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Old 03-13-2016, 03:36 PM
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For weeks I've been testing various antennas to get both FM and HDTV signals. I have a 30-foot vaulted ceiling, which is pretty tight with trusses so a traditional approach of going with a huge Winegard type antenna was out. I live only 30-40 miles from a major market so it shouldn't be this hard.

Most antennas I tried were either cheaply made or just didn't pull in all the FM or HDTV channels I wanted. I even tried two antennas at once. So I decided to design and build my own antenna.

This is multi-frequency dipole I made for literally only $5. I used coat hangers cut to very specific lengths for the various frequencies desired, a 300ohm transformer with F connector, a block of walnut, a few ring terminals, and two #8 screws, washers & nuts.

This thing rocks! Not only is it pulling in all the HDTV stations, it's pulling in FM stations from over 100 miles away!

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Old 03-13-2016, 03:46 PM
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Awesome, and the price is right. Long live FM!
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Old 03-13-2016, 03:55 PM
pete6737 pete6737 is offline
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Ingenious! Very crafty!
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Old 03-13-2016, 04:08 PM
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Good, inexpensive DIY project! I was interested in what antenna lengths you used?

Last edited by Steady339; 03-13-2016 at 04:22 PM.
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Old 03-13-2016, 04:24 PM
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Well done!
Will you sell them?!

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Old 03-13-2016, 04:29 PM
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Excellent Project... Also tried several antena for HDTV and they all S$&@ !
Would be interested in specs and even purchasing if you decide to sale
aJ
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Old 03-13-2016, 04:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steady339 View Post
Good, inexpensive DIY project. I was interested in what antenna lengths you used?
It's always a compromise with dipoles so I chose two FM frequencies that would average out and allow the whole 87.4-108.1MHz range

30.7" for ~ 92MHz
27.4" for ~ 103MHz

(I probably should put in another antenna at 29" for better reception at ~ 97MHz.)

For HDTV it's not that simple due to virtual channels. But in a nutshell, I used

5.1" to receive real channel 28 for ~ 557MHz
15.4" to receive real channel 34 for ~ 182MHz

The rest of the HDTV channels fell close enough to these two that I didn't need a specific antennas for them.
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