TV Antenna???

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Make one of these out of some aluminum welding rod and a 2 x 4. Works great for the new HD TV signals.

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Daytona 500 on Sunday, works for that.
 
You just HAD to resurrect this, eh?

These DIY antennas----these only work well IF, and I say, IF, I say.........

1.....Whatever design you build provides enough gain for whatever signals are available
2......You are able to mount it high enough if need be
3.......The dern thang is actually built "in tolerance" and BOY IS THAT AN UNDERSTATEMENT

You are talking about UHF signals and UHF antenna design, and I KNOW you are all electrical engineers specializing in UHF antenna theory, design and analysis. I know I am............NOT

But I have built a few antennas, and without decent test equipment, you are not going to optimize some jackass design you found on YouTube.

Not only that but ANY antenna must be properly decoupled from the antenna. In short, and using coax, this amounts to a balun---BALanced-UNbalanced coupling transformer. Otherwise the COAX SHIELD becomes "part of" the antenna system, and your hard wanted gain and directivity just went right out the window

There are rooms full of books written on this stuff. Rooms full.
 
Treblig said:
RRR, This is made and sold by a local boy!!!
Click to expand...

Made outta fence. Alrighty. What is that thing he keeps talkin about that's soldered on that "might come off"? I don't have one of those on my antenna "that I know of" unless it might be "built in".
 
Been doing this for years. Experimented and built several. Got a attic mount 2bay bowtie w/reflector right now and get 35ish local UHF stations. My one VHF Frequency 12 is hit or miss, but i'm looking to do a outdoor tower in the future that will give me 90/100% signal for all of them.

Just remember, the digital # displayed on your tv/box is necessarily the frequency you receive. Some higher numbers may still broadcast on VHF - Freq. 2 to 13. Current UHF freq. is 14 to 36.

If you really want to get into OTA, here a a few sites i use.

RabbitEars.Info........

Albums By holl_ands - ImageEvent

Over-The-Air (OTA) Digital Television

DX Info Centre

Got more, but that should get you started...:thumbsup:
 
Pulling in TV Signals from Orlando and Cocoa Beach 70 miles away to the city of Palm Bay in Florida.

Directional so you have to point it to the cities that have the channels that you want.

Success, it's simple and it works.

Don't have to over think it.

☆☆☆☆☆

Enjoy the NASCAR Race on Sunday.

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Have used these in other states and locations with great success for many years. Even good to take with in an RV.
 
It's just like our car hobby, you find simple things that work well.

That's what makes it fun.
 
Not sure if this will work Rob, but here's a rabbitears from near your location?

RabbitEars.Info

I get anything from signal margin 30+ with my small home made attic unit right now, but all my towers are in the same direction.
 
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RustyRatRod said:
Made outta fence. Alrighty. What is that thing he keeps talkin about that's soldered on that "might come off"? I don't have one of those on my antenna "that I know of" unless it might be "built in".
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That same guy in the video I posted tests just about every outside antenae made. You can check out his other videos to see how the other types/brands perform. He's brutally honest and doesn't hesitate to tell you that an antenae is crap or OK or excellent. I posted the video so can judge for yourself before you buy something that's not going to help you and so you don't waist your money.
 
67Dart273 said:
You just HAD to resurrect this, eh?

These DIY antennas----these only work well IF, and I say, IF, I say.........

1.....Whatever design you build provides enough gain for whatever signals are available
2......You are able to mount it high enough if need be
3.......The dern thang is actually built "in tolerance" and BOY IS THAT AN UNDERSTATEMENT

You are talking about UHF signals and UHF antenna design, and I KNOW you are all electrical engineers specializing in UHF antenna theory, design and analysis. I know I am............NOT

But I have built a few antennas, and without decent test equipment, you are not going to optimize some jackass design you found on YouTube.

Not only that but ANY antenna must be properly decoupled from the antenna. In short, and using coax, this amounts to a balun---BALanced-UNbalanced coupling transformer. Otherwise the COAX SHIELD becomes "part of" the antenna system, and your hard wanted gain and directivity just went right out the window

There are rooms full of books written on this stuff. Rooms full.
Click to expand...
I posted the video for RRR, he was looking for help and prefers NOT to spend an arm and a leg (or an eye, he's running out of eyes...LOL). The guy even goes to the trouble of explaining how well and antenae works with respect to having to get a signal over 1 or 2 ridges (hills) and distances. Most folks aren't savy on how antenaes work when it comes to specs/designs/analysis....eh!!!


FYI - For those who haven't been keeping up, we use the "eh" at the end of some posts so that the members up in Canada can understand what we're trying to explain.....................eh!!:lol:
 
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George Jets said:
Success, it's simple and it works.

Don't have to over think it.

.
Click to expand...

None of this is true.

"I was lucky" would be more accurate

Answer me this? Do you have the same "simple success" when you build an engine? Ever run into something like, maybe, when the bearings just don't fit, because someone sent undersize, or you mis-measured the crank?
 
67Dart273 said:
None of this is true.

"I was lucky" would be more accurate

Answer me this? Do you have the same "simple success" when you build an engine? Ever run into something like, maybe, when the bearings just don't fit, because someone sent undersize, or you mis-measured the crank?
Click to expand...

Don't need to make it so hard, life is to enjoy.
 
Here are some other simple antenna styles that work well too if you can get them in the right spot or get them up high enough.

The longer omni antenna works well for HD TV and is non directional, ran that one at 25' above ground. Standard TV coaxial and no special box required.

It's an antenna that comes with the Z-Boost cell phone boosters. Can buy on e-bay.

Who would have thought they work good for HD TV too.

The short one came from the home builder store, that one did not work as well.

Enjoy, very simple.

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My nephew streams everything that he watches on TV from his phone. No antenae required..........eh!!!

My son uses his phone to cast whatever he wants to see on TV from his phone......no antenae required eh!
 
Treblig said:
My nephew streams everything that he watches on TV from his phone. No antenae required..........eh!!!

My son uses his phone to cast whatever he wants to see on TV from his phone......no antenae required eh!
Click to expand...

Just guessing but he probably has the Mobile Hotspot on his phone to use as an internet connection. Then goes wireless connect from TV to Phone, once you access online you can do most anything. Using Cell Tower Network To bring in the data.

No TV antenna required.

Would be interested to hear more about how they do it.
 
George Jets said:
Just guessing but he probably has the Mobile Hotspot on his phone to use as an internet connection. Then goes wireless connect from TV to Phone, once you access online you can do most anything. Using Cell Tower Network To bring in the data.

No TV antenna required.

Would be interested to hear more about how they do it.
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No Mobile hot spot required ....eh!! Most phones are 4G now so if an FABO member uses their phone for posting here....well then they have a signal from where they can stream from their phone to their TV. Even if you have no internet in your house you would be able to get a phone signal unless you're way, way out in the boonies eh!! If you were that far out in the bonnies you wouldn't be able get an antenae signal anyway, unless you lived way up on mountain top (high altitude)......eh!
 
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Need the unlimited data plan for that as the TV streaming will burn up a standard plan in a few hours.

Yes most phones now are running 4g. Verizon Now has their 5g unlimited plan available, but it's kind of misleading As only a few cities are 5g capable so far, everything else runs back on 4g.

Most people are jumping on their home wifi and out to the internet on their phones to keep their phone data usage down.

Those phones that direct connect to the internet burn data, so if you are not unlimited Its real easy to go over your monthly data allotment. $$$
 
Used my cell as a "hotspot" while watching TV a few years back in Sask. While I was waiting for satellite to get hooked up. Cost me $15 to watch a 1 hour show. That was the end of " hotspotting"
 
4spdragtop said:
Used my cell as a "hotspot" while watching TV a few years back in Sask. While I was waiting for ssatelliteto get hooked up. Cost me $15 to watch a 1 hour show. That was the end of " hotspotting"
Click to expand...

Hotspots are good for a quick temporary backup to check an email or a little bank business as they are secure.

But yeah definitely don't don't want to sit and play YouTube videos for hours, data all gone ????
 
Too much to read, but if anyone hasn’t mentioned it
Antennaweb.org
Type in your address, gives you azimuth and distance

wow, I thought i had resurrected some old ones
 
I had(still have) a good data plan but I. Saskatchewan everything is an hour away lol, so wifi was limited lol.
George Jets said:
Hotspots are good for a quick temporary backup to check an email or a little bank business as they are secure.

But yeah definitely don't don't want to sit and play YouTube videos for hours, data all gone ????
Click to expand...
 
Please don’t tell my mother in law about any of this I have better things to do than build some ‘Life Hack” CRAP this weekend.
 
The channels USED to correspond to the VHF frequencies in the first chart but that is no longer the case. In LA, Channel 2 (HD of course) is 572Mhz but it used to be 55.25Mhz. IIRC channel 2 was the hardest to transmit on old CATV as we had to slope the amps to amp channel 2 more compared to channel 78. Antennas still need ~1/4 wave elements to get the best reception so the best antennas today for the majority of HD UHF are the smaller element sizes, but the old Radio Shack attic or mounted antennas still work good, little end pointing to the transmitter towers locations. In LA, Mt Wilson is the main transmitter tower location NE of LA. Old Channel 2 had about a 196" wavelength, so a 1/4 wave element was the longer 49" ends of the old antennas I drove a 20KVA transfomer to the top of that mountain in my lift gate truck.
OLD channels
2 2 55.25 Mhz
3 3 61.25
4 4 67.25
5 5 77.25
6 6 83.25
7 7 175.25
8 8 181.25
9 9 187.25
10 10 193.25
11 11 199.25
12 12 205.25
13 13 211.25
New channels
KCBS
+ 1 subchannel CBS
LOS ANGELES, CA 2 NNE
(12 miles) UHF
572 Mhz
KNBC
+ 1 subchannel NBC
LOS ANGELES, CA 4 NNE
(12 miles) UHF
602 Mhz
KTLA
+ 3 subchannels CW
LOS ANGELES, CA 5 NNE
(12 miles) UHF
596 Mhz
KABC
+ 2 subchannels ABC
LOS ANGELES, CA 7 NE
(20 miles) VHF-Hi
174 Mhz
KCAL INDEPENDENT
LOS ANGELES, CA 9 NE
(20 miles) VHF-Hi
186 Mhz
KTTV
+ 2 subchannels FOX
LOS ANGELES, CA 11 NE
(20 miles) VHF-Hi
198 Mhz
KCOP
+ 3 subchannels INDEPENDENT
LOS ANGELES, CA 13 NE
(20 miles) VHF-Hi
210 Mhz
KSCI INDEPENDENT
LONG BEACH, CA 18 NE
(19 miles) UHF
494 Mhz
KWHY
+ 6 subchannels INDEPENDENT
LOS ANGELES, CA 22 NE
(19 miles) VHF-Lo
66 Mhz
KVCR-DT PBS
SAN BERNARDINO, CA 24 E
(59 miles) VHF-Lo
76 Mhz
KCET
+ 3 subchannels INDEPENDENT
LOS ANGELES, CA 28 NE
(20 miles) UHF
554 Mhz
KPXN INDEPENDENT
SAN BERNARDINO, CA 30 NE
(19 miles) UHF
530 Mhz
KVMD
+ 8 subchannels INDEPENDENT
TWENTYNINE PALMS, CA 31 NE
(19 miles) UHF
524 Mhz
KMEX-DT INDEPENDENT
LOS ANGELES, CA 34 NE
(20 miles) UHF
590 Mhz
KTBN
+ 4 subchannels INDEPENDENT
SANTA ANA, CA 40 NE
(20 miles) UHF
584 Mhz
KXLA INDEPENDENT
RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA 44 NE
(20 miles) UHF
566 Mhz
KFTR-DT INDEPENDENT
ONTARIO, CA 46 NE
(12 miles) UHF
560 Mhz
KOCE PBS
HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA 50 NE
(19 miles) UHF
494 Mhz
KVEA
+ 2 subchannels INDEPENDENT
CORONA, CA 52 NE
(19 miles) UHF
536 Mhz
KAZA
+ 3 subchannels INDEPENDENT
AVALON, CA 54 NE
(19 miles) UHF
548 Mhz
KDOC
+ 8 subchannels INDEPENDENT
ANAHEIM, CA 56 NE
(20 miles) VHF-Hi
204 Mhz
KJLA INDEPENDENT
VENTURA, CA 57 NE
(20 miles) UHF
692 Mhz
KLCS
+ 3 subchannels PBS
LOS ANGELES, CA 58 NE
(20 miles) UHF
554 Mhz
KRCA
+ 4 subchannels INDEPENDENT
RIVERSIDE, CA 62 NE
(20 miles) VHF-Hi
174 Mhz
KBEH
+ 7 subchannels INDEPENDENT
GARDEN GROVE, CA 63 NE
(19 miles) UHF
638 Mhz
KILM
+ 4 subchannels INDEPENDENT
INGLEWOOD, CA 64 NE
(19 miles) UHF
650 Mhz
 
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