TV Antenna

[Gene]

Hi all. I'm looking for information on building a indoor TV antenna. Now, please don't send me to Wal-mart for a $10 pair of "rabbit ears." I'm looking for something that has serious gain and (hopefully) does not have to be maneuvered around every time the channel is changed. The ideal project would be omni-directional and UHF/VHF. A yagi the size of a sofa is not exactly what I had in mind either. It will have to be in a living room.

I know this is a bit like asking for tiny speakers that have full, rich tone and will handle 100 watts (can't be done) but any suggestions are welcome.

 

[stevez]

Gene - it sounds like you need an antenna and an amplifier. Radio Shack and other stores sell VHF/UHF amplifiers at somewhat low cost. You could probably build a simple broadband amp too. Omni directional and broad band more or less eliminates opportunities for gain from the antenna itself. The problem will be signal to noise ratio for traditional analog TV - you'll have a very low signal level on the antenna and even with the best of amps you'll be amplifying the signal and noise so you'll get amplified signal plus noise.

I understand (from the people in the business) that the new HDTV stations will be on UHF and that the signal to noise requirements (because it's digital) are much less demanding. The implication is that you may only need UHF (smaller) and that a good quality picture can be had with antenna/amp configurations that were previously unacceptable.

Some radio amatuer publications have ideas on antennas. Email me at WA2EKL@arrl.net if you don't come up with anything.

 

[Gene]

Here's the story. Grandma lives in an apartment in a town with 3 local TV stations. All three can be seen fairly well using the 'rabbit ear' antenna (if they are set just right) but she has trouble adjusting them for different stations. Her building does not have cable and a satellite system is too costly. So, she is stuck with an indoor antenna.

I built her a dipole from some scrap wire last month and added a 30dB amp this month. This allows two stations to come it fair but it is not moveable. What ever I finally come up with for an antenna, I will keep the amp connected.