How to make an inexpensive HD antenna!!!

[libroabiert0]

Maybe some birds can stand over a wire and it bend it over : (

[mcvicarcameron84]

the screen that is on the back works great as a fm radio antenna

[mcvicarcameron84]

I am only 11 and I made one and it works GREAT

[thedarkone2134]

@mcvicarcameron84 Good Job :)

[harryahmed420]

fuck that ill buy one going through all that ballshit

[americano37]

Can i use in my old tv (analogic signal)?

[soundimpact1]

mhen the aluminum screen behind what is that for?and how about if i use aluminum wire instead of copper?it still work?thanks,great video

[divorcedme]

I just built one of these and woop de doo I've got a plank. :-/

[ardetroyaa]

No seas roñoso y comprate una antena Televes DatHd y veras grandes resultados

[khaledayad]

7 inch V... whaaay...

[dangpawlo]

made in china, watching american movies, with chinese sounds, bwa ha ha

[Sgucci435]

help learn wimax, wifi antena wireless search on google:

sgucci.blogspot.com

[timmehboii]

can this be mounted inside? and how many channels can you receive?

[infinera06]

@timmehboii Would you really want this ugly thing inside your house? I wouldn't want it in my neighborhood!

[harryahmed420]

@infinera06 why do u live by donald trump

[axelitopunk]

my antennna doesnt work :( /... i got just 5 channels

[jaibolover]

thanks 4 all greetings from mexico

[floweryork]

fucking bitch

[anthonytroop81]

@floweryork Excuse me?

[Techyisinsane]

my dad made an antenna with a charger lol for his hdtv

[monkeyman1140]

The new DB4/8 and CM4221/4228 are chinese made and reception is rather disappointing compared to the older designs. I bought a CM4221 right when it was discontinued.

[locthetoker]

never cut toward yourself lol. I liked that you had a few examples you had tried.

[Pokemon978IsBackOn]

Does a wooden ruler work? I need to watch something for school (extra credit) but it's on an HD channel in Quad Cities. I'm just north of Rockford, IL. If it does work how do I make it so it gets channels as far as the quad cities or detroit?

[ElParcero7]

Can You Imagine To Make An Homemade HDTV and HD Radio Antenna , It Would Be Awesome

[yenomeerf]

Yes It Would Be An Homemade Awesome but An Imagine Only. =(

[wiseguyproductions]

what are you using for the reflectors?

[eddly]

How many mile range are we talking when you make the triangler antenna? i live 50 miles from all the boardcasting towers.... also do you have a list of materials that you use... better yet where did you get that mesh? and i noticed you used 12-2 wire... would 14 be as good? or no?

[davenwin1973]

You wanna change the Annotations that TV is both VHF & UHF. Some markets have gone back to VHF. Chicago has always been a VHF/UHF market for both analog & digital. CBS Chicago was the only one that never went to UHF, like everyone else. ABC went back to VHF since their digital channel was out of core. So this antenna won't work in its current form for VHF. Grand Rapids Michigan has 5 VHF (1 on Low VHF & 4 high VHF).

[javiero35]

GOOD JOB BUDDY, I LIKE THAT++++

[DarkMonkArt]

Many Thanks Patriot.

[9119ayn]

does an hdtv antenna work on the philippines?

[kromen10]

I happen to live in an apartment complex where my signal seems to be blocked by the building itself. Will that matter when I try to construct this antenna or is it just that powerful. I get 25 channels, but only 14 come in and the strongest is at 46%.

[amateursradio]

How to join the two antennas of 4db together?

75 ohms

[PhysicsGuerrilla]

Use a coaxial matching transformer, how else?

[cyberteque]

I made mine from poly pipe, with 4 way cross fittings. I found that the reflector needed to be at least 80mm - 100mm (3"-4") away from the array.

I was getting low signal strength, so I climbed up onto the roof in the middle of the night and detached the reflector and got better signal strength, like 98-100%!

I plan to put a 3 or 4 element yagi above the PPA antenna and use a 2 to 1 splitter so I can get FM radio down the same bit of coax.

Stuff paying $70-$90 when you can build it yourself!

[ATLien174]

Some channels are broadcasting on VHF now. What do you do about that? How could you incorporated the to together so both VHF and UHF are received properly?

[kuernodechivo]

Double check that. In my area even channels with old VHF designators are well within the UHF band now. The old channel numbers are merely "virtual" remnants of the old VHF TV to make us feel good.

Every one of my old network channels ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX ---all in UHF now even though there channels are like 2,4,5 and 13.

I am looking to make one of these to replace my yagi but want something a little more weather proof for the boom than wood. I am thinking PVC pipes with Tees.

[ATLien174]

I didn't that's how I found out. In my area, I'm not receiving channels 8-PBA & 11-NBC, yet 2-ABC, 5-FOX, & 14-ION are great. When I did some looking into it, I found out these 2 station happen to be the ONLY ones broadcasting in VHF...that's crazy! Yet I can get channels over 90 miles away strong and clear. Now that's weird.

I'm going to build a dual antenna...minus the wood. Something weather and wind proof also.

[post1492nightmares]

TESTING A BALUN WITH AN OHMETER - in response to someone's question. You can't really test them. A GOOD BALUN WILL SHOW A SHORT, as will most bad ones. NO SHORT IS BAD NEWS. But baluns rarely go bad. It takes exposure to a strong magnet, maybe lightning, or heat high enough that you'd see melted plastic.

[PhysicsGuerrilla]

I use my MFJ 259 meter to test baluns :-)

[post1492nightmares]

1. You did not give a very important dimension, the spacing from the Vee wires to the metal reflector. I think it should be 1/4 wave and your design seems to put the antennas too close to the reflector. s The HDTV band runs 470 to ~700 MHz. I'll make it for the "geometric center", SQRT(470*700) = 574 MHz where a 1/4 wave is 5.14".

I like the reflector. You can also make a grid of soldered wires on 1.5 inch centers, which lets the wind go thru better.

House paint makes it weatherproof.

[HighAway]

Nice shop. Though I'd opt for indoor antenna while I live in an apartment.Nice tho.

[chickenpoper]

lol? why not put it in the side the building(your side) so its outside and use a special slide mechanizem so if you move you could life it up and of the mount :) (and of course remove the peice of the slider mount nailed or glued or what ever to ur side of the building) and for the wire going to your tv or box just use flat wire to go under the anti bug mesh and under th window(use strong flat wire or else you'll have to replace it every now and then from opening and closing the window

[humbert0acevedo]

Will this get Digital cable channels?

[caeman]

I am intrigued by the 3-direction antenna briefly pictured. How well does it work? Are than any phase or noise issues with signals reaching the back sides of the other antenna elements? Do they all merge for a single cable to the TV, or to a switch box?

[jamesberkhimer]

ohhhhhhhhh you use romex not coat hangers i get it thats why mine dose not work

[supressorgrid]

scrape the paint off of the contact pionts and you will be fine. BTW plastic hangers wont work.duh;P

[jamesberkhimer]

im using unpainteand sanded brass coat hangers and still no luck the HD tv tuner card in my pc dose better then my hdtv but it studders too much

[supressorgrid]

Did you use a 4:1 balun or just hook coax up directly. If no 300/75 balun you have impedance mismatch and no signal.

[jamesberkhimer]

i'm using a UHF/VHF/FM matching transformer that came with the tv

[spunker88]

I have a station that broadcasts HD on a vhf station. A 20+ year old pair of rabbit ears picks it up fine since its on vhf. But it doesnt pick up uhf stations as well, that is where your antenna would work.

[eyeheartgiraffe]

I really want to make one of these and think I can. Pretty good at detail oriented building projects. The problem is, I have no basic understanding of how this stuff works. For instance, do you just run a cable from the antenna into your house and to your TV's antenna input? I live in a very funky signal area so I'm skeptical but REALLY want it to work. Soooo tired of paying CONcast for their lame service.

I live close to broadcasts but they may be blocked. Will it still work? Thanks!

[desertlight]

Usually reflectors are spaced a half-wavelength behind the active elements(bow-ties) so that the reflections return to those elements, in-phase. The idea is to increase the gain while also providing directionality.

The antenna as appears here would have the directional characteristic but not the full available gain. Is there a reason for the unusually close spacing between the bow-ties and the reflector screen?

[w1cebu]

It may or may not work for all, depends on factors such as proximity from the signal source, strength of signal and the signal path. With very small amplification/ pick up, passive antenna such as this one takes such "luck" to be close to the HD stations/ transmitters to be shown on TV. If the area has lot of powerful stations around with close proximity, you are lucky to just add simply a straight wire to the back of TV as antenna. Location, location, location.

[keyboardartist]

Agreed, this is a great video; thanks for creating it.

Also agree that relying on cable TV can suck. Our local CBS affiliate station and Time-Warner cable have feuded over money issues, ergo T-W decided not to carry the station.

I have built and installed this antenna and it works fine.

I additionally silver-soldered the elements which helped. I learned that use of a Winegard Balun made a big difference over cheaper ones!

[Dexterity99]

great job. I hate paying money to cable and satellite companies when the best shows are on free channels (CBS, FOX, NBC PBS). Why pay someone 60 dollars per month to give me channels that suck (except for ESPN) ?

[CommercialMonkey]

Great video. I'm going to make one this weekend.

BTW: you misspelled "balun" at 3:53

[burgerking220]

what kind of wire is that in 2:26

[spunker88]

Looks like electric wire. I doubt you would need something that thick, though, but it doesnt hurt. Probably what he had laying around.

[start00hh5]

y do u need the vhf/uhf

[depechekid]

styx rules!!!

[Chuii182]

By the way... The best video of a DB8 antenna i´ve seen so far...

[PLAZOLA]

oye chuyito, tengo varias preguntas!

que tipo de cable se usa en esto? que numero?

si yo tengo una tele normal como jijos le hago para poner una antena hd? sirve este tipo de antenas? o tengo que comprar una maldita tvhd?

[Chuii182]

Hi guys,

i made 2 DB4 antennas with no reflector (using just one) and i will make a DB8 with them, i´m using coat hangers should i use cooper wire? what kind of wire are you using?

i live in Tijuana and i´m getting 11 HD channels (7 from San Diego and 4 from Mexico) "Yeaaahh, we get HD in Mexico" jajaja.

[PLAZOLA]

se me olvidaba! yo tambien vivo en Tijuana!

[WinVistaUser2]

Awesome.

[jbisset]

how do you connect the DB8 antenna to the TV? I see that it is 2 DB4's but how do you properly connect the 2 db4s together? thank you.

[sacredgroovetube]

Just want to see if I might have done something wrong? I pick up maybe 2 channels sometimes with this. I pick up 8 channels with my rabbit ears much better. I have a volt continuity meter. If I test the leads on the balun transformer I get continuity. When you put the balun on the board it connects everything? It's just like running a bare wire across the board wire to wire? I have three baluns and all tested the same.

[Liberty4Ever]

The video claimed that all the HDTV signals will be UHF. I think it's true that most of them will be UHF, but two of the five stations in my area (town of 280,000 people) are VHF. There's no correlation between HDTV channel and frequency. Channel 56 was an analog UHF station, and it comes in as digital channel 56.1, but the actual frequency is somewhere in the VHF range, which is confusing enough to come from a government committee like the type at the FCC.

[bobsnackattack]

can you list out the steps and the materials? i can't make out much from your video except that it's a nice looking antenna.

[cmyrick957]

This is totally awesome! Thank you so much for making this.I pay 120.00 a month for cable. Bet I'll be trying this for sure. Again thanks great idea:)

[colman324]

Thats why I got rid of cable, It cost to much.

[wow1022]

the only thing about the triangle

you're not getting the fullest of gain from all three the only thing you're doing is spreading out the gain in almost 360 degrees

say you have 10 db gain on each antenna

you would get around 20-25 db (including losses) if all of them were pointing in one direction

you're getting about 6-8 db gain in each direction with the triangle(including losses)

*this is my point of view with your design*

[anthonytroop81]

Yes you are correct... but that was just an experiment that some were wondering if and how well or bad it would work. Thanks for the video response your antenna turned out great.

[McassProductionz]

What do you mean by "the leads cant touch"?

[anthonytroop81]

Thanx dude

[berd219]

good job dude

[wildbill57]

How far back should the screen be?

[anthonytroop81]

no more than 1 ½

[Mattster1966]

I think you did a great job. Is there a way you can do a talk through?

[anthonytroop81]

I do a somewhat a talk through on my other videos, thank you.

[S4F4M]

You can use kitchen cooling racks from the Dollar Store. 2 in a pack for...$1. :) WOW!

[anthonytroop81]

Yup, thanks guys...

[paulie0706]

Where can I by the wire mesh you used? I can't find anything that looks like what you are using. Thank's

[cultclassic999]

S4F4M is right... You can also try barbecue/grill section of Home Depot/Lowe's/Walmart. They sell aluminum mesh for grilling seafood etc. Works perfect. You'll need two!

[anthonytroop81]

I got mine from wal-mart, you can also use chicken wire

[paulie0706]

I made one of these my self, and I get better signal than the HD antenna i had previously purchased.

[anthonytroop81]

Well for one thing there is really no "HD" antenna the same antennas our dads and grand dads use is the same antennas we can use today, there are just different hacks you can do to better optimise your singnal

[paulie0706]

Antenna looks good. Is the wire mesh attached to the rest of antenna? Thank's

[cultclassic999]

No. The wire mesh is just a reflector for the signal.

[anthonytroop81]

Yes, thats correct, thank you...

[DMackdaddy1]

Nice....what are you using to combine the 3 db4 antennas together?

[anthonytroop81]

A 3 way spliter in reverse

[anthonytroop81]

AMEN.....

[amazingdany]

Free was, is and will always be the best price!

[GarbageState]

is it better to use a solid sheet of metal or mesh for reflectors?

[anthonytroop81]

The grill topper, chicken wire, or metal fence works best, alows the air flow through the antenna, the ansewer to your question YES it will work any mw=eans of reflecting...

[anthonytroop81]

Yes, you do need a digital converter for a tv that does NOT have a built in digital tunner. I still say F#%@! the Direct TV and Dish Network, they are crooks. As far as the antenna, I have stated that there are no digital antennas, yes, there are antennas that will receive the singnal better. I didn't state anything about increasing band use efficiency of cable/sat. So, YES this does have something to do with cable/sat it is the bull S#%@ I refuse to go back too.

[pmd456]

hey whats the range on that , and would something like that work good indoors 3 stories high , behind my TV , that triangle one is pretty sick , does it work just as good as those db8's that cost a hundred bucks, and would adding an amplifier make it better, nice video.

[anthonytroop81]

Range is about 30 to 40 miles.

The problems with antennas inside are:

1. The antenna might not be high enough above obstacles outside the house such as trees.

2. It is hard to estimate the signal loss caused by the wood and other construction materials.

3. Metal objects in the house can block the signal.

[pmd456]

hey the thing I hear is db8 antennas have up to 80 mile range store ones. I am using a phillips mant940 antenna indoor/outdoor model , indoors 2 stories high and I live in Toronto and this antenna says 40 mile range , the thing is I get some hdtv channels from Buffalo which is 65 miles away , and one time in the summer I picked up 10 hdtv channels from rochester , which is 95 miles away with the phillips antenna , but that was just a lucky day.

[anthonytroop81]

If you are in a neighborhood with moderately strong signals,the antenna might work.But you are wasting your time installing the antenna inside in a poor-signal neighborhood.Most successful antennas are within 20mi of the transmitter.(30mi often works if you are on a hillcrest.)

[you2tooyou2too]

None of the drang has anything to do with cable/sat. To increase band use efficiency, FCC will require (almost) all BROADCAST TV to be digital.

You will still need a digital converter for your broadcast receiver, no matter what antenna you have.

[dolla130shine]

OMFG!!!! I was thinking of making something like this, but I need an example or a model like this. Many thanks, 5 star video...

[dolla130shine]

I forgot to mention the following; Which antenna is better, the 8-Bay Antenna or the Triangular-Shaped Antenna?

[anthonytroop81]

They both work pretty good, of course when you install a pre amp you will receive the channels stronger, and the higher you get the antenna up the less interference you will receive. The "Triangular-Shaped Antenna just receives the signal in different directions.

[anthonytroop81]

Oops, thanks for pointing that out to me, I'll fix it as soon as I can; Thanks

[nosliwelyk]

You misspelled lose and editing.