TV Antenna Plans

So here is Southern Cal we still have some VHF- this antenna works great for everything but those few high freq vhf channels. It gets them a bit depending on time of day, etc., but I was wondering if you have some simple idea for adding a dipole to the DB4. If I do break down an old rabbit ear antenna and attach it, how best to attach it? Get a signal combiner? Attach it directly to the copper wiring next to the balun?

I built this antenna – I am very happy with UHF channels 14 – 69, absolutely crystal clear. My TV is located in the basement, with the antenna hanging in the basement window – for now. I am getting excellent reception on UHF channels (14 – 69) without drops-outs. In all fairness, I do have an RCA TV/VCR Distribution Amp (RCA Model VH121) inline. The Amp is 3 feet from the BALUN/Antenna connected with RG-6 18 gauge coax cable and another 3 feet of RG-6 18 gauge coax to the TV. I should also point out the antenna does NOT function very well when it is located away from the basement window.

In doing my research, I discovered channel 4 in Fairfax VA (USA) is really UHF channel 48.
So when I flip through the channels, I receive 4-1, 14-2, 14-2, 20-1 26-1, 26-2, 26-3, 26-4, 30-1 (through -10), 32-1, 66-1, 66-2, 66-3, 66-4. If I manually select 48, the TV automatically flips to 4-1. This is not a problem; I just could not understand why I could see VHF channel 4 but not VHF channels 5, 7 or 9. Turns out THIS antenna is designed for UHF ONLY and NOT VHF channels.

I need to add additional straight element on this antenna for VHF reception. I found a web site that explains the math involved in selecting the length of the element for either channels 2-6 and or channels 7 – 13.

Does anyone know the physical location - on the board - I should install the VHF elements to receive channels 5 – 13?

Also, how far apart should the element be from each other and or from the “V” elements for UHF?

How many of each VHF elements do I need?

I am hoping to cut down on the experimentation time and watch some real free and CLEAR TV!!!! HATS off to the originator of this UHF Antenna. THANKS!!!!

My antenna is built on the new recycled plastic decking board. I used 12 gauge copper (common household wire) for the “V” elements and all interconnections. I soldered all connections and used decking screws to hold all the copper pieces to the board. I installed the BALUN in the middle just like the plan shows. I installed black electrical tape at both cross-over points. I plan to mount the antenna outside.

THANKS for any help!!!!
Frank

One research sites to assist others – if needed.
http://www.qsl.net/w4sat/halfvert.htm

I still get some dropouts, pixelation. Would increasing the size of the elements help out, and how would one do that, so the antenna is tuned up?

Consider one "v" of the bow-tie for this question, ie "<". In measuring the wire length to tailor this element to a particular VHF channel, ie ch 7, freq. = 175.25, half wave = 33.689", is the "<" a total of 33.689" before bending or is it 67.378" before bending. My station is about 36 miles away and I was receiving poor signal with the 7.78" bow-ties. I did as someone mentioned in another post, and added larger bow-ties. I added four bow-ties 20" (20 + 20 for total of 40" before bending) each, figuring I could cut them down if I needed to shorten them. In essence I now have a DB4 with 20" bow-ties, rather than 7.78" - 8" elements. I maintained the same angle of the bend used on the 8" bow-ties, would that be correct for the tip distance separation?

Why am I doing this? The short elements weren't working for me in my rural setting. The longer elements now bring in ch.7 & ch.13 with a strong signal. I want to fine tune this antenna for these stations, plus maybe be able to go after ch.36 which is about 65 miles away and comes in periodically (mostly at night) on my hybrid DB8 in my attic (8" & 18" bow-tie elements).

Thanks

I wonder if you mounted it on a not used sat dish, if it would get more stations?

does this work on the philippines?? were planning on making it a project for school

If you can find it 300 ohm flat line should be ok.You would not need to use an impedence matching device then.

Anyone have a source for the balun/transformer? Radio Shack link above is like $7 but I see people stating they get it for $1-$2. Would some place like Walmart have these? And is this the same type of thing that used to connect my Atari to my TV?

I just wanted to try this out for one specific event I need an antenna for and don't really want to spend $7. But I guess I could return if when I'm done.

I just built this yesterday and... Wow! I can't believe how clear the reception is. Thank you so, so, much! I will be returning my cable boxes back to cablevision as soon as I finish building 4 more of these antennas. Will be saving a lot of money, too. Was wondering if I can add a satellite dish to this antenna to get satellite programs (stations).
I like to experiment with stuff. Wondering if this would work. Also, I don't understand the technical language of electronics, laymen terms would help.:)
Again,
Many, Many, Thank U's,
Sherpa

I built this thing today, and it's an amazing difference! Was using bunny ears that i bought two days ago for 10 bucks, This is like a 10x improvement.
At first i tried putting it behind the TV, that didn't work as well, but i moved it to the attic and damn! Every channel comes in with at least a 50 % signal on the weakest channel! Thank you for posting this wonderful creation :-)

I can get two stations. However, thrre are three I can not receive. According to antennaweb.org the direction and distance are within the same range as the two stations i do receive. Any suggestions. thanks.

Works perfectly without reflectors for me!!

Use EZ-Slide graphite paint to paint an antenna on any surface. Connect your leads using Wire Glue graphite glue.

Does it Work in the US? Please reply ASAP!

Using graphite paint (EZ-SLIDE) and wire glue (Google wire glue) you can paint an antenna on any surface. Paint a loop stripe around your house, near the roof, use wire glue to connect your leads and you have a giant loop antenna. This is easy, quick and cheap!

Do You Need Some Box in order to watch? If not, how will you know that there's signal?

Thank you so much for posting this! This is much better than paying someone on ebay for plans for something similar or perhaps inferior.

For all the folks that are planning to use one of these outside, I would caution against using dissimilar metals in constructing the antenna. That is, if your wire is steel, then your washers and screws should be, too. At least that is something to aim for. For much more detailed information as to why this is so (and some good hints on how to build something that will withstand the elements), I suggest going to your local public library and looking at whatever edition of the ARRL handbook that they have. There will be an entire chapter on antennas, including (towards the end of the chapter) practical information on building antennas.

Also, if you are bound and determined to make your own balun, that book will have that info, too, though I would suggest you get a matching transformer (same thing, as has been pointed out) from RadioShack, Walmart or even your local dollar store (as has been pointed out elsewhere)

If I mounted this on my roof, wouldn't I need some kind of grounding to protect against lightening strikes? How would this be done?

i'm in the deep woods of east texas and need all i can get.
which talked about method for connecting two four bays is electrically correct? series or parallel.

I had a rabbit eared amplified indoor antenna that was supposed to pull in HDTV signals but failed miserably. So I went looking for plans online to build one and came across these plans. My $35 store bought antenna was barely giving me 58% signal on the channels I could pull in and now this home built antenna is giving me 90%+ on almost all of the channels with only one at 65%. All the channels that I can get for my area I'm now receiving with such clarity that TV has become fun to watch again. The coolest part of this whole project is that I had all of the items needed right here at my house and didn't need to purchase a single item. Thank you, thank you, thank you for spending the time to share with us such a simple, yet valuable, project that anyone with even an ounce of intelligence can easily build.

I fabricated this antenna for my sister, since already have a regular aluminum TV antenna with good reception. Surprised to corroborate the antenna I made for my sister actually works better than mine!

Easy to follow instructions, and best of all, It worked.
Just saying thanks for posting

I built this to specs in order to pickup the now much weaker digital signals coming out of Baltimore. I live about 10 miles north of the city. and the NBC and CBS stations now transmit using very weak VHF broadcast facilities. ABC is the only station that has an acceptably strong signal. The rabbit ear antenna was picking up all of the other existing stations at about an average 60% signal which made it very hard to watch. This homemade antenna brings it up to about 65%. IMO this project has not been worth all the trouble.

I recycled the aluminum rods from an old trashed rooftop antenna using them to make the V's and then connected the aluminum bow ties with some copper grounding wire and connected a 75 to 300 ohm matching transformer in the middle. Fantastic results. I have not yet added the reflector panels but I am tickled pink with the results so far. Next, I will try connecting two separate antennas pointing in different directions with a simple splitter/combiner to see if I can get all channels without having to change the direction the antenna's are pointed. These plans are top notch!!!! Thanks a million!!!

SuperTech

Hi, I have a 58" antenna mounted in my attic, and I was wondering if I could expect problems when I put up radiant heat insulation? I
s there a way to attach unshielded wires to my antenna and run them between the barrier and my roof decking?
My Home Owners Association doesn't allow external antenna mounting. Which seems silly, when you look at all the dishes...

I built the antenna using coat hangers, insulated tinned wire and a balun. The coat hangers had been sanded a the point of contact with the washers.

I was hoping to be able to get a station just south of the border, but the signal remains at zero. Some digital channels improve by 5 or so percent, but it does not seem worth to someone in the ottawa area!

How about using a piece of cardboard with several layers of aluminum foil for the reflector?

I threw together one of these antennas using some old 16 gauge brass wire, a piece of old fencing, wood screws and duct tape, found an old coaxial cable with a broken plug. At a height of about 7' its picking up 17 channels. Picking up stations from the stockton tower some 21 miles away at 100%. others in the 40 - 80% region

I only got my DTV to analog converter yesterday and the antenna hadn't arrived yet so I went online and found this tutorial. Now I'm wondering if I should send the antenna I just bought back and save myself $40 :)

I had a radio shack indoor amplified antenna and it wasn't getting much of anything, 8 to 10 channels and it was very low signal strength even with amp turned on. Saw this article and decided to try it. Built it out of 8 gauge aluminum ground wire from a satelite dish installation kit. 5 3/4 inch spacing 7 inch whiskers, 3inches at the tips. Got a balun at radio shack for $5.49. Ran the station setup on my TV and got 48 channels with the antenna sitting beside the TV on the ground floor. A couple are not broadcasting right now but carrier signal must be active.I live in Lawrenceville, Georgia northeast of Atlanta. I'm going to try it at my daughters house (about 20 miles further north) and see what it does. May have to put it on the roof. I will report back on results.

Would soddering the V's to the cross connecting wire help it if i built it with copper wire?

I live in a fringe area (>50 miles from a network affiliate broadcast tower), and could actually pick up a few signals with this antenna where the off-the-shelf one I had sitting in the garage had failed entirely. Total materials cost was under $10, vs ~$35 for the retail antenna, and I had about an hour of build time (mainly because my rechargeable drill battery was dead). Granted, I knew going into this project that there was no way I would pick up a crystal clear signal with an indoor antenna -- but I was wrong. I have one digital channel coming in perfectly.

If I can scrounge up a signal amplifier and some extra coax, I might just put this outside and see how much those signals improve (and if I can get the rest of the network affiliates).

If you're on the fence about building this, and live in an area where you actually don't have to drive 70 miles to see a broadcast tower, I'd say go for it!

I made one of these yesterday (5/30/09) and it worked quite well. I went from 4 channels with 30% power reception (as shown on my digital TV's menu screen) to 7 channels at near 100% power. I used two aluminum grill covers I bought at Lowes for the reflector (about $5.50 for a pair measuring 12" x 18" each). I used the steel wire from those flags you use to mark the location of underground utilities for the V-shaped antennas and connections.

I put shrink-wrap tubing over the crossovers to make sure they did not short together. I also used two steel washers on each connection point with the wires between the washers. When I screwed them into place, the washers made for good electrical connections.

I was pleasantly surprised with the performance!

I am using this for an in-attic installation. I have some ideas on how to make it more robust for an exterior application. I also mounted the assembly on a PVC pole so that I can mount it to rafters, adjust the orientation for maximum signal, then lock it into place......

I built this antenna tonight without the reflectors and with another slight modification: I attached the balun across the second pair of screws from the bottom. It is working really well! I am picking up stations perfectly clearly that were unwatchable before. Thank you very much for making these plans freely available to the public.
- Don from Central Florida.

Hi I have made the same antenna with cloth hanger and it does not work.
Here what I used:
Cloth hanger (not copper)
Copper cable to connect eachother.
Connected coax cable directly in the middle.

Please let me know, should I only use copper cable?
Should I use balun instead of directly connection?

Thanks
Arif

I just make this a month ago and still works great...I put it oustide and just went outside today and found bee holes all over...the bees were making it a home...I just put the plain wood (didn't paint it)...what paint should i buy to stop this...what color? (I don't want to buy expensive paint) Spray paint is ok? but what kind? Thanks

I have a van (hightop) with limited space to mount antenna. How would this antenna work mounted horizontal? Or maybe 2, 2 bows sections - Like this....

>---< >---<
>---< >---<

Comments?

I live about 35 miles south of New York stations. I built the antenna without the schields and was able to pick up 16 channels - only one that I was able to view and that was a local channel. I spoke with a TV repair man and he suggested a 10DB antenna amplifier. Any suggestions?

Will this antenna work for the older models that use a converter box obtained with the government $40 coupon?

I threw one of theses together in about 10 minutes. No reflector, and just went for close on the measurements. It Out performs my outdoor Antenna mounted 20 FEET higher. I can't wait to build one to Spec.

The balun should be in the middle. The DB4 you have in the photo has different dimensions than you are using. A Channel Master's measurements are:
Bowtie Spacing = 8-in, BowLength = 7.8-in, Tine Separation = 5.5-in.
Feedline Separation = 1.25-in, with 0.8-in at Crossover. So should look like this, >< =one bowtie

>1.25"<
8"
>1.25"<
4"
balun/transformer
4"
>1.25"<
8"
>1.25"<

and each half of the bowtie should be a triangle measuring 7.8"+7.8"+ 5.5", the 5.5" is space between the two wires of 7.8".

I've made 3 of these and they work great, but I had a few questions if anyone might know from experience:
1. Are more elements better, or is this 4+4 design the optimal number? I made one with 6 on each side and it seems to work about the same as with 4. But for better reception could I just make the antenna twice as long, put 8 elements on each side instead of 4 (with one balun), and then it would be twice as powerful?
2. Do the two connecting wires down the middle act as VHF elements? So if they're a bit longer, that would be like adding a couple of extended "rabbit ears" elements? (Two of our local stations are going to be broadcasting their digital signals in the VHF range, so I still need VHF reception.)
3. I'd like to put the balun on the end but everyone says put it in the middle. Is that actually critical to the performance?
Thanks to everyone for the useful info here!
John

I made this unit and it worked great for Living room TV. I have it mounted in the Basement next to a window. I did not put the Reflector grid on. I went to attach it to a second TV and the signal quality on the second unit in Poor. If I put the Reflector grid on would that allow me to share this between two TV set or do I have to get an amplifier. If I do need an amplifier, can some one recommend an affordable model?

The design discussed here is very basic and works quite well in either form (4bay - tie, or 8bay-tie) when the directions are followed.
In answer to an earlier post increasing the size of the "bowties" from 7 in. to 14 in. will not make much difference aside from greatly increasing the overall size of the completed antenna and may actually lessen the strength of the signals you are trying to receive. The bow-tie size is determined by the size of the radio (TV) wavelengths that you are trying to "capture" and are occasionally 1/4 or usually 1/2 the size of said wavelengths.
There is a much more efficient passive antenna design called a Gray-Hoverman discussed on the website http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/index.htm from Canada where broadcast signal tower to home reception distances are much greater than most anywhere in the United States.
The original "Hoverman" was designed around 1958 (a PDF of the original design is linked at the site listed above) and improves the bowtie design by eliminating the separate bowties and wiring.
It is quite simply a zig-zag with bends of 90 degrees and a bend of approx. 110 degrees at each end with the length of wire between the bends being 7 inches, no reflector needed.
The overall length of each of the 2 wires needed is 56 in. but the antenna itself (after bending) is around 30 in. in length.The balun transformer is attached at the center, never at the end. You can use stripped romex ( 3 strand electrical wire) or go to Radio Shack and buy a coil of antenna mast grounding wire (aluminum) for about $10 - either works very well. The aluminum wire (stiffer than copper) is much more weather resistant and tends to maintain it's shape due to it's stiffness much better. A single strand of wire works far better than multiple (twisted) strands always.
Design parameters for the improved Grey-Hoverman's are available on the site (listed in centimeters but easily converted to inches).
The original design (called just a Hoverman) works quite well without any reflector.
The improved Grey - Hoverman's shown and discussed work even better but can be much more difficult to build. I have built almost all the Gray-Hoverman models discussed there as well as both the 4bay and 8bay bowtie designs discussed here and have not been disappointed with any. However the original Hoverman seems to work the best, and is much easier to build (of most designs) and would be more than adequate for most reception areas in the U.S.A.
Add a signal amplifier if necessary for extremely long distances between broadcast source and reception areas and/or antenna wire runs or if there are difficult reception problems such as hilly/mountainous terrain, numerous tall trees, very tall buildings, etc. and I'm sure you will be more than pleasantly amazed. I was!

I live about 20 miles north or Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area and I have this antenna in my basement. I gained a couple of new HD channels, and the signal strength on some of the ones I already had is markedly improved over the $50 RCA omnidirectional job I was using. I used stripped 3 wire romex (12-NM-B) for everything and left out the grill toppers as well. Found the UHF/VHF Transformer (Balun) at my local Target for under $3. Thanks for the plans.

I built this, w/o the analog part... works like a charm. I get about 30 channels in the DC area! Picture perfect even with an old tv. I upgraded to a HDTV last weekend, and the picture is even better

I'm in Marietta, GA, just northwest of Atlanta. I mounted my DB4 on the back side of my chimney and painted it the color of my house to make it less noticeable. I get about 15 stations...all of the local VHF and UHF...the ones I care about anyway. The only stations that don't come in strong are from other cities - distant and not in the same direction as the Atlanta towers. I'm very happy with the results for such an easy project. FYI, my "V-wires" are made from coat hangers and are 8" in length. For the balun/reflector, I used wire fence material that my neighbor gave me (it looks similar to the balun on the pro model at the top of this page), and it honestly made only a small improvement. I also found the site www.tvfool.com to be very helpful in positioning my antenna.

I have made to of the DB4's above and i want to put them together...I dont have a splitter...What do i do to put them side by side...I read one of the comments up ahead about AB CD but did not get it. Do i connect a wire from C to D,,,, and then connect one balun from A to D... please help

I built my antenna and it pulls in around 37 channel's . I have 17 Cristal clear programed in tv . Going to build a couple more to put in different directions and see how that works . I used the screen frames from old storm windows and works well as back drop to catch signal .

The DB4 antenna works great for me. I live about 40 miles North of Atlanta in Cumming, Ga, on the "lake side" of Buford Dam Road. The top of my house is lower than the road by 10 feet and the road is between Atlanta and me yet I am getting about 20 watchable channels.

I have the antenna in an upstairs bedroom. For some reason it doesn't work well with the balun but works great without it (shrug)

-Doug

I saw them at the local Dollar General

I built the 4 bay antenna exactly to these specs and mounted it on the roof with a 20 foot lead in wire where I placed an 18db booster to feed the coax to the four tvs in our home. I measured the signal strength on all channels received. I then mounted the antenna with a short 4 ft lead to the tvs inside our home and got better results. One thing I noticed besides the fact that I need a stronger booster is that this antenna performs well over all wavelengths / uhf channels. On stations that are around 15 miles from me I am getting around 98% signal strength and the ones around 65 miles from me I am getting around 65% which is strong enough to not break up.
I made one curious observation though and wonder if anyone could explain. In order to get optimal signal strength from one station 65 miles from me I need to point the antenna approx 45 degrees up into the sky. The station is at 56.1.
If I changed the elements to where they only opened 1 1/2 inches instead of 3 inches would I then be able to receive that channel with the antenna pointed straight? Needless to say I am not an engineer.

Just ask for Catalog # 15-1230 at Radio shack or tell them you need a 300 ohm to 75 ohm adapter and they'll get you in the right direction (they'll show you this one with the tail or one with screws). They sell a couple of thousand parts and the Tv stuff isn't as popular as it used to be. More parts are sold for phones and computers these days than for TV's.

I just ditched cable TV today because I don't watch much TV.....and I build a DB2 1/2 of this) because I didn't have quite enough stuff on hand to make the full antenna. I wanted to see how well it would work.

Well, my quickie DB2 with non-precise measurements I went 5 1/2" inches between the bowties by mistake) still makes a huge difference and it's stiiting about a foot above my TV. Can't wait to make a tighter one with the full 4 bowties.

It was indicated that Copper housing wire could also be used. Is there any appreciable signal gain when using Copper Wire instead of coat hangers?

Do you really need the 10 Ohm thing in the middle? What is its function?

Thanks

I want a TV antenna for my trailerable yacht in Australia.
Would the same design work for our TV channels downunder?
Brian

I have been having trouble finding the disposable grill toppers. What stores carry them?

Hey,
I just built a prototype to see if it would work. I used wire from 12 AWG Romex. It works great! The main difference with mine is that I soldered the wires at all junctions and didn't use washers.

I am looking at making two of these, one for each end of my house as the good stations are to the NW and SW of my location. Can I do this by simply connecting the cable from each to a splitter? Both antennas going in with one cable coming out.

I did a google search for a Balun and they range in costs as well as specifications. The majority of ones I found on ebay are for CCTV -- do those work for this antenna or does it require a different kind? Thanks for this great tutorial, I can't wait to try building it.

Any recommendation for a Balun would be greatly appreciated!

Good job with your site, I'm sure you have been helping people just like myself. I have a Windows Live space page that I made on Home Theater tips; http://hthut.spaces.live.com

Once again, well done.
hyghwayman

I first built the DB2 & DB4 designs several months ago following a youtube video and both surpass the antennas direct DB8 professional antenna which retails for about $95! If your situation is like mine & you are looking to pull in channels in 2 opposing directions leave off the refelctor grid. The trick to gettiing the high VHF channels (7-13) & distant channels is add a powered UHF/VHF amplifier to the line before it reaches your tuner. I put mine near a roofs edge on a one story house & get approximately 50 crystal clear digital channels spanning 2 markets and a few of those on towers 62 miles away! I do need to make mine weatherproof as the wires & washers rust after awhile although i do enjoy rebuilding them. ;-) One other thing use caution when working with it & wear eye protection!

I made one of these antenna & it worked much better than an amplified antenna that i paid 54.00 for. But i live in a very rural area of my state, where the nearest tv station is around 50 miles away. I was wondering if anyone has ever tried to double the size of this antenna? Instead of 7" V's make them 14", & instead of 3" go with 6"? Would this make any difference with signal gain? Or would it probably not work at all? Would it even be worth trying? Thanks, Rob

Are the wires connecting the "V" Elements part of the signal reception, ir can they be made of insulated wire just stripped at each connection point? Would making the "V" elements out of thicker copper stranded wire work better, or is the thinner wire thickness required for proper signal reception? Thanks! Brian

Of Course Radio Shack has the "adapter." How lame to talk shit about Radio Shack. It is solely responsible for any wholesome electronics presence in American cultrure whatsoever, Blasphemer. Mine came from there, attached in middle. MW

For a long time now I have been trying just about every indoor amplified and passive antenna and I would get marginal reception. I would get a station in for a few hours to a few days then they would disappear or I would have to adjust the antenna. I would then have trouble getting the other stations back in. I put this together after a friend from church showed me his and he swears by it. I went to Lowe's and picked up the materials. I put the antenna together minus the reflectors. I hooked it up and presto, all the stations I used to have trouble getting now come in great and no adjusting needed. I live in a little valley with very tall trees around the house and I have the antenna in a window in the basement. Thanks for the plans.

Anyone know how to make an omni-directional Digital Antenna?

balun is short for balanced unbalanced. It connects the two together without an actual wire connection. There is a small transformer inside.

I have already built about 6!!!, over here in Puerto Rico, you can get hangersa fo free at laundry places, here's mine!!!

i completed the antenna and mounted it on the garage and it wotks great, I have a high d tV in the garage and pulls stations out of Indianapolis, about 50 miles south of me and north of me about 40 miles and is great. I mounted it with an old DTV mounting bracket about 12 ft. in the air i think total channels are about 18.from 6 to 59. now I have to go weatherproof it.

This version of the DB4 works better than the commercial DB4 that I bought at Radio Shack. I'm getting 10 more channels and it beats out the other model. Frankly I think the difference is in the size of overall space divided between the angled clothes hanger wires. Your model uses 14" segments bent at the center, the DB4 I have was less efficient and did not have as many of them.

I am planning on making another one of these using more durable materials to put it outside. A big plus is using a 12 db signal amp which bought me 2 more harder to get channels. I can only imagine how much better it will work when its outside.

I built this antenna and I get nothing different than I was getting with the antenna I bought at Wal Mart. Does it need a signal booster?

Watced the video and am going to build this thing. I am using rabbit ears on the garage now. got to be better, i will get back when done. One question, most of the channels I need are south of me, But one local is the other way. will I need to turn this to get that station? only about 16 miles to it.Great Great Great. Paul. Indiana

from the diagram I believe the distance inbetween the each V pair center of the board is 1 inch? if so than the the screws should be 3/4 of a inch from the edge of the board, the one inch between each pair of the V elements would be very important. also is the balun attached dead center between the two center V pairs? if so that would be half of 5 1/4 inch = 2.625 inches or 2 5/8

In Step 3.2, you mention "when the wires cross each other, they do not touch." How do you make sure they don't touch each other? Do I put some tape on that section or just bend one wire up enough to prevent it from touching?

Your spacing between the bow ties and the reflector is quite a bit less (thickness of board) than the commercial antennae I've seen. Have you ( or anyone) experimented with that parameter? Goood article!

I saw this first on Youtube, and wanetd to try it out, so I made one and tried it with my converter box, and got all local channels coming in at 58 or more!!!
some at 89!!!, my father in law bought a Philips ampified antenna that said it was for HDTV at K-Mart for about $38.00 and we returned it!!!

Daniel Morales
Greetz frrom Puerto Rico!!!

I was wondering if more distance could be achieved by making four of these and putting them together, if so how would you connect the four parts? Would a splitter work to join a transformer for each section? I am out in the sticks. Thanks. Milton

In Austin, we have FOX moving down to channel 7 after the switchover. That's in the VHF band. Would you have a good plan for that too?

I used copper, house type, wire and a spacer, plexiglass, between the board and the wires. Outstanding performance. Crystal clear HD and regular versions of all channels in Minneapolis area. I drilled a hole and mounted the adapter out the back. Adding a ground to the reflector shield may be a bonus, too, works for me.

Mark Washa

I diligently followed the second video in this link and was very satisfied with the results. I could take photographs of my handi work, but they would look almost exactly like the ones in the video. It did not have the reflectors at the back, but picked up FOX, CBS, ABC, PBS (KQED) HD channels just fine Could not get NBC HD or any of its channels. It also picked up a host of all the other digital channels. All the way upto channel 67. But bottom line this antenna will pull in channels pretty easily for at least at a distance of 34 mile from the tv towers. As this is how far my residence is from these stations. Will check how to make this a weather proof construction, need to replace the 2X3 with some thing else.

I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to do this! I actually
just ran across your article on the MythPVR.com site a couple of days
ago, but haven't had a chance to build my own antenna yet.

The new site looks absolute fantastic! Much easier to follow than
squinting at the videos trying to figure out what they are doing!

Perhaps include a link to buy a Balun? I've noticed stores don't
always call them 'balun' so it might help to include at least one
link. For instance, at radioshack they have baluns but call them
transformers (which, they are).
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062049

Once again, site looks great and thank you!

- Robert