature of the transmission will mean that you either have the picture and sound or won't. If you have it, its clear.

Without changing antenna, 2 stations that were very poor reception, one of them unwatchable 90% of the time, are now crystal clear. Again the either you got it or not nature of digital.

The programing on them is still crap however (mostly).
 
Slow day at work so I built one not expecting much but they work well. Gave it to a client who just bought a new set and she was very happy. Mcguiver lives.
 
Damn...wish id seen this thread before the wifey decided to subscribe to Dish...oh well - may try it anyways. :) :thmbsp:
 
Is it really necessary to use 2" screws?

Why not 3/4" screws so no sharp points going through???

Do the screws being horizontal attached to the antenna when this antenna is upright actually serve a purpose in the antenna??

Or are we just using long screws for no good reason?

Do the screws/washers serve any other purpose other than connecting the metal together??? That's the question I'd like answered.

I'll build one today and report back.

I get blips and horrible break up of the signal all the time.

Very annoying.
 
The screw length has no impact on the RF performance. Build one like I did (see post above) with ring terminals; those "pinch" joints are not going to be very reliable longterm.
I'm quite pleased with mine.
JimB.
 
I took apart one eyelet hole crimp thing...and decided screws and washers it is for my first one.

I'll do it better later...

Used a scrap 2x4 and some 14 gauge copper from about 15 feet leftover of 14-2. used about 12 feet total.

....

before this I had an amplified 50db antenna.

With amplified antenna...every station had issues with fluctuating signal strength...lots of blips/break up of the signal. VERY ANNOYING when you are watching a show and the audio blips...at least with analog the video could be scrolling diagonally and not viewable...but you had uninterrupted audio, even if there was static at least it never dropped out.

PBS stations were hard to get in...usually only clear days it would maybe work and only partially.
With non amplified rabbit ears I got almost nothing.

Now with the DIY 2x4 antenna...

PBS is damn near pegged full.

NBC is coming in but I had to rotate the antenna and move it around a few times and got to where it's about 70% but consistent without any drop outs. Still not as high as all the other stations(11, 13, 24, 30, 36) Yup, only 5 stations here.

Yes, my wish is a 14 foot aerial antenna someday. Should be able to pull in all Detroit stations and maybe even Cleveland on nice days...

All other stations come in full minus NBC.

On analog I got all stations ok with some fuzz/ghosting but much much better than I've ever seen it here.

I'm down to a 13" CRT w/ built in VCR currently...


VERY HAPPY with this antenna. I can at least watch TV now without the annoying drop outs and blips.

I'll be sure to try it next time it's really windy out/nasty weather.

Have to make another for the office 13" TV w/ converter box too. Might try to do a little nicer job on that one.

Annoying it took so long to find this...wish I had this DIY 2x4 when I had the 26" HD LCD. I could rarely watch a full episode in HD without blips/drop outs. Car drives by...signal drops...
 
Teron said:
....

before this I had an amplified 50db antenna.
Click to expand...

Well, believe it or not, there is such a thing as too much gain. And, not all gain is good gain if its got a lot of noise in it.

Also, if the gain isn't in the right band, it doesn't do much good.

Just a few passing thoughts...

Glad it's going better for you now.
 
I'll clarify...

I have an adjustable gain 50db.

Typically it was on around 3 leds out of 5.

More gain on a flaky signal = more of a flaky signal IIRC.

I also have used 3 other amplified antennas of various db and the 50 worked best(and that wasn't that good in comparison to the DIY).

The night and day difference on analog was astounding and so it is on digital.

Very cool.

I'll add that anyone using these indoors should be careful.

I was adjusting it on my desk(near a window) and it tilted...

Don't taunt the DIY antenna! It'll poke yer eyes out!!!
 
After a little test time with this antenna...

It's better than what it replaced, sort of.

nbc is still hard to get in, really have to find a good place to rotate/put the antenna for it to come in. Can not get decent strength, mild blipping.
Watched the office on analog and it worked better that way.
Moving the coax cable attached to the antenna around adjusts the signal...

Same as it does with any antenna I have...

Initially I had all stations great, nbc weaker but steady. Now I'm having to move it around when I switch stations...

Still an improvement but not as awesome as I initially thought.

Back to dreaming about a 14ft aerial tower antenna...
 
No need to dream about a tower, a lot of people up here are ripping them out and offering them up for (next to) free!
 
Sure, but the element lengths, spacings, etc. would, of course, have to be redone for the FM frequencies for optimum performance. It would have to be quite a bit larger, afaik, properly tuned for FM.
 
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