Here's how to build your own HD antenna for attic use. For almost nothing. http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/
That just happens to be my budget. I'll look into that. I think I have everything needed just laying around in the garage. That sounds like a weekend project. But it'll have to be next weekend. My daughter is being born this coming Friday, if not a little sooner. Thanks for the link.
@ garmoon You are a Prince! Your build looks just like the $69.00 antenna(plus extras) I just bought. Mine isn't installed in the attic so don't know comparisons, but understand attic installs reduce reception by 50%.
That article let me to do a search to find some more examples of DIY antennas. I read through about 15 of the 43 pages on that article. Fascinating stuff. http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613 Looks like they are using 300 ohm to 75 ohm transformers.
what some people don't know about antenna's versus satalite, is you will get a better picture with antenna over satalite, because with satalite the signal has to be compresses to fit in the streem down to the reciever, and you don't have to do that with antenna, i use a antenna that is 50 ft with a booster, bigest city where the bradcast coming from is 100 miles, i get 8 stations.
@burNasty The transformer is simple a 300 ohm Flat TV antenna wire to 75ohm (round cable wire) The flat wire of the TF on the screws and the 75 ohn cable screws onto TF and other end goes to set. I haven't made this antenna. I just took an old aluminum VHF-UHF antenna and laid it in my attic pointing toward towers. I'm at least 20 miles from tower and getting signal that is pretty good. Equal to my HD cable signal. Back up my cable if it goes out. I seems very easy a project to do! @hobbit I wish I could take credit for the antenna, but alas it's not mine. I found it with google last year when I got my HD TV.
Could I technically make two or three of these point them in different directions, connect with a diplexor and throw in a preamp and get better reception without the use of a rotator.
I have not built one but My Dad built two of them (different from the link). We are in Burlington, ON. He pointed one to Toronto and picked up CBC. He pointed the other towards Buffalo, NY (about 70 km away) and was able to get Fox, ABC, PBS and CBS. The NBC transmitter was not strong enough to get a signal. The thing with DTV is you either get a perfect signal or not. There is no fuzzy picture like old analog signals.
I finished an 8 bay UHF multidirectional antenna. I used the DB8 as a template. I put it in my attic which has metal lining the entire surface of my roof. I get remarkable reception on all local channels. The hd content looks better than the compressed stuff I was getting from dishnetwork. I live in McKinney Texas and according to antennaweb live atleast 43 miles from the nearest tower. I copied nearly all charectoristics of the db8 and am not going back to cable or sat. again. I did pair my antenna with an amplifying splitter 1-4. It was a 10 db amp with extremely low noise. I didn't need it when testing but after throwing in a few diplexors and around 100ft. of cable. I now don't have to worry about cut outs or poor reception. I bought all materials new and it cost a total of $53 from Lowe's (not inluding the amp which cost $29). The DB8 with tax and shipping was around $150. That is a pretty big savings if you ask me.
I have. There is a dedicated G-H page here: http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna Also, a forum thread here: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=81982 Finished mine yesterday. Two ATSC stations that were marginal are now much better. Exactly what I was hoping for. And I'm close enough to those still on VHF (9-10 miles) that I don't have to worry. Before I can show you the Gray-Hoverman, It looks like I'll need a photobucket (or similar) account, then create links to the photo. Could take a few days. Mine is a PVC framework holding both a the driven elements (the "kinky wires") and a wire mesh "hardware screen" (instead of the pictured straight rods) behind. It's about 27.5 inches wide and 35.5 inches tall. It CAN be done indoors, that's why I did it (I'm limited to indoors). When my parents get their converter box, I'll compare the "bars" of signal strength, but for now, I can confirm the signals are stronger. And OTA HDTV = no ghosts. Nice! Here's a link to some gain figures for popular antennae: http://www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/comparing.html I probably could have crafted some kind of a stand and used the Channel Master 4221 indoors. I didn't think about time/money tradeoff, I just started building the DIY. I used the Radio Shack 15-1140.
Okay, here it is. Forgive the complicated background. It is about 27 inches wide and 35.5 inches tall. And the base is only 8 inches by 10 inches, to sit on today's small DVD players. A couple of channels that were "sometimes" received are now reliable. In fact, I can turn the antenna further away from the "correct" compass heading than I thought I could. Of course your mileage may vary. Look at the gain figures by following the links in my previous post. The "rabbit ears" I had been using were advertised as "up to 25dB gain". Clearly over-hyped, I was ripped off. This antenna doesn't give 25dB, but it delivers EVERY BIT of what it promises. Your mileage may vary, but I'd definitely recommend this antenna. Especially if you are restricted to indoors. Try it out. Using scrap wood and wire is cheap and quick (an hour or so). Place it behind something (like a TV cabinet) and you'll hardly notice it is there. And don't forget to post back. (There is a Gray-Hoverman thread at www.digitalhome.ca. It is Canadian, but USians can sign up too.)
Did you bother to glue all the pvc tubes and couplers together. If so, where did you begin? You could string different colored Xmas lights thru out inside the tubes and get an "art deco" effect! LOL How many trips to the hardware store did it take to get all the correct pieces?
yes i do and it looks/works great . picture looks better than cable or sat. beening its not compressed
@ZOSO I have just a plain old vanilla TV antenna lying in my attic that gets the local stations. Picture is great. I have it as a back up in case cable goes out which is rarely. I've been tempted to make the one I link to early in this thread tho.
