TV Antennas?

[Greg Cuetara]

I made one of these out of some scrap wood, old electrical wire and I get quite a few stations right now so have not thought about spending lots to get one from the store.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pin...0005813813376/

[Ed Aumiller]

Greg, I made one of them about 10 years ago... used it on my shop until this year....trees caused me to change ....
It worked great until the trees grew and the leaves blocked the signal, especially when it rained...

I am about 50 miles from station antenna....

[Tom Stenzel]

Wade,

Another site you can go to is https://nocable.org. That site will tell you the channels should be able to get plus where they are in the TV band. If you don't have a chance for any VHF stations then you don't have to concern yourself purchasing an antenna to chase them. UHF only makes the antenna a lot smaller.

The antenna plan Greg posted is the one I use in the garage (a digital to analog converted box hooked to a 12" TV. But last year I upgraded the TV from a 12" K-Mart black and white to color! Woo Hoo!!) I added a pair of old brazing rods to pull in VHF. It works well but it's directional so I have it able to rotate 90 degrees.

Here in Detroit we have two VHF stations, three if you want to watch channel 9 from Windsor. Hockey Night in Canada is important so long rabbit ears or rooftop is mandatory!

The antennas we've gotten from the box stores have been pretty meh. The best indoor antenna I have is an amplified RCA set of rabbit ears I bought from a garage sale for a buck. One of my better finds.

The TV in the basement is hooked to a RCA 1304GM with amplifier. One of the larger square black plastic panel jobs. It gets the UHF stations pretty good but only one of the VHF stations comes in at all and it's pretty spotty. It is in a basement so it does have a handicap.

-Tom

[Jerome Stanek]

Wade,

Another site you can go to is https://nocable.org. That site will tell you the channels should be able to get plus where they are in the TV band. If you don't have a chance for any VHF stations then you don't have to concern yourself purchasing an antenna to chase them. UHF only makes the antenna a lot smaller.

The antenna plan Greg posted is the one I use in the garage (a digital to analog converted box hooked to a 12" TV. But last year I upgraded the TV from a 12" K-Mart black and white to color! Woo Hoo!!) I added a pair of old brazing rods to pull in VHF. It works well but it's directional so I have it able to rotate 90 degrees.

Here in Detroit we have two VHF stations, three if you want to watch channel 9 from Windsor. Hockey Night in Canada is important so long rabbit ears or rooftop is mandatory!

The antennas we've gotten from the box stores have been pretty meh. The best indoor antenna I have is an amplified RCA set of rabbit ears I bought from a garage sale for a buck. One of my better finds.

The TV in the basement is hooked to a RCA 1304GM with amplifier. One of the larger square black plastic panel jobs. It gets the UHF stations pretty good but only one of the VHF stations comes in at all and it's pretty spotty. It is in a basement so it does have a handicap.

-Tom

I just tried that site and it gave me 13 stations but I get 40 with a home made antenna

[Jim Koepke]

I just tried that site and it gave me 13 stations but I get 40 with a home made antenna

Would you have felt better if they listed 40 of which you could only receive 13? They likely are basing their numbers on most likely for your area given distance, geographic obstructions and quality of received sound/image.

The site didn't seem to do much but wig out for me.

jtk

[Wade Lippman]

Digital tv only uses the UHF bands so the old long arms on a big antenna are no longer needed. That does not stop makers from selling the old long arm designs because that is what tv antennas should look like. You could cut off the back half of those antennas and never notice except it would be hard to balance on the pole.
Bill D

Of the 4 I want, 2 are UHF and 2 are VHF. Oddly, with my plastic sheet, sometimes i got the 2 UHF strong, and sometimes the 2 VHF, but never all 4.

[Wade Lippman]

I like the yagi antenna, do not think you will need an amp if you use an outside antenna...

ebay item 174653508659

Remember that the hdtv signal needs basically a line of sight to transmitter... buildings, trees, etc can block signal...

I've seen that one a few places. It is well priced. How far are you and how does it work for you?

[Myk Rian]

I made one of these out of some scrap wood, old electrical wire and I get quite a few stations right now so have not thought about spending lots to get one from the store.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.pin...0005813813376/

That's exactly what I made. I have it screwed onto a rafter in the garage.