Professionally Built Coathanger UHF HD Antenna

[69gort]

I just built one of these - it works very well. Instead of coat hangers, I used copper clad steel welding rod. The sticks are 36" long and were $.59/ea. I needed 5 of them. Much stiffer and nicer material than a coat hanger, and cheap, too. I mocked it up on a 2x4, and tack welded the welding rods together with a MIG. Found the 75/300 ohm transformer at ACE for $3.50, so I have just under $7 into the thing.

[arienrivendell]

the length between the "V" and the reflector?

[n3uro42]

@arienrivendell

Half the length of your whiskers. Most people are using 7" whiskers on the coathanger units. So a 2x4 is 3.5" tall and works perfectly. To get the upper range of UHF you need slightly longer ones though. For philly market I needed 9.5" IIRC

[vorkev1]

that is a great desine and works great.

[ufoengines]

Has anybody made a fractal dtv antenna that uses Kock's Snowflake?

Seems like it would be made of one lenght of wire like the old uhf loop antenna.

[wow1022]

one thing people before you comment this is a quick video of picture of my version of the coathanger antenna that the guy did in the other video

[1MartinD28]

grandad'd be proud!

[athlon866]

where did u get the VHF/UHF transformer?

[wow1022]

radioshack

[em0rox]

@athlon866 Lots of Dollar stores have them too, I've never seen a Dollar Tree have them but others do.

[athlon866]

@em0rox I had to get it from ebay. I can't see them at dollar store, and the radio shack is too far away from where I live. I have already made a successful one. It works awesome!

[wow1022]

@athlon866

thanks!

[em0rox]

@athlon866 I got one from ebay as well, $5 total for both types. I couldn't wait though and bought one from Radio Shack before my ebay one came in... For the price it works very well but I have been using a basic $10 or so store bought one for about a year now that I have mounted outside and it works a lot better. I just hung it from a nail outside and it actually gets more channels than the one I built.

[em0rox]

@athlon866 For the price though a homemade one is well worth it, I didn't have to buy a single thing because I already had everything needed to make one. Don't ever throw anything away, you never know when you might need something that most people throw away.... ;) It amazes me all the things people throw away that could still be used...

[silvertoppopi]

Question. What would be the best way to boost my signal?

[amazingdany]

An amplifier helped me get extra channels.

[wow1022]

a signal amplifier

[silvertoppopi]

Finished and installed, big increase in signal. Hoping to pulling 2 stations 90 miles away. Great job on video and explanations. Mounted pvc pieces to board with 1 screw in center & connected wires together on pvc using shorter screw to avoid wood. Used dialectic grease at connections to avoid corrosion. Ant may go outside. Will experiment with angles, directions and reflector next. Saved $110. Thanks.

[malignantpoodle]

Interestingly, any time I try to use a reflector it kills the signal. I've made three of these and changed the size and dimensions of each a bit, and they all lose signal with a reflector.

They work great without a reflector though. Go figure.

[jimlap777]

@malignantpoodle did you have the reflector far enough from the antenna? I think that it must be at be at a certain distance.

[richarddw]

i just made one without a reflector. i am in lakewood, new jersey and the philadelphia stations come in great. i have a radio shack amplified antenna and doesnt pick up anything. thank you for the help

[ahzheyz]

the blach onE at d center?? where can i get it?

[blueatomx]

I'm going to do one of these and solider the cable connection to the copper wire to prevent any oxidation to the connection and lost of signal.

gray

[alwaysopen]

I have built two of these now and mods I have mods I did to the 2nd include - going to Home Depot and buying brass rod in 36" lengths and using bolts to run the balun connection to the back of the board so it is out of the way. I make the lengths of the arrays 16" and bend that in half and make sure the ends are 3" apart. I use 12ga solid copper shielded wiring instead of rod to connect the arrays.

Yhe 2nd one is superior to the first.

[pooldawg15]

couple of things: 1) how long and wide is the boards 2) how to mark the antenna 3)what kind of wire to use other than coat hangers 4) how long is the chicken wire 5) how long is each V in the antenna 6) does it pick up both UHF and VHF channels??? Please Reply

[tsbuoy]

at least it's quiet

[aarowsmith]

woe man' slow down, pictures? What is this silent picture era of the early 1900's???

A new invention called language, explain how to build this......get a clue. In this case your pictures are worth cow dung' @#$%^&!!!!! thank you  for allot of nothing'

[4543563]

LOL GHETTO

[davegod75]

how about a how-to and more details on the materials? type of wire, etc

[normalicy]

Lenght of wire is 8" from screw to tip, so 16" piece bent. The spacing between V's is 5 3/4" (I've seen variance in this going higher). The space between tips hasn't been specified anywhere I could find, but I just made them all equidistant, so about 3"

[swimflyfast]

Can you please provide coat hanger length and distance between them along with distance between tips of coat hangers. Why chicken wire instead of aluminum foil on a piece of plywood? Thanks,

[dwizard7888]

I am not that keen on antenna design but what is the chicken wire for?

[wow1022]

reflects the signals into the elements

which increases gain

[dwizard7888]

thanks. I'am going to add some to mine then.

[ken79491261]

I've got some thin sheet metal left over from a cold air return duct project. Would that work as well as the chicken wire?

[wow1022]

i don't think

[villagefem]

Thank you for the answer... I was wondering the same thing, about the chicken wire.... Hope I do things right...

villagefem