26 ms·
How I made an HDTV antenna so I could watch Jeopardy last night
- daniel_levine 16y agocan we see how it was put in the window?
- chaosmachine 16y agoSure: http://i.imgur.com/jOiWI.jpg http://i.imgur.com/jOiWI.jpg
- PaulHoule 16y agoI'm in a place that's hilly and the towers are far away. Maybe I'd get something with a 75 foot tower, maybe. For me it's ivi.tv
- JonnieCache 16y ago>Maybe I'd get something with a 75 foot tower 1) Attach 75-foot wire to TV 2) Attach other end to weather balloon 3) Inflate balloon 4) Watch Jeopardy Maybe tie some brightly coloured threads onto the wire at intervals to stop birds flying into it. Note: there are probably many other reasons why you shouldn't do this. Make sure to let us know when you find out what they are.
- Swizec 16y agoThanks, I'm glad you took our comments to heart :) Two questions: 1. What exactly is the purpose of the cardboard tube? I'm guessing the key point is that it's non-conductive, but would the same coil work without the cardboard? (not very knowledgable about antennae I admit) 2. How the hell does that connector even work? It looks so marvelously out of place ... does this mean the wire mesh around the normal coaxial cables is just shielding and doesn't actually do anything? If so, how come you don't need shielding? Those were the two main questions that popped to mind, obviously I don't know anything about this stuff and I could probably look it up somewhere. But maybe someone here can provide a human-to-human good enough explanation.
- Pyrodogg 16y ago1. Structure. The wire he's using isn't strong enough to just stay up standing by itself. It would fold over on itself. Also, it probably does need to be non conductive or you need to use coated wire. 2. It's not shielded because the entire thing is the antenna. I guess he could shield it between the TV and the actual wrapped tube part but this is sow low-tech it wouldn't make a difference. Your standard roof mounted antenna is shielded between the antenna and the tv because you don't want interference between the two points.
- JonnieCache 16y ago>Your standard roof mounted antenna is shielded between the antenna and the tv because you don't want interference between the two points. To clarify this, with a roof mounted antenna the wire needs shielding because it is typically running down the middle of the house and thus would be subject to interference from the many electronic devices therein. With this guy's solution, the wire just runs out of his window, and therefore as long as he doesn't have any ageing analogue equipment (speakers, cordless phones etc) near his TV or his window the issue of interference is minimal.
- chaosmachine 16y ago1. Basically, I just wanted something I could wind a length of wire around and stick in my window. The tube did the trick. After the show, I tried a few other things, like wrapping the tube with tinfoil, but the basic wire around the tube design performed best. 2. The shielding is there to keep signal interference out, which is useful if you have a clean source to start with (ie: Cable TV or a properly designed antenna). In my case, I just wanted to pick up as much signal as possible, and this is what I had to work with.
- ck2 16y agoIf you are smack in a city where the signals are literally washing over you I guess just a wire will work. The coathanger antenna works best for me though, I'm too far away from most stations for just a wire. Your design might work best for VHF stations while the coathanger method is best for UHF Canada still has analog stations?
- minalecs 16y agoHeres plans for an antenna I built. http://www.tvantennaplans.com/ http://www.tvantennaplans.com/ I like the simplicity and potential of your design though. I want to try an array of tubes and wiring, and see how well that works.
- timmaah 16y agoI got the same plans via Make and have been using mine for 2+ years. It works awesome. Before dtv I could get 1-2 stations of mostly fuzz. Now I get 7 channels in full HD. http://www.82smugglers.com/gallery/projects/p1020110.jpg.html http://www.82smugglers.com/gallery/projects/p1020110.jpg.htm... Tried some shielding on the back and it did not make any difference.
- minalecs 16y agosame here... I receive over 30+ channels now, most are HD (LA) area. With this and a computer hooked up to my TV would never consider going back to cable.
- ck2 16y agoNote that 4-bay may be overkill depending on how far out you are. I can get all the stations possible in my area with just 2-bay. So build with 2-bay first and test maybe to save time/money. I also did not need the reflector, in fact it made things worse.
- AdamTReineke 16y agoI was looking at that design yesterday. I decided I didn't have the time to buy the materials and build it in the 30 minutes I had before the game started, so I ended up watching on Youtube. I plan on building this antenna in the future though.
- graywh 16y agoGoogle Chrome is warning me that soccergoalplans.com is including content from an external website known for malware.
- tocomment 16y agoWhy doesn't the outside part of the coax port have to also touch the wire?
- icegreentea 16y agoI don't think coaxs have a 'return' on the actual cable. The outside part of a coax is just a screw for holding the cable in place. It could be made with plastic for all it matters.
- kash 16y agodont you need the outside to ground two devices together?
- bryanlarsen 16y agoNah, it's to ground the shield. Shields work marginally better when grounded, but the difference is minor.
- phillijw 16y agoThe shield shouldn't work at all unless it is grounded.
- gcheong 16y agoBecause no signal is transmitted on the outside part, that is just used to secure the cable to the port. If you look at a coax cable, you will see it is essentially a copper wire wrapped in shielding wrapped in a vinyl(?) casing and the end is terminated with a connector that feeds the copper into the port and secures the connection.
- CWuestefeld 16y agoI think that DirecTV setups transmit power and control signal through the shield. A given wavelength carries two polarized signals and the control signal tells the LNB which polarization to watch for. (or maybe I've got it all wrong, but this is what I've gathered from setting up and troubleshooting my own)
- delinquentme 16y agolol whut. THATS TOO EASY!
- alanfalcon 16y agoIf you're more lazy and don't mind watching someone watch the show, this worked at 7 PM Eastern yesterday: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/final-jeopardy-man-vs-machine http://www.ustream.tv/channel/final-jeopardy-man-vs-machine
- aantix 16y agoI have an antenna from RCA that is "enhanced". When I plug it in, it definitely helps in solidifying the picture. http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT1650-Digital-Amplified-Antenna/dp/B0027FGW3K http://www.amazon.com/RCA-ANT1650-Digital-Amplified-Antenna/... Using your antenna, how could I go about amplifying the reach in an attempt to pick up more channels and/or increase the display quality of current channels?
- kd0amg 16y agoGoing through common antenna design compromises... Depends on your location, of course, but the most effective thing I could do is get out of this valley. Next, I'd straighten the antenna wire and move the antenna outdoors (with a 75Ω coax line connecting it to the TV). You could also adjust the length so it's resonant at a particular frequency, but that will weaken the signal you receive on other channels. Alternatively, cutting it way longer than the minimum resonant length (like an order of magnitude or so) seems to make for a pretty forgiving frequency response. Then again, commercial broadcast transmitters are probably running enough output power that unobstructed line of sight makes more of a difference than anything else can.
- rms 16y agoPrivate Justin.tv broadcast anyone?
- arandomJohn 16y agoMy HDTV antenna is a paperclip stuck into the back of a TiVo. I get solid HD reception, no artifacts or other problems. It is all about how close you are to the broadcast towers. I have line of sight to towers that are about 12 miles away.
- xutopia 16y agoWhat size is the cardboard tube?
- elxrr 16y agoMine is just a copper wire, no fancy cardboard tubes or coils.
- akeck 16y agoGray Hoverman antennae do a good job for longer distances: http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/ http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/ If you search a little more through the http://www.digitalhome.ca/ http://www.digitalhome.ca/ forums, you can find newer generations of the design. Various folks have been using genetic algorithms to find more efficient modifications to the original design. http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=119489 http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=119489
- narodick 16y agoThis article is excellent! And thank you, chaosmachine, for providing instructions for replication. It's my strong opinion that everything here is ethically sound. This sort of "hacker" culture is the meat and potatoes of what drives innovation in the United States today, and whether this specific incident results in a new product or simply higher security by cable providers, progress has been made.
- daxelrod 16y agoWhat do cable providers have anything to do with this? He built his own antenna to receive local channels that are broadcast over the air. These are broadcast specifically so that people with antennas can receive them.
- ortusdux 16y agoIve been looking for an excuse to do this: http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/how-to/how-to-make-a-string-tree-wall-mural-home-hacks-109655 http://www.re-nest.com/re-nest/how-to/how-to-make-a-string-t... Thanks!
- jbrennan 16y agoWhich city are you in? I'm in downtown Ottawa and with a store-bought HDTV antenna I get only 2 stations. Maybe I'll have to go buy a spool of wire!
- chaosmachine 16y agoSouth end of Ottawa :)
- jbrennan 16y agoWell that settles it. I'm buying a spool tonight. Thanks!
- adestefan 16y agoGo to tvfool.com and put in your addresses. From what I can find they have Canada data in their DB too. The first step to understand how to get good reception is to learn where all the towers are located and what band they broadcast on.
- MikeCapone 16y agoI had the same experience in Vanier (Ottawa East..). I actually brought back the antenna to the store because I thought it was broken.
- dpapathanasiou 16y agoYou'll get even better reception if you shape the wire in a fractal pattern, like this: http://www.instructables.com/image/FDXQQVBFP8NM7YF/Create-fractals.jpg http://www.instructables.com/image/FDXQQVBFP8NM7YF/Create-fr... Nathan Cohen made this discovery after listening to a Mandelbrot talk on fractals: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_antenna#Fractal_element_antennas_and_performance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_antenna#Fractal_element...
- jobrahms 16y ago"Nathan Cohen made this discovery..." He's the reason you don't have a stubby antenna sticking out of your cell phone anymore. Really cool story.
- Groxx 16y agoI watched a Nova on fractals not too long ago, it covered this bit exactly. Definitely a cool story :) I don't 100% remember the title, but I think this was it: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/hunting-hidden-dimension.html http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/hunting-hidden-dimensio...
- Tautology 16y ago"Nathan Cohen made this discovery..." Surprisingly he does not have a wikipedia article. You'd think someone who made such an important discovery would have a rather long one.
- philsalesses 16y agoI can't be the only person to notice that not every angle on the instructables example can be 60 degrees.
- thought_alarm 16y agoYou can use http://www.tvfool.com/ http://www.tvfool.com/ to chart the strength of nearby TV signals based on your location. It includes both US and Canadian broadcast towers. I'd be interested to know the strength of the signals you're able to receive with your paper-towel-tube antenna design.
- BrandonM 16y agoMy antenna is currently a coaxial cable screwed into the back of my TV and extended up to my curtain rod. It looks like I'm getting curtain-rod cable.
- jim_lawless 16y agoI've gotten pretty good reception with a UHF loop antenna like catalog # 46-200 pictured here: http://www.farnsworthelectronics.com/antenna.htm http://www.farnsworthelectronics.com/antenna.htm I use a matching-transformer to connect it to the coax plug.
- emehrkay 16y agoJust made one of these, really really half-assed. I had to strip a coaxe cable with a pair of scissors and my hands. That took at least 20 mins. But here we are http://imgur.com/a/6mE0W http://imgur.com/a/6mE0W I have to remember to take that down before someone gets cut in half running down the stairs
- pandorastoreuk 16y agoI was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post. <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com</strong> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com</strong> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com</strong> <br> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets</strong> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets</strong> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets</strong> <br> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms</strong> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms</strong> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms</strong> <br> <strong>http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/beads</strong> http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/beads</strong>
- Enlightenment 16y ago#1 - Old TV antenna == HDTV antenna. #2 - For very close tv transmitters, unbend a paper clip, bend into 'L' shape, stick in F-connector, done.
- cappaert 16y agoDoes this work in the US? I've been under the assumption that with the recent switch from analog to digital signal (and the need for a digital converter box), connecting an antenna straight to a TV no longer works. Thoughts?
- sp332 16y agoThe frequencies are the same, and since they're not doing anything freaky with the signal (just broadcast) the same kind of antenna ought to work. In fact, you should get a better signal, because ATSC has much better multipath resistance than NTSC did.
- pandorastoreuk 16y agoI was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post. <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com http://www.pandorasaleuk.com style="color:red;">Pandora</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com http://www.pandorasaleuk.com style="color:blue;">Pandora UK</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com http://www.pandorasaleuk.com style="color:yellow;">Pandora Jewellery</a></strong> <br> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets style="color:red;">Pandora Bracelets</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets style="color:blue;">Pandora Bracelets UK</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/bracelets style="color:yellow;">Pandora Bracelet</a></strong> <br> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms style="color:red;">Pandora Charms</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms style="color:blue;">Pandora Charms Sale</a></strong> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/charms style="color:yellow;">Pandora Charms UK</a></strong> <br> <strong><a href="http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/beads http://www.pandorasaleuk.com/beads style="color:blue;">Pandora Beads</a></strong>
- idknow 16y agowhoa; that's too kool; congratulations!!!