Señor Cheap Bastard Free or ultra cheap DTV antenna!

[Dean]

I inherited a 50" Sony rear projection 3 LCD HDTV. (Needed a new lamp)

I am cheap and won't pay Charter for their HD package...

I fired up an old small roof top antenna that had been hanging in the garage on the back deck to see what I could get Over The Air.

Got a bunch, and determined despite what Antennaweb.org and tvfool.com say, all Reno DTV appears to be on UHF.

So interweb research for home brew UHF antennas began...

There are some great ones that are pulling in DTV channels from 50-100+ miles!!! Tons of coat hangers, dollar store and scap/parts bin near free solutions out there...

Coat hanger and 2x4 Video

YouTube- Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna!

YouTube- Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna!

Similar coat hanger design with aluminum foil reflector Web page with pictures & directions:
http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/

And a huge thread with a bunch of great info and designs.
http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613

I am probably going to make a DB-4 (coat hanger model) this weekend.

Anybody got some spare TREX or other plastic wood deck scraps lying around. They apparently make great weatherproof bases to build on. Wire coat hangers or scrap solid core copper wire? Romex?

I have a ton of Baluns and RG-59/U. Anu spare RG-6/U out there?

Anybody else want to build one?

Db-4 w/reflector and a funky one just for yucks...

[cody]

I have an antenna that plugs into the wall and it's supposed to get over the air HD channels but when I tried it after buying it last year, it didn't get me anything. You can have it if you want.

[Dean]

Originally Posted by cody

I have an antenna that plugs into the wall and it's supposed to get over the air HD channels but when I tried it after buying it last year, it didn't get me anything. You can have it if you want.

Does it repel rodents and spiders as well? Might have some useful parts though and pack rats always need more stuff.

[ScottyS]

All I have is RG-8 (for HF radio).

[tysonK]

So you get like 3 more Spanish channels with a good ant?

[Dean]

Originally Posted by tysonK

So you get like 3 more Spanish channels with a good ant?

I don't have LOS to Peavine, so even an amplified mini loop gets me none of the major networks.

My old rooftop antenna has a relatively small UHF array, but pulls in most of them fairly well, but not great. And it is relatively huge!

[cody]

That's what I have, an amplified mini loop that looks roughly like the image you have above. Didn't do ish.

[tysonK]

My ant sitting on my bookcase near the ceiling gets all the majors perfect and the spanish and pbs ones. I guess I'm just lucky.

Does the TV matter at all or is it all in the ant?

[Dean]

Originally Posted by tysonK

My ant sitting on my bookcase near the ceiling gets all the majors perfect and the spanish and pbs ones. I guess I'm just lucky.

Does the TV matter at all or is it all in the ant?

TV's sensitivity can matter, but they are all pretty good. We have been tuning UHF for quite a few years, and PLL digital tuning chipsets are damn good.

It is as much about distance and obstacles as it is about antenna design. RF is an inverse square thing, so 2 times the distance = 1/4 the signal strength. Dirt between you and the antenna is also bad as RF doesn't pass through it well. The closer the obstacle is to you, the worse it is. You can also get reflections off of large structures like sky scrapers if you are near them that will partially cancel or corrupt the signal.

Most of the majors are up on Peavine and/or Mt Rose. so if you can see them, or can almost see them, most any antenna will work. The further away you get or more obstacles, the better the antenna you need.

I can't see either mountain even jumping up and down on my roof. Large mounds of dirt & rock North and South...

I get zero majors with the little antenna even with the amp cranked to 11.

With my deck mounted roof antenna, no amp and only 20' of cable, (you lose signal in cable as well), I get low 60s% signal strength according to my TV. This is just barely stable and occasionally drops out.

I want something a little more stable. I had an idea and built a double "quad" base this morning, but need to build a reflector for it. it is deceptively simple. I may double it up to be a 4 loop "quad" if it doesn't cut it. 2 stacked figure eights insulated at the upper and lower crossovers. Broadcast TV is vertically polarized, so the loops actually need to be one on top of the other. I am just to lazy to rotate the photo.(And don't ask me why they are called quads... Each loop is a single wavelength, so it makes no sense to me.)