# Home made antenna



## Ivtec (Jan 9, 2009)

Hi guys i"m trying to build my own home made hanger VHF/UHF OTA antenna,my question is,is this worth it and will i get good signal with this type of home made antenna or I'll be better off with similar pursued antenna?
Thanks in advance

http://www.tvantennaplans.com/opt/1.html


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## narrod (Jul 26, 2007)

They are so cheap to buy. Why bother making one?


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## butters (Sep 25, 2007)

I made one of these and it works pretty well. I pull in 3 channels from 32 miles away through numerous trees and hills. Also gets another channel in the opposite direction from 15 miles away.


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## Ivtec (Jan 9, 2009)

butters said:


> I made one of these and it works pretty well. I pull in 3 channels from 32 miles away through numerous trees and hills. Also gets another channel in the opposite direction from 15 miles away.


Butters;thanks for your help.did you use angers? don't they rotten? what other metals are good for it,with the antenna above link do we get Both bands uhf and Vhf? i get with an indoor ears amplified antenna High Def ABC, NBC, CNBC, Cw28, and a couple SD but i don't get PBS Hd, that;s why i'm trying to make this up,thanks.


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## butters (Sep 25, 2007)

I followed the directions from http://uhfhdtvantenna.blogspot.com/ rather than the ones above but they are pretty much the same although mine is not weatherproof. I did use coated metal hangers. I actually have it above my garage in an unfinished room about 75 feet from my TV. (my TV is in the basement) It may pick up high band VHF but I am way too far away to get any VHF with this antenna. I believe that CBS is 75 miles from me so that is out of the question. I have successfully pulled in 27, 29, and 33 with this antenna from 32 miles away using a crappy preamp. I would say it works about as well as my Terk HDTVa indoor antenna and since it only took about an hour to make I am happy with the results.


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

I just built one in about an hour using the plans on tvantennaplans.com. I am very happy with it.

I did it last night after my wife asked about channel 002-02, a subchannel on one of the Twin Cities PBS stations, about 50 miles away.

I drilled some holes in a piece of laminate flooring that was laying around, cut and bent four coat hangers, mounted them, wired it, and attached a balun. For my test, I didn't even bother with the reflectors. I hung it from the corner of my component cabinet and aimed it at what I estimated was 026 degrees.

When I scanned locals, it picked up eleven, including 002-02. They all come in fine except Fox 9 (VHF). The other VHF station, KARE 11 (NBC) wasn't picked up at all. But then this is a UHF antenna.


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## BattleZone (Nov 13, 2007)

On one hand, it's fun to make your own stuff and see it work.

On the other hand, antennas work best outdoors mounted as high as possible, and a good commercially-made antenna that is easy to mount and designed to be out in the weather is cheap at around $40. It likely cost about $20+ to make your own if you price out everything, and what you end up with isn't designed to hold up outdoors.


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## bnborg (Jun 3, 2005)

BattleZone said:


> On one hand, it's fun to make your own stuff and see it work.
> 
> On the other hand, antennas work best outdoors mounted as high as possible, and a good commercially-made antenna that is easy to mount and designed to be out in the weather is cheap at around $40. It likely cost about $20+ to make your own if you price out everything, and what you end up with isn't designed to hold up outdoors.


Any commercially made antenna would have taken much longer to procure, much less install. As long as mine works, I am happy. :hurah:


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