I built this DIY antenna out of an old coax cable. I used some garden snips to cut off one end and strip off the shielding (I don't recommend you do this, it's tedious as fuck and you gotta be extremely careful not to cut off the copper bits) and arranged the copper into a dipole.I can only get 1 channel with this antenna, as this thing can only pick up stuff VHF transmissions that are really strong. I've tried repositioning the copper elements to better receive signals to no avail. This pic is my third version, the copper is bent to try and make it a bowtie.I'll buy an antenna on Amazon, but I would still love advice on how to improve this antenna I made, namely increasing it's effectiveness and picking up UHF signals. I can only do suggestions that can be done easily at home, no power tools, additional devices to buy, etc. Preferably something with aluminum foil and cardboard.
Trim your finger nails princess…triggered
>>2954495If you're close to broadcast antennas, use an attenuator. If you're far from broadcast antennas, use a unidirectional antenna like a Yagi with a signal booster for DTV signals. If you're close to a cell tower, use a LTE filter. If you want to make your own antennas, use a wavelength calculator and start with copper foil tape on cardboard or plastic, with a 75-Ohm to 300-Ohm matching transformer.https://www.channelmaster.com/pages/tv-antenna-map
I made one of these out of scrap romex, a 2x4, and a balun a found.works fine.
>>2954505>If you're close to broadcast antennashow do I steal their power and not pay for it?
>>2955369build a very big antenna. you may be able to harvest enough power to light a LED.
>>2954495the first thing you have to do is figure out which of your stations are on UHF and which are still on VHF. you can't make a proper antenna without knowing what band.also take it from someone who has made several TV antennas. just go buy one. but ignore claims of distance, they are bullshit. you can't pickup much more than 20 miles.look up antenna man on youtube. he tests antennas.
>>2954683rotate it 90 degrees
>>2954495Ayo wassup. You no have no reception without a proper balun. >>2954505>>2954683Deez zesty nigga know what I'm talking about.>>2954505>unidirectional antenna like a YagiDon't get played like this. Yagi is directional AF once you tune the parasites which you can't if you don't have $20 chinese nano vna.Just make a half length dipole or dipole array and make the balun out of some peace of coax( you can use roughly 1/4 of the wavelength although it does not work that way and you don't have the equipment for precise match anyway.)Basically, if you only have TV to test, you can make halflengrh dipole and reflector with the help of tape ruler and add the first parasite based on reception. Don't forget the balun. They look weird AF , don't get too much into theory, you won't understand it anyway. Just google how coax balun looks and slap it on anyway
>>2955427>but ignore claims of distance, they are bullshit. you can't pickup much more than 20 miles.I can consistently get stations from 55 miles away, though that's with picrel mounted outside on the roof.
what are you tuning with
>>2954683What's theoretically the difference between a wet sock, a shitty balun and almost passable balun, in dB and what's the best approach towards a good balun for a TV lover ?Asking for a friend.