DIY HD antenna experiences?

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sciphi

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Any experiences making and using a DIY HDTV antenna?

I was shocked how much the cable TV bill jumped, and half an hour on the phone with the cable TV provider got me nowhere. They basically told me "be glad it's not higher". What a racket. I have a modern flat-panel TV with the tuner built in, so all I'd need is an antenna.
 
Not sure if It's worth it to make one. I picked my HD antenna up from Bestbuy for $30 . And, it work's perfect. I get about 15 different channels, in full HD.< all though that really depends on your location. Good enough for me!

This is the one I bought: Indoor HDTV Antenna
 
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HDTV Antennas are hype, any antenna will pick up HDTV channels, the key is to mount the antenna to get the best results, higher is better
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Be aware of one thing. With digital signals (vs the old analog) reception is often a all or nothing thing. With an analog signal poor reception resulted in a fuzzy picture, but a picture none the less. With poor reception on digital signals you usually don't get anything. Because of this you may find certain local channels come in fine, but others don't come in at all.
 
A poor signal can pixelate and freeze the image, and cause stutters.
I notice our tree in the summer interferes with the signal on a few channels.
I have seen the wind and stormy weather blow the signal away on the TV.
This is with a roof top antenna.
I added a signal booster and it helped a lot.
 
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I've never paid for cable or satellite at my house. It used to be you paid for it to get more channels AND no commercials. Now it's crammed full of commercials! I mostly watch movies rented from the local library.

Most digital channels are on the UHF band, so the antennas are much smaller. A lot depends on how far away you are from the transmitter(s). I'd suggest you go to antennaweb, titanTV, TVfool, channelmaster and wineguard to do some research.

Be sure to use RG-6 or RG-6QS coax cable, not 58 or 59! It'll make a difference.
 
my grandma had time warner. went from 68 to 86 then 101.

this is for digital with phone.

so we bundled with Roadrunner. then canceled roadrunner..

magically its 63$ again for next year...

I say we because shes 86 so its pretty much me.

I ask her "do you care if I save you 40$."

I dont live there.
 
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Originally Posted By: sciphi
Any experiences making and using a DIY HDTV antenna?

I was shocked how much the cable TV bill jumped, and half an hour on the phone with the cable TV provider got me nowhere. They basically told me "be glad it's not higher". What a racket. I have a modern flat-panel TV with the tuner built in, so all I'd need is an antenna.


Check with your neighbors who have antennae and see what works well in your area.
Very few broadcasts now on VHF low so you don't need a big antenna like before. I'm using an AntennaCraft HBU-22 and it works quite well.
Good luck.

Bob
 
With all of the free content available online + receiving HD locals over the air, who needs to pay for TV?
 
Hi-I just bought a LAVA remote control antenna off ebay for $57 shipped, took 1 hour out of the box to install and I have 30+ channels in Apache Junction east of Phoenix. YMMV. Regards, Bill
 
Originally Posted By: dishdude
With all of the free content available online + receiving HD locals over the air, who needs to pay for TV?
Those of us who enjoy live sports do, that's who.
 
Originally Posted By: dwcopple
Originally Posted By: dishdude
With all of the free content available online + receiving HD locals over the air, who needs to pay for TV?
Those of us who enjoy live sports do, that's who.


Naked women mud wrestling does not count, dwcopple.
cheers3.gif
 
wilnis,
I'm thinking of dropping Cox TV as they raised my rates $12 and I'm tired of it.
Do you have a link or a list of what channels are available? I tried google and i didn't find much current info.
Thanks!
 
I was going to make one from Popular Electronics indoor and outdoor versions listed but never got around to it. All the ready made indoor antennas I tried were worthless (4) in my urban area near Indy International airport. Ended up buying a Winegard Freevision 30?, amp., and outdoor pole + low loss RG8 cable and splitter from Amazon. Now I get about 24 stations but some are ex. 6-1 ABC 6-2 24 hour news rerun, 6-3 oddball stuff, 8-2 all weather, 3 religious stations. About $120 and the antenna even worked OK inside w/out amp. but bulky for a small unit. 1 possible change, Parts Express has cheap low loss cable w/support wire bare attatched - I wish I had gotten that and used bare wire for ground. AMAZ. have 3 foot ground rod approx $9 delivered if ordered w/other stuff. Amazon low loss rg8 otherwise good but try the "used" for 10%less. Amazon have good prices on splitters, too. I hope lots of people tell cable/dish they are too expensive and there IS an alternative - even if you stick w/cable. NOW, I must choose between Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon prime for the fancier stuff at $6-8 per month on i-net.Group comments invited. This biz of everybody paying $100 for cable is just not for me. Above FWIW.
 
I made a 4 tiered Bowtie array that I am using right now to watch a channel from 92 miles away.

While HDTV antennas are a marketing ploy, when the signals were mostly switched to Digital, most areas started broadcasting on the UHF (13-51) exclusively.

In my current location, every VHF Hi(7-13) is being used as well. This requires longer elements. I added some rabbit ears to my tiered bowtie array and can usually pull in all the UHF HI stations from 92 miles away.

TVfool is your friend.

Also, If anybody knows of a source for telescoping Rabbitt ears, I am out of old indoor antennas to cannabilise for my VHF elements, and they do not last long outdoors.
 
Yeah,search for one of my posts on this. Or go to youtube ,type in hd antenna.I believ the one that's the good vid has around 1,800,xxx views.Befor the antenna, i had 14 ch. with this antenna, i got 38!!https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2460965&page=1
 
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