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1968FormulaS340

1968FormulaS340

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The wife and I decided to tell the cable company to "Take this bill and shove it!".

Made an HD antenna with plans off the internet. Hung it in the attic and aimed it with a compass.

We get 30ish free channels. Couple that with a low $8 a month Netflix account and we are covered for all out TV needs.

If you want to do the same, plans and an aiming tool are located in the links below.

We had been waiting for our cable contract to run out, and this was the month it ended.

Antenna cost was $30. That could be cut in half if you use coat hangers instead of solid copper wire.

My TV picture is outstanding.

http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=29
http://m4antenna.eastmasonvilleweather.com/Drawings/PDF Drawings.html
http://blog.jdpfu.com/2012/08/03/diy-hdtv-antenna-deployment-and-results
 

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How far away are your local stations and how many trees do you have around? I just cannot hardly believe that thing would work better than what I have on the roof but it sounds like it might.
 
Most of the towers are 25-50 miles away (according to tvfool.com). The tree situation in the immediate area isn't bad.

I'm actually shocked. The picture is now what I would expect from HD. Far superior to what was coming through the DirectTV box.

That's just a chunk of 2x4 I had out in the shed.
 
Good job, but I'm not sure you needed to go to all that trouble.

(I also "stuffed" the cable guy in the last few days)



I've said this before................THERE IS NO SUCH THING as an "HDTV antenna."

TV antennas work the same today as they did the first time I ever saw a TV which was about 1955.

There's no need to build one, you can just go to Radio Shack and buy one. But don't fall into the "hype" and advertising BS about "HD."

One thing anyone needs to do is to determine where your TV transmitters are in your area (if you are in a fringe area especially) and whether there are translator (relay) stations more local (as there are here.)

You also need to determine if some are on VHF AND THERE ARE SOME

For example, in my area, there WERE stations still on VHF when I put up "the big" antenna and there still are a couple of "little independents" which are too weak to receive.

But in the last couple of years, most all the major stations have installed local relay stations, so that "reaching out" clear to Spokane is no longer a problem

http://www.radioshack.com/family/in...K&znt_medium=RSCOM&znt_content=CT2032189&pg=2

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...ce=CAT&znt_medium=RSCOM&znt_content=CT2032189
 

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This is my amateur tower, and the corner reflector UHF antenna pointed at the local hilltop where "all the translators" are

To put a scale on size that old tri-band antenna is known as a "Wilson System 1" and the boom is 26 feet

The 6 elements on 6 meters above it is 20 ft long
 

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67Dart273, you are right. I should have just called it an antenna. I have seen you comment on that before.

I know I could have bought one but it was more fun building it. Only took about an hour.
 
Are you an amateur? Or did you just find the plans on the www?

I've built some VHF / UHF antennas and lots of wire (HF) antennas, but usually with the higher freqs it's about as easy and sometimes as cheap to buy 'em.

Antenna materials, copper and aluminum, are not easy to come by.
 
Very useful information. It's crazy how much cable companies charge while giving crappy service. I cancelled months ago, don't miss it, the public library has 1000's of dvd's.
 
Cancelled in 04 or 05. Between internet, dvd,vhs, over the air reception, I don't mliss the bill, or having 209 channels with nothing to watch.
 
3404speed said:
http://www.antennaweb.org is a pretty cool site to determine what stations you can get locally.
Click to expand...

In my area, that page is very incomplete, and does not show the local translators

This thing is a lot better, at least for my area

http://www.tvfool.com

The output for my area:

The pie chart is azimuth, and the chart gives you other info including signal strength, with the strongest stations at the top, expressed in neg dBm

Even this does not show all the sub channels, IE 3 total for PBS channel 7 (WA), 4 total for PBS 26 (Idaho), 2 for channel 4 (ME TV) and 2 for channel 28 (THIS movie network)
 

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It is ridiculous how expensive cable is. My work has been pretty slow the last few years so we have been cutting things to save money. Cable was one of the first when I looked at the bill it was about 300 a month including internet, all the DVRs, 2 HD DVRs so many channels and hardly nothing on. Cancelled it all and just upgraded the internet to 50mbps for right around 50 bucks a month... Still expensive but with 4 kids, the wife and myself plus the phones tablets and laptops the lower tiered service just wasn't enough.
 
I just got tired of paying for something I couldn't get "my way". We had to buy an expensive package to get the hand full of channels we wanted.

They were not willing to sell me the product I wanted so I stopped buying.
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
I just got tired of paying for something I couldn't get "my way". We had to buy an expensive package to get the hand full of channels we wanted.

They were not willing to sell me the product I wanted so I stopped buying.
Click to expand...

My roof is metal, will this thing work in my attic with a metal roof.
 
moparmat2000 said:
My roof is metal, will this thing work in my attic with a metal roof.
Click to expand...

You might get lucky but odds are against it.

Like I said, you need to research "whut" is in your area. As I tried to explain "for me" it's a mixed bag

There's (now) quite a bunch of the better stuff being relayed from a hilltop near me. I just happen to be in a great location for this.

But some of the main stuff in Spokane is shaded by a hilltop between the transmitter an me. The main channel 2 (on "Tower Mt." on an EIGHT HUNDRED FOOT tower!!!) was marginal until the translator went up on the near hill

(That is one tower I have not been up, but it has an elevator, LOL)

Some of the PBS stuff is on that same mt. on a shorter tower, and I could not receive it, even after putting an "impressive" antenna up

This "impressive" antenna turned out to be nearly worthless, as it gained me only one channel that I could not previously receive. It's a huge combo UHF/ VHF yagi/ corner reflector on a 14' boom, hung off my tower at about 40 ft on a side arm with a rotator so that I can aim it a few degrees.

All that work gained me squat. And now, I don't use it

So the point? is that "it depends" on your area and where you are.
 
I think I'll keep my cable. I tried the link and found what I already know...

"Up to 3 channels from 2 stations"
 
So with this antenna do you need the convertor box at the TV?

I have been back on a antenna for the last year but the convertor boxes you can buy are **** for the most part I have found.
 
zhandfull said:
So with this antenna do you need the convertor box at the TV?

I have been back on a antenna for the last year but the convertor boxes you can buy are **** for the most part I have found.
Click to expand...

Depends on whether your TV is new enough to have a digital tuner. Mine are all older analog only

And you are right----these digital boxes that I know are garbage.

I had 4, I think one came from a garage sale, made by Digital Stream (Radio Shack) and all but one have failed. One the video output still works, the RF output failed, but the other two failed completely.
 
MTmopars said:
I think I'll keep my cable. I tried the link and found what I already know...

"Up to 3 channels from 2 stations"
Click to expand...

Just depends, LOL. I grew up in Sandpoint. In some areas of the "fringe" you could get !!!WOW!!! ALL THREE channels, but where we lived, channel 4 was pretty much "it."
 
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