Very Good $2.00 Homemade Antenna For HDTV

[Jim5506]

Many analog VHF channels are currently broadcasting on UHF (requires different antenna band). Some will move back to VHF at midnight 2-17-09 the rest will remain UHF. If you had a VHF antenna, it will not work for UHF channels. If you have a UHF antenna and your digitals are VHF, you probably would not get anything. If you had a UHF/VHF antenna it should still work.

FCC has supposedly set the power ranges for Digital transmission to closely mimic the transmission ranges of the old analog system.

 

[Gorbash]

What is the range of this antenna?

I live in the boonies, about 90 Miles from Houston, and the antenna I use now gets a signal, but any clouds or rain and the signal drops to nothing, even with a booster.

 

[dlsnyder]

Is it easier to pickup the digital signals than the analog signals? Is it true that the picture will either be crystal clear or not come in at all like satellite? Will there be some people that could get a good analog OTA signal but no digital signal at all? There is a lot of terrain and trees where I live and I have people asking me about this transition and what it means to them. Some people cannot afford satellite at this time and rely on their OTA for reception.

Can these handmade antennas pickup digital stations yet not pickup any analog stations?

I wouldn't say it is easier to pick up digital channels as opposed to analog. Part of it has to do with the broadcaster, and whether or not they are transmitting with their full authorized power (which they should all be doing now). The FCC allowed broadcasters to use less power to reach their DMA with digital transmission than they did with analog, partly because what you say is true - with digital you either have a perfect picture or you have nothing. In practical terms though, if you live right on the edge of a transmitter's coverage area, or if you have problems with multipath (same as "ghosting" on an analog signal) then you could have a perfect picture accompanied by pixelation and dropouts. You would also see the signal meter fluctuate a lot on your reciever. If you currently have a nice clear picture on the analog channels you should have no trouble with digital using the same antenna. Even if you have a snowy analog picture, as long as there is minimal ghosting, you should get a useable digital signal and a perfect picture.

I am fortunate here in the Inland Empire, about 55 miles from the Los Angeles transmitters on Mt. Wilson. We have some pretty mountainous areas here, as you do there I'm sure Stargazer. Most of the valley I am in actually has a line of sight to Mt. Wilson. On a clear day, if you know where to look, you can actually see it just about due west of us. TV signals come in strong and clear. I just have a tiny RS yagi antenna on 5-ft mast section on my roof, with an old Winegard UHF amp to cover the line loss for distribution throughout my house. Works beautifully! Hopefully you are similarly fortunate in your location.

 

[RockinHARD26]

Pictures, Where are some nice hot to do pictures?

 

[bradleys]

Is it easier to pickup the digital signals than the analog signals? Is it true that the picture will either be crystal clear or not come in at all like satellite? Will there be some people that could get a good analog OTA signal but no digital signal at all? There is a lot of terrain and trees where I live and I have people asking me about this transition and what it means to them. Some people cannot afford satellite at this time and rely on their OTA for reception.

Can these handmade antennas pickup digital stations yet not pickup any analog stations?

I'm about one mile from the transmitting towers of channels 4, 5, 7 here in Seattle. The towers are on a hill, and I'm in a valley. My old analog picture had five to seven ghosts, due to all the bouncing around of the signal. It was totally unwatchable. The digital picture is perfect for all three channels.

My digital "antenna" consists of a balun connected to coax which feeds into my 622 box. There is nothing connected to the balanced feed on the balun, it just uses the four inch piece of flat feed cable.

Of course, my situation is unusual, but it does show an interesting advantage of digital versus analog. It also helps that I'm so close to the transmitters that I can microwave food just by holding it out the window. :

 

[hokiecb]

I decided to mess around and build one of these. Its picking up my abc,cbs, & nbc affiliates 45 miles away.

 

[BlackHitachi]

I decided to mess around and build one of these. Its picking up my abc,cbs, & nbc affiliates 45 miles away.

Looks GREAT!:up

 

[jhamps10]

Also Folks in far outlying areas, can Double the prongs up and down, and that will help things out real well, in fact getting some reports of folks in B.C. Being able to pickup the seattle-Tacoma stations real well.

The thread on a website that started all of the DIY antenna boom:
DIY HDTV antenna - Lumenlab

 

[tomyo10]

slightly off the subject line, but is there something available that can be attached to the dish itself to pull in HD locals? It would make perfect sense for me since the transmitter is sitting about 8 miles SW of my home. I figure I could run some cable along the same path as it is running now.

 

[Packer Bill]

I was wondering - could you use PLASTIC coat hangers instead of the metal ones??

That way it wouldn't rust if you mounted it outside.

 

[Miner]

Packer Bill,

I'm pretty sure they have to be metal. Or something that is conductive to the frequency of the the VHF/UHF band.

Miner

 

[whatchel1]

Roughly

What is the range of this antenna?

I live in the boonies, about 90 Miles from Houston, and the antenna I use now gets a signal, but any clouds or rain and the signal drops to nothing, even with a booster.

It is a home made copy of a Channel Master 4221 without the backscreen. The frequency range would be channels 14 -69 (470 to 806 MHz). As I say roughly it may down as far as VHF channel 10 but couldn't count on that. Also it is not designed to pick up from more than about 25 miles. With the backscreen the 4221 will pick up as far is 45 miles. It big brother the 4228 will go as far out as 60 miles. In Houston area there is a ch 5 digital channel so you need a really good VHF/UHF antenna for 90 miles away.

 

[dodge]

I was wondering - could you use PLASTIC coat hangers instead of the metal ones??

That way it wouldn't rust if you mounted it outside.

no, but you can lacquer the wire, or better yet use aluminum grounding wire, or copper.

 

[tarheel]

I think it will have more than 25 mile range.

It is a home made copy of a Channel Master 4221 without the backscreen. The frequency range would be channels 14 -69 (470 to 806 MHz). As I say roughly it may down as far as VHF channel 10 but couldn't count on that. Also it is not designed to pick up from more than about 25 miles. With the backscreen the 4221 will pick up as far is 45 miles. It big brother the 4228 will go as far out as 60 miles. In Houston area there is a ch 5 digital channel so you need a really good VHF/UHF antenna for 90 miles away.

As I stated in the original post, I have made 2 of these antennas. One for me & one for my son who lives about 3 miles away with the same terrain and # of 60' pine trees near our houses. I use the tuner of a E* VIP211 & he use built in HD tuner of a Pan. TC32LX70 32" HD LCD. Our nearest tranismitting tower is 32 miles out with others up to 47 miles away & some towers are east & east southeast and some are west of our location and the antenna is pointed in one direction. I think it works great & not just as a homemade rig but for any small UHF antenna.

 

[Super Dave]

Packer Bill,

I'm pretty sure they have to be metal. Or something that is conductive to the frequency of the the VHF/UHF band.

Miner

Not into sarcastic smilies, eh?

 

[Miner]

Super Dave,

I liked the idea. And I wonder if there is a plastic that would conduct the RF. Probably not a plastic coat hanger though.

 

[jrp]

An ice storm felled my channel master in December and took out my HD locals. I wasn't in the mood to pop for a new antenna.

I built an eight bay today with junk from around the house and $4.71 worth of washers and wire from the local hardware store, using a 2x4 frame to hold a chicken wire reflector behind the coat hanger bow ties. It is now sitting on the ground behind the house and I'm about 40 miles from the towers.

Prior to putting it out, the only signal I got was 59 on CBS. Now the lowest I'm getting is 79 with good, locked picture on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. It might not be pretty (in fact, now that I know it works, I'll likely try to refined its appearance and minimize its weight so it can be properly mounted), but the performance is impressive.

 

[jrp]

Fine tuning for UHF

I've had my homemade antenna hooked up for almost two weeks now. It pulls in 3 of the 5 UHF signals available with great signals. On the other two, I get the dreaded yellow screen.

The follwing information comes from tvfool.com. The three channels I'm getting (Fox, NBC & CBS) broadcast at UHF 16, 19 & 31, respectively and I'm reading signal strengths between 81 and 100. The other two (Public and ABS) broadcast at 50 and 59, respectively. I'm not reading anything for them. The towers are very close together, 32.5 to 33.8 miles from me at between 347 to 348° magnetic north, so I'd think an antenna aimed at one would well aimed at all of them. Transmission signal strengths are also similar: -72.9 to -76.6 RdBm). Estimated Line of Sight height is between 32 and 34.8 feet. The two channels I'm not receiving are at the lower end of the LOS height.

Currently, my antenna is sitting upright on the ground, and will be until the frost goes out of the ground. Is there anything I can do until then to fine tune my reception, or is height my only friend at this point?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Smith P.]

Ant obstruction between the antenna and the tower ?

 

[jrp]

Ant obstruction between the antenna and the tower ?

No obstructions, just 30+ miles and the curvature of the earth. There are a few small trees in a fence line about 100+ yards away. Of course, they have no leaves right now.