I made an antenna

[jhu]

I basically copied this one. Holy crap! I'm now getting all the channels in our area at high signal strength. Man, I should have made one earlier...

 

[Gothgar]

 

[octopus41092]

Originally posted by: Gothgar

:beer:

 

[I Saw OJ]

Wow, thats freaking awesome. I'm tempted to run to home depot right now and buy all that shit....

 

[Andrew1990]

hmm, Maybe something like this will help my crappy radio antenna on my van while moving?

 

[MoPHo]

Good Job!

 

[nutxo]

I made a hdtv antenna last year and it got put in the garage and broke. A few weeks ago our cable went down so I hooked up a regular old set of rabbit ears. I was getting like 20 channels and most look better than what I get with cable.

 

[jhu]

Originally posted by: nutxo
I made a hdtv antenna last year and it got put in the garage and broke. A few weeks ago our cable went down so I hooked up a regular old set of rabbit ears. I was getting like 20 channels and most look better than what I get with cable.

where we live, our $9 Radio Shack antenna only gave us 4 channels and only sometimes. Now we get 21 channels. It's pretty neat. I just wished I had this thing during the Superbowl.

 

[beat mania]

Originally posted by: jhu
I basically copied this one. Holy crap! I'm now getting all the channels in our area at high signal strength. Man, I should have made one earlier...

It says it needs 2 metal washers but where are those used?

 

[silverpig]

There are entire forums dedicated to this type of thing. You made a version of a gray-hoverman antenna. If you do some careful fabrication and use some good materials, it's possible to pick up stations from 150 miles away with this antenna. Not common, but possible.

 

[Auggie]

Houston to San Antonio is right about 200 miles. I remember about 3 years ago for two nighs in a row I was able to recieve watchable signal from that far away on my plain old $4 RadioShack bunny ears. I wonder what environmental/meteorological circumstance made that possible. Hasn't happened at all in the last few years.

 

[Freshgeardude]

time for the real world. who the fuck uses antenna anymore. do u live in a remote area or what

 

[lxskllr]

That's pretty cool. If I watched TV I'd try to build one also :^)

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: freshgeardude
time for the real world. who the fuck uses antenna anymore. do u live in a remote area or what

Lots of folks recieve FREE OTA broadcasts including myself. I live in a large metro area with plenty of available choices.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Auggie
Houston to San Antonio is right about 200 miles. I remember about 3 years ago for two nighs in a row I was able to recieve watchable signal from that far away on my plain old $4 RadioShack bunny ears. I wonder what environmental/meteorological circumstance made that possible. Hasn't happened at all in the last few years.

200 miles is extreme even for people with highly tuned dual bay gray-hovermans on a tall pole in an ideal location with a good preamp. You were probably getting the signal from some repeater station.

Of course there is the EXTREMELY slight chance that you got some bounce off the ionosphere which does happen at night and is a matter of environmental/meteorological cirucumstance, but picking it up with rabbit ears is pretty nuts.

 

[So]

Quite cool. I think I'll try and build one the next weekend I have. :thumbsup: jhu!

 

[Unheard]

I made an antenna and talked to New Zealand from TN on it. Beat that.

 

[Unheard]

Originally posted by: silverpig

Originally posted by: Auggie
Houston to San Antonio is right about 200 miles. I remember about 3 years ago for two nighs in a row I was able to recieve watchable signal from that far away on my plain old $4 RadioShack bunny ears. I wonder what environmental/meteorological circumstance made that possible. Hasn't happened at all in the last few years.

200 miles is extreme even for people with highly tuned dual bay gray-hovermans on a tall pole in an ideal location with a good preamp. You were probably getting the signal from some repeater station.

Of course there is the EXTREMELY slight chance that you got some bounce off the ionosphere which does happen at night and is a matter of environmental/meteorological cirucumstance, but picking it up with rabbit ears is pretty nuts.

There has been quite a bit of sporadic E lately. I was receiving TV stations out of Europe the other day.

 

[mrblotto]

I'd like to see a side view of that antenna in the OP's post. If I'm reading it correctly, is there a space between the 'back and forth' wires (reflector grid) and the 'diamond shaped' (antenna) wires?

 

[IEC]

Marked for later. I need an antenna, might as well build it myself.

 

[SonnyDaze]

Did you mount it somewhere or does it just lean against the wall?

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

pics?

 

[zoiks]

Yeah. Where do you put it? I'm sure it looks fugly in the living room.

 

[jhu]

Originally posted by: mrblotto
I'd like to see a side view of that antenna in the OP's post. If I'm reading it correctly, is there a space between the 'back and forth' wires (reflector grid) and the 'diamond shaped' (antenna) wires?

Yes, there's a gap between the front wires and rear wires.

Originally posted by: beat mania
It says it needs 2 metal washers but where are those used?

I think they're for the connection that you see the wires coming out of in his picture. I didn't use any myself though. I just strung up some steel wire around the connection point and connected it to a coax cable.

Originally posted by: SonnyDaze
Did you mount it somewhere or does it just lean against the wall?

It's just leaning against a corner somewhere.

Originally posted by: silverpig
There are entire forums dedicated to this type of thing. You made a version of a gray-hoverman antenna. If you do some careful fabrication and use some good materials, it's possible to pick up stations from 150 miles away with this antenna. Not common, but possible.

Since the wife demanded NBC by whatever means possible, well here we are. I'm just glad it worked.

 

[silverpig]

Heh, glad you enjoy it. OTA HDTV is a real treat