Over the air digital TV. Clothes hanger antenna.

[sparkeyjames]

I got my coupon and purchased one DTV converter at Radio Shack. With the government coupon the price was just a shade more than $18. I got the Zenith model DTT901. Features Remote control Cable connection out and composite out + stereo sound out. I had an old Radio Shack powered antenna that never really did work all that well but I figured with the more powerful signal of the DTV broadcasts it would work ok. NOT. The UHF antenna inside it was just a plain old wire loop. I was getting signal strengths of 60 to 70 on a scale of 100. Some channels did not come in at all. Since I'm cheap and my heating bill is killing my wallet right now money for a new antenna is not available. So I decided to make the Clothes Hanger DTV UHF antenna. You can find out how here... http://www.metacafe.com/watch/762088...ought_amazing/.

With this ugly as sin antenna I now get 16 channels vs 13 and my signal strength is now above 90 on the 100 scale on all channels save one and it's a respectable 75 to 80. I have the DTV box piped into my TV card in my computer via the composite connection with the stereo inputs. The video is clean sharp and very stable. Sound quality is excellent. Build time for the antenna is more like in the hour range than the half hour stated but it is a simple build. Works well. Just hide it behind something and no one will ever know unless you tell them. It cost me $0.00 to build this because I already had the wood, hangers, screws, washers, balun (antenna to 75ohm coax converter) and a 4 foot long coax cable with screw on ends.

Jim

[Woody]

Home made Bow toe antenna

All that is a home made bow tie UHF antenna. You can also just buy a Channel Master 4221 and save yourself the trouble. This is design has been around for years. It is perfect for UHF signals. Be careful if any of your local stations are going back to VHF on February 18th.

[dkerfoot]

All that is a home made bow tie UHF antenna. You can also just buy a Channel Master 4221 and save yourself the trouble. This is design has been around for years. It is perfect for UHF signals. Be careful if any of your local stations are going back to VHF on February 18th.

Um... That could be said about any project, including every woodworking project ever posted here. "All that is is a Mission Style Couch. It is an old design. Order one from North Carolina and save yourself the trouble..."

I think it is a pretty cool project and a good cheap way to improve your reception. DIY is always valuable, even if you later decide to replace it with store-bought.

I have an ancient rooftop antenna that I haven't used in the 20 years I have lived here. I tried it yesterday and it pulled in only one HD channel, but since that works, I know it is just a matter of re-aligning it for better reception. I do plan to wait until the switchover (and for my roof to be cleared of ice and snow) before I fiddle with it more.

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[sparkeyjames]

All that is a home made bow tie UHF antenna. You can also just buy a Channel Master 4221 and save yourself the trouble. This is design has been around for years.

Budget not withstanding I probably will get a much better antenna and roof mount it but for the next couple of months the wallet has a squeeze on it called a heating bill courtesy of my local utility company. Yes it is an old design and I remember seeing it a couple of years ago. What the hey it works and it was basically free.

It is perfect for UHF signals. Be careful if any of your local stations are going back to VHF on February 18th.

Checked that out first and all my locals will be staying on the UHF band after the change date.

Jim

[Richard in Smithville]

I wonder how critcal the dimensions are. Could you build one larger ( putting it in your attic) and get stronger reception? I only have a couple of stations closer to me.

[jking]

I noticed the video shows using coated hangers & cleaning off the contact points. I wonder why they didn't just use uncoated hangers?

[thrytis]

I wonder how critcal the dimensions are. Could you build one larger ( putting it in your attic) and get stronger reception? I only have a couple of stations closer to me.

Check out this Lumen Lab thread for details (you'll have to register to read the thread). It discusses some of the measurements which are precise and why. It'll also show how to build a larger one which consists of basically two of those side by side, but each has its own balun and then get joined through another box. I've even seen 4x and 8x versions on the web too. Adding a reflector (as explained on the thread) is also supposed to improve reception.

I noticed the video shows using coated hangers & cleaning off the contact points. I wonder why they didn't just use uncoated hangers?

Maybe their dry cleaner only uses coated hangers. In any case, you'll still need to clean the hangers as even the uncoated ones will have oxidation on them.

I built one recently based on the video and the results are better than some rabbit ears but not every pair i have. I still need to make some modifications like adding the reflector to see if i can improve it at all.

[LCHIEN]

Rabbit ears are essentially VHF antennas (old channel 2-13) and the bow tie antennas are UHF antennas Ch 14-83 or so, most of the digital broadcasting will be done on the UHF channels so the rabbit ears won't work nearly as well as a bow tie.
Who claimed the digital stations broadcast more power? Don't think so.

Trouble with Digital TV is that Analog degrades slowly (more ghosts more snow) as the reception gets worse. Digitial will be great until some threshold then the reception will just fall apart - audio and picture drop outs, pixellation, etc. If you've seen it, it's practically unwatchable. I'd rather watch a broadcast with bad analog reception than with bad digital reception but I won't have a choice after February.

[jking]

Checked that out first and all my locals will be staying on the UHF band after the change date.

Jim

Be careful where you check the UHF/VHF band. I checked on a website that many of the TV stations direct you toward. They said in no uncertain terms that no one in my area needed to buy a VHF antenna because none of the stations will be using VHF bands after the switch over. One of the local stations has on their website that after the switchover they will be converting their VHF transmitter to digital & will broadcast in VHF on a permanent basis. I guess what I'm saying is make sure you check what the individual stations say & not what other website say.

Trouble with Digital TV is that Analog degrades slowly (more ghosts more snow) as the reception gets worse. Digitial will be great until some threshold then the reception will just fall apart - audio and picture drop outs, pixellation, etc. If you've seen it, it's practically unwatchable. I'd rather watch a broadcast with bad analog reception than with bad digital reception but I won't have a choice after February.

We've actually been picking up digital channels for a couple of years; ever since the old TV died & we bought the new one (HDTV). When the signal is good, the picture quality is unbelievable. When it cuts out, it's the very frustrating. Even more frustrating is trying to shop for a new antenna. I'm supposed to be in an area where a regular small set-top antenna works fine, but, we've had alot of trouble with picture quality in the last year. It's hard to find anyone at the stores that can explain why one antenna is better than the other.

[sscherin]

For those people with Dish systems you can run the antenna signal into the house on the same cable as the satellite dish..

You need a splitter called a diplexer on either end.
They only cost $2-4 each..


I have that setup for my house feeding the antenna input on my Dish PVR722.. that model has a DTV tuner built in.. My off air picture looks and sounds better than the dish local channel feed.

I thought it was funny that for the last 30 years years people have been ripping down "those ugly antennas" and now we are all putting them back up again..

Also if you look around you can find a DTV tuner with an S-video output that is on the FCC card list.. I got one at Target and ordered another that runs on 12v for my Suburban

[docrowan]

I think it is a pretty cool project and a good cheap way to improve your reception. DIY is always valuable, even if you later decide to replace it with store-bought.

I agree: not much time or expense involved and it can be done inside during those long winter nights. Besides all that, I live in the middle of a rural county where the largest town is about 8,000 people. Closest city is 30 miles away. I considered a roof top antenna when we first moved here, but didn't want to invest $100 to $150 in something that might pull in 2 stations. If this works I've got almost zero out of pocket cost (I might even have that device floating around in my junk box) and very little time invested. If I get the right four or five channels, I might consider dropping cable.

[4estgump]

Guys and Girls,
I built one of these antennas 3 months ago at a cost of O. It brought in 16 stations. I have the RCA DTA800b1 Box. It has a Smart Antenna Input. So i thought the RCA ANT2000 matching antenna from Solid Signal for a little more than $50.00. Great expectations! This Antenna is a hoax S#*t. Waste of time and money. Only can get 6 channels. For the Price of O i will stick with the coat hanger antenna. Am building a larger one with a reflecter to hang in the attic. Wrote this just for your information.
4est

[jking]

Can anyone explain how an unamplified coat hanger antenna can get better reception than an amplied antenna? I'm not saying I doubt the coat hanger version, I'm just trying to understand what make the coat hanger one better.

[docrowan]

Can anyone explain how an unamplified coat hanger antenna can get better reception than an amplied antenna? I'm not saying I doubt the coat hanger version, I'm just trying to understand what make the coat hanger one better.

Our resident electrical engineers would be much more capable of answering this question, but my casual reading on the subject indicates a great deal of reception quality has to do with the length of the antenna wire. That's why the directions on the video were fairly precise on the measurements. I believe an ideal antenna for a particular frequency is exactly one-half of the wavelength. Since it would not be practical to have a separate chuck of wire for every frequency that you want to tune in to, antennas are more complex and an exercise in compromise.

I have no idea of how the powered amplification works, but I can attest to the fact that a bunch of them are junk. We bought about half a dozen when we lived in another city and none of them did a great deal better than the original rabbit ears that came with the TV.

[docrowan]

By the way, wouldn't stripped, left-over pieces of Romex in the right lengths work as well or better than coat hangers? I've got more Romex than I do coat hangers.