Sure it will work, we use to stack antenna's to cover multiply markets all the time. But, here's a trick you normally don't think of. When using a stacked antenna array, avoid using antennas that both cover the same channels in both target areas. Else you wind up amplifying the noise, from the area your not trying to receive, and, degrading the target signal. You could also use a tuned trap, to block the signal from the undesired area, but, that's more complicated for many to comprehend (hi-pass, low-pass, or, notch filter etc).
Hardly even necessary anymore with technology. The Televes SmarKom will allow you to isolate which antenna is responsible to pick up each indvidual station. Not only that, it takes the signals and automatically optimizes and boosts each one as needed so the signal strength is about the same for all. Truly amazing. But yeah, it costs about $200 buck. Still cheaper than two months of cable.
Been building antennas for 63 years. When you have your 5 channels line of sight 8 miles away, all you need is a paperclip to receive them. Remove the reflector off your channel master antenna and point it at your 120 degree 40 mile target. You will get perfect reception for the 5 channels from the side/back exposure gained by losing the reflector.
Brian, you went through a lot of trouble to produce a video of your project, and it's well done...but you left out a diagram of the dimensions, which would've made this an excellent video.
The design is easy to find on the web. What kind of interest me is why Brian built the original design when there are redesigns out there that have greatly improved performance. They also look way cooler. Almost like a design of art...lol I built one back in 2010 and it worked fantastic. www.jedsoft.org/fun/antennas/dtv/gh.html
Most of the Grey Hoverman builds I've seen use non-conductive materials for the structural support, with a vertically split reflector. I like the simplicity and sturdiness of using aluminum square tube, but wonder how it might change the performance compared to the original design.
I purchased an indoor antenna that looks like a mini old fashioned outdoor antenna. Plus I added a 15db amplifier to it. I use this combo within my apartment. On a good day, this gets me 40+ free channels. However, the antenna has to be positioned in a specific location pointing in a specific direction. This location is about a 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot square area. If I place the antenna anywhere outside of this area, I will be left with about 8 or 9 channels only. The existence of this perfect little focal area is due to the RF signals bouncing off the immediate nearby surrounding buildings. However, the antenna that I use does have only 14 "wings", or what ever they are called, thus certain channels are picked up better than others. So to tune the antenna to get the best number of channels, I made an aluminum tuner. It is just a rectangular piece of thin cardboard covered with tinfoil. I place this on my antenna to tune it to raise the pickup of the weakest channels such as 49 and 51.
Do you think that using thin copper tubing(Say 1/8" or 3/16" tube ) instead of copper wire be better from both strength and gain angle ?? How about using 10 gauge solid wire instead of thinner wire be better ?? What do you think ???
I live near the Illinois-Wisconsin border, so I get an equal amount of channels from both Milwaukee and Chicago - totalling 80-100, with the strongest signals at 100% signal strength. But without warning, at random times, and regardless of weather, I lose all channel signals. Hardly a single channel in the entire memory works. But when I do another channel scan to see what's available, I suddenly get channels on the other side of Lake Michigan, and stations as far north as Green Bay at 80% signal strength. Stations I would never get under normal conditions. Even with the LOS flatness of Lake Michigan. I used 1/4" copper tubing for my elements and used soldered connections to the balun (which uses 20AWG solid leads on the 300 ohm side). I'm using a steel mesh reflector, positioned randomly (4"?) behind the elements. It's crazy. I've been experimenting with antennas for ham, AM/FM, tv, and even for neighbors' cable tv leakage since the 1970s, but I've never seen an antenna design deliver so much punch. I'm wondering if anyone else has sudden complete dropouts of close stations and then perfect signals on stations over a hundred miles away.
In my opinion it may be because of input overload... which i sometimes observe in some walkie talkies/ handsets/radios. some strong signals overload the input, rendering the output zero or nothing.
First, I really like your design thanks for taking the time to show your work. Two simple things to improve the longevity of your design. 1. You could have used your drill press to pre drill holes for small stainless screws to fasten the reflectors on the mast instead of epoxy. Epoxy will break down with UV exposure. 2. Bend the edge of your washers in a vice so they cup the element when fastened by the screws ensuring they won’t come loose in windy conditions. Hope this help
I know this is an older video, but man your work is professional quality. Curious if your main antenna bends are at 7" per the usual Hooverman or if you used 10" as i have seen on some. Also Brian, I know you optimized for certain channels, but did you consider the horizontal tubes top and bottom as seen on some Hoovermans to enhance vhf?
Not sure what happened to my comment. I would like to compliment you on your workmanship. I was hoping you would get better results though. Seem like a lot of work and a lot of time to build an antenna that barely exceeded the 4221. It would be great to compare that Gray Hoverman to a 4228 HD. Again, great workmanship.
EXCELLENT in ALL regards. I hesitate to add anything, but after using more than a few cutting fluids on aluminum, I've found plain old kerosene to be about as good as it gets. In my experience, Kerosene even works better than some of the products dedicated for use on aluminum.
Hi Brian. Great video! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I wish you had taken your signal readings with a field meter for more accurate results. I live in Costa Rica, install OTA antennas and use a field meter for the ISDB-T digital television standard. ATSC is the OTA digital TV signal standard for Canada. Mexico and the US. With the meter I can read signal strength, quality and the Modulation Error Ratio (MER) which helps me a lot to compare and to align/orient antennas.
www.wadeantenna.com , sells UHF Parabolic antennas. And Yes the Prices Reflect the Quality of the antennas. The advertising is aimed at the CATV industry and Professional industry due to the fact that they require durable long lasting dependable antennas , however Yes you can buy and use them. And Yes Wade Antenna sells Tv many other Tv antennas. And Yes the Prices Reflect the Quality of the antennas. The , J-283X VHF/UHF All Channel Antenna is a Excellent Antenna. Wade Antenna sells antennas that installers have thought are no longer available. However still are.
UHF channel spectrum (14-83) was set aside in 1950s, BUT it was not Kennedy admin (FCC commissioner - Minnow) that they required TVs to include UHF tuner. BONUS: Fairchild (Robert Noyce) attributed that required for "the new" transistors fabrication -- that enabled eventual Intel -- later. The loss of the 800 MHz (70-83) in 1981 created the cellular telephone spectrum -- that you have used since 1980s
I built your antenna, I was getting only a few stations I put it up and now I get 35 thanks for your help I did not know how to look at your measurements so I built it from the pictures thanks for your help and good by cable and dish network and big bills.............Vince
Very nice build, but it was a bit of a let-down if you wanted to improve on the Channel Master. Still, a little less than excellent is still excellent!
I have to say you did a nice job. It looks perfect but I don't see the advantage. Was it really that much better? IMHO, You could have bought a 4228 and done better.
Very nice build. I fear silicone a added doing with a punch on the loose rods and silicone might work better in time. Just a thought. All gues and gums break down in time with sunlight. Thanks great video for a build. In fact, probably one of the best I have seen on here.
Thank you for this. Appreciate all the work you put in that you didn't have to and coukd have just kept private! Curious, are you still using this antenna? And are you still happy with it's results??
Shouldn't the reflector rods be isolated from the structure frame with rubber grommets? Your nec file shows your reflector wires to be 6.35mm radius which is .500 inch diameter and your element wires are 3.175mm radius which is .25 inch diameter. Am I reading that right? I changed the value by half and it showed a slight increase in gain.
Yes. Antenna in this video is not Gray-Hoverman. For G-H - reflector must be electrically split (no matter if it is solid mesh or rods). This is the most annoying feature to actually go for G-H. I've seen dozens of DIY pictures where people do solid-reflector (non-split in halves). I will run HFSS simulation to see what happens, when you connect reflector halves.
Great video can you design one that will work for long range use? I live in rural Utah and the tower are 80+ mile away from my home. Maybe sell me a put together kit or something.
You can also find an aluminum pole outside, wrap it outside with copper wire, and plug in the coaxil to pick up 75+ channels in the city and 20+ channels in the country.
Take the reflector off the channel master it makes it multi directional or just point it to the farther direction the 8 mile stations are close enough to push thru the reflector
Hey Brian, thanks for the vid. Am desperately trying to get better DTV reception and am sick of forking out money for high gain fringe antennas that don't do the job. And yes I am running a high quality mast head amp. Frequencies in our patch are mostly VHF: from 64.25MHz (odd one out) then 177.50 to 226.50Mhz with a couple in the UHF range 527.25 & 536.625MHz. All Horizontally polarised. I would consider ganging 4 of these together to cover the range. Are the receiver element lengths based on frequency wavelength?
If you have twice the antenna the best you can hope for is 3 dB more signal. Are you in a deep fringe area? Any obstructions? Height problems? Trees in the way? If the transmitters are in different directions, a higher gain antenna will be harder to steer to each one.
Nice job with the antenna. it looks great. I'm interested in building one, however I need my gain to peak at UHF channel 42 (don't really care what else I receive) The design software is a little over my head, any chance you would run it for my situation for a donation? Looking to pick-up FOX-29 out of Philly from 63 mile northeast. I have been able to receive 3 Philly channels with the towers in the same cluster with my Wineguard HD-8800, but Fox is the one I am really after.
Frequency selective if you size for specific dipole gap and if you use multiple antenna to create a phased array and aligned perfectly with the transmitter you may not need Traps or Band-pass filters.[ 7:00] 15 to 31? I would aim tighter than that. If you used 3 antenna the distance between the three can help tune in the frequency.
How has the antenna work for the past year? Great looking job! You can find industrial cut offs of the plastic on ebay. Usually pretty cheap. Cutting oil?
I was just wondering if you purposely allowed the reflector rods to be electrically connected. I've built a couple of these (not optimised for your channel range) using screens for reflectors instead of rods. I know there is a "gapless" version out there, but all the ones I've built needed the left and right sides of the reflectors to be electrically seperated to keep the SWR down. Anyways...I'm just curious and fascinated, not critical. Overall, I think it looks pretty nice.
Matt Hoover I considered electrically isolating the reflector rods using the plastic as I did with the driven elements, but in the end I didn't for several reasons. 1) It greatly simplified the design and construction, 2) that plastic is the most expensive part of the antenna, and 3) the biggest reason is most commercial antennas do not electrically isolate the reflectors so I wasn't sure if it's necessary or has much effect on the performance.
Brian Friesen OK..like I said, just curious. Easier to build is why I opted for using screens instead of rods. I live in the mountains of PA where I have to squeeze pretty much every decibal I can and use a pre-amp just to get stations broadcasting 20 miles away. I built a double bay version of this for myself and it works pretty well. Anyways, thanks for answering my question.
Rainy Kay be careful what type of plastic you use as many types degrade and crumble under long term use in UV light. I used the gray, UV resistant PVC electrical pipe (1/2") for my build.
First of all, I was wondering what software you use to get DB and statistic levels from your antenna? Steal & copper make far better conductors.. Aluminum is pretty much a no go from what I have seen in other videos. Your Antenna looks very pro looking!! But I was told not to use aluminum for my conducting wires.. Thanks 4 Sharing!! .
If you attach nickels, dimes, or quarters, would it have a greater chance of getting channels? Also, Would there be a better chance of getting channels if you use different metals or materials?
I actually don't see any great difference between these antenna's, the only thing is that the hoverman antenna is far more complicated to build than the CM antenna
My only NBC channel is moving to channel 2 in 15 months. Not sure what chowderhead agreed to that. They must have gotten a bundle when they sold channel 32 at auction. Anyway, I have a little over a year to figure out something. I have line-of-sight at 32 miles. Is there any chance that this antenna will pick it up? or will I need some kind of dipole?
@@thewileyone1 - Try adding Roach Clips to it. I have been experimenting with Roach Clips.... Most Channels I'm using 5 Clips and then some I have to use 6 Clips... Strange, but it works!
Reason I ask is several of the ppl who home build a antenna..test the antenna buy way of a device hooked straight to a ltop USB port and connected to a voax lead to the antenna..and shows on the Lt how many channels are in that area
hey if you have the time to answer my question id greatly appreciate it. so basically where I live I can get 9 channels with a little homemade antenna with a piece of wire and a stripped coax cable, and that's because the broadcast tower is within about 10 miles and the signal is very very strong. now I wanted to start to make a seirous antenna to get all the good channels like abc and fox. well the only problem is, thir broadcast towers are 40 miles away or so. so I bought a blaun with a vhf and uhf signal mixer in it considering a few channels in my area are vhf. but my main question is how much does this cost to make? you made it really good it looks store bought. but also whats the range on this? if I mount it 30 feet high in my attic, can it pick up a signal from 40 miles away?? please answer If you can.. thanks :)
+BassMaster101 The materials probably cost me around $30 which isn't bad considering commercial antennas of the same class cost $50 - $100. This antenna design would most likely pick up stations up to ~45 miles, but there are so many factors that affect that like local terrain, nearby structures, and the strength of those distant broadcast signals. tvfool.com is a great place to start to determine what you might be able to receive.
Beautiful build love stat compare but you never show the tv reception the end game. I would never not show my end game i can build beautiful too but if it does not deliver what is the point. The Tv reception and signal speak for themselves.
So basically, in the end it performed as good as the CM 4221. If one didn't want to go through the build and for about an additional $20 you could just buy the CM 4221. Is that correct?
John Baker , No problem at all. Pretty much any metal will work. And if you are sticking this in an attic, aluminium foil glued to some cardboard would work just as well :). Only use the fancy stuff for outdoor installs.
John Baker , No problem at all. Pretty much any metal will work. And if you are sticking this in an attic, aluminium foil glued to some cardboard would work just as well :). Only use the fancy stuff for outdoor installs.
birther1968 By "rabbit ears" are you referring to the zig-zag shaped elements? They are not connected together. Each side (left and right) is a single piece of aluminum rod bent into shape. The angles are all 90 in the middle and 45 at the very top. The elements attach to the rest of the antenna using metal bolts and nuts at the plastic fittings. For more details on the design (such as element lengths) you can download the antenna model.
Is it just me or can someone explain how the signal is captured from the antenna and transported to the actual TV. I have watched many video's all of which show use of a Ballun and also Pre-Amp, a Combiner (if applicable), a Power Splitter (if applicable) and yet I don't see that in this video. Please advise. Thank you Brian
hi my question is usually i see people making them out of copper wire tho yours is made from aluminum right the rods and everything els besides the bolts screws?
Copper versus aluminum shouldn't matter much. Copper conducts better than aluminum, but aluminum should withstand the elements better than copper. Both copper and aluminum conduct far better than steel. Go with whatever you have.
Most CB antenna's on auto's. are made with stainless steel. My base is made up of aircraft aluminium. Not sure if that would be any better but it would be more expensive.
It wouldn't matter if you are only 45 miles from the tower. It matters when it is 60+ miles from the tower! I get 6 channels 20 miles from my home by using just two stainless steel cooking tongs. BTW, the conductivity of copper is 40 percent better than aluminum and 6 times better than steel. Since stranded copper has a much larger surface area, it will have more gain than solid copper wire. So, use a stranded copper wire if you have one. Also, the difficulty of receiving signal is not linear to the distance.
You made this out of Aluminum ? Years ago I live in a trailer and it was wired with aluminum. Every six months or so a plug in would stop working. Or a light stopped working. Aluminum corrodes very quickly. Every time this happened we had to take it apart and clean the wires. We used something called, Nolox , it was supposed to help prevent it from corroding. I was told that aluminum is not one of the best materials for making an antenna. Believe me it is a pain in the ass to have to take it apart and clean. Copper is suppose to be much better. The problem I am having is how to keep it from rusting. Does anyone know of a some kind of sealer that keep it from rusting. The only other thing I can think of to use is a Stainless steel. And like everything else I will have to order on line.
Usually when aluminum and copper touching each other is when you get damaging corrosion. It doesn't hurt for the elements to get a little corrosion only the connections need to stay clean.
i think william is concerned with the connections corroding, not so much the appearance of the elements. Clear coat would totally insulate the connections. The grease you use for aluminum house wiring or any dielectric should work well at the junctions.
If the digital age cut the UHF band to 14-51 why is there still channels 55 and even channels in the 60's? I don't think my tv has removed channels 52 through 69, my tv is only a few years old bought in 2015.
These stations are actually broadcasting on different TV channels than what they are branded as. In ATSC broadcasting, PSIP info tells the receiver what channel a station is branded as (virtual channel) and what channel the station is actually broadcasting on (physical channel). This allows stations on the higher channel numbers to continue using the channel branding and image (i.e. Atlanta's channel 69) they have built up over the years.
I don't have the measurements. But if you download the design file load it in 4nec2 you can get the element lengths. Both download links are in the show notes.
Sure it will work, we use to stack antenna's to cover multiply markets all the time.
But, here's a trick you normally don't think of. When using a stacked antenna array, avoid using antennas that both cover the same channels in both target areas. Else you wind up amplifying the noise, from the area your not trying to receive, and, degrading the target signal. You could also use a tuned trap, to block the signal from the undesired area, but, that's more complicated for many to comprehend (hi-pass, low-pass, or, notch filter etc).
Hardly even necessary anymore with technology. The Televes SmarKom will allow you to isolate which antenna is responsible to pick up each indvidual station. Not only that, it takes the signals and automatically optimizes and boosts each one as needed so the signal strength is about the same for all. Truly amazing. But yeah, it costs about $200 buck. Still cheaper than two months of cable.
Been building antennas for 63 years. When you have your 5 channels line of sight 8 miles away, all you need is a paperclip to receive them. Remove the reflector off your channel master antenna and point it at your 120 degree 40 mile target. You will get perfect reception for the 5 channels from the side/back exposure gained by losing the reflector.
Brian, you went through a lot of trouble to produce a video of your project, and it's well done...but you left out a diagram of the dimensions, which would've made this an excellent video.
The design is easy to find on the web. What kind of interest me is why Brian built the original design when there are redesigns out there that have greatly improved performance. They also look way cooler. Almost like a design of art...lol I built one back in 2010 and it worked fantastic.
www.jedsoft.org/fun/antennas/dtv/gh.html
Yes. Where are the antenna bend specs diagram..?
Awesome design! I love how it came out and rugged as well!
Most of the Grey Hoverman builds I've seen use non-conductive materials for the structural support, with a vertically split reflector. I like the simplicity and sturdiness of using aluminum square tube, but wonder how it might change the performance compared to the original design.
I purchased an indoor antenna that looks like a mini old fashioned outdoor antenna. Plus I added a 15db amplifier to it. I use this combo within my apartment. On a good day, this gets me 40+ free channels. However, the antenna has to be positioned in a specific location pointing in a specific direction. This location is about a 1 foot by 1 foot by 1 foot square area. If I place the antenna anywhere outside of this area, I will be left with about 8 or 9 channels only. The existence of this perfect little focal area is due to the RF signals bouncing off the immediate nearby surrounding buildings.
However, the antenna that I use does have only 14 "wings", or what ever they are called, thus certain channels are picked up better than others. So to tune the antenna to get the best number of channels, I made an aluminum tuner. It is just a rectangular piece of thin cardboard covered with tinfoil. I place this on my antenna to tune it to raise the pickup of the weakest channels such as 49 and 51.
Do you think that using thin copper tubing(Say 1/8" or 3/16" tube ) instead of copper wire be better from both strength and gain angle ?? How about using 10 gauge solid wire instead of thinner wire be better ?? What do you think ???
I live near the Illinois-Wisconsin border, so I get an equal amount of channels from both Milwaukee and Chicago - totalling 80-100, with the strongest signals at 100% signal strength.
But without warning, at random times, and regardless of weather, I lose all channel signals. Hardly a single channel in the entire memory works.
But when I do another channel scan to see what's available, I suddenly get channels on the other side of Lake Michigan, and stations as far north as Green Bay at 80% signal strength. Stations I would never get under normal conditions. Even with the LOS flatness of Lake Michigan.
I used 1/4" copper tubing for my elements and used soldered connections to the balun (which uses 20AWG solid leads on the 300 ohm side). I'm using a steel mesh reflector, positioned randomly (4"?) behind the elements.
It's crazy. I've been experimenting with antennas for ham, AM/FM, tv, and even for neighbors' cable tv leakage since the 1970s, but I've never seen an antenna design deliver so much punch.
I'm wondering if anyone else has sudden complete dropouts of close stations and then perfect signals on stations over a hundred miles away.
In my opinion it may be because of input overload... which i sometimes observe in some walkie talkies/ handsets/radios. some strong signals overload the input, rendering the output zero or nothing.
Hello Brian
Are you still there?
I am from Sri Lanka!- an antenna enthusiast.
Thank you for your video. I made it and it works!
God bless you!
First, I really like your design thanks for taking the time to show your work.
Two simple things to improve the longevity of your design.
1. You could have used your drill press to pre drill holes for small stainless screws to fasten the reflectors on the mast instead of epoxy. Epoxy will break down with UV exposure.
2. Bend the edge of your washers in a vice so they cup the element when fastened by the screws ensuring they won’t come loose in windy conditions.
Hope this help
Were any dimensions ever given?? I'd be interested in knowing those. Detailed schematics appreciated
Well done Brian: Project was thought out, executed, & shown to work well.
I know this is an older video, but man your work is professional quality.
Curious if your main antenna bends are at 7" per the usual Hooverman or if you used 10" as i have seen on some.
Also Brian, I know you optimized for certain channels, but did you consider the horizontal tubes top and bottom as seen on some Hoovermans to enhance vhf?
Hello Brian, Do you think using copper for the element work better ??? How about the actual dimensions for the Gray antenna ??? Thanks
Not sure what happened to my comment. I would like to compliment you on your workmanship. I was hoping you would get better results though. Seem like a lot of work and a lot of time to build an antenna that barely exceeded the 4221. It would be great to compare that Gray Hoverman to a 4228 HD.
Again, great workmanship.
you built an antenna with better materials and workmanship than channelmaster or any other commercial made TV antenna, nice job!!!
EXCELLENT in ALL regards. I hesitate to add anything, but after using more than a few cutting fluids on aluminum, I've found plain old kerosene to be about as good as it gets. In my experience, Kerosene even works better than some of the products dedicated for use on aluminum.
Mike Wimbury
Kerosene, eh? In that case I bet mineral spirits (Stoddard solvent) would work great too, but less smelly. I'll try that.
Hi Brian. Great video! Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us.
I wish you had taken your signal readings with a field meter for more accurate results. I live in Costa Rica, install OTA antennas and use a field meter for the ISDB-T digital television standard. ATSC is the OTA digital TV signal standard for Canada. Mexico and the US. With the meter I can read signal strength, quality and the Modulation Error Ratio (MER) which helps me a lot to compare and to align/orient antennas.
Great job. You should do a build of the Channel Master 4251 UHF 7ft PARABOLIC That was the king of Antennas.
www.wadeantenna.com , sells UHF Parabolic antennas.
And Yes the Prices Reflect the Quality of the antennas.
The advertising is aimed at the CATV industry and Professional industry due to the fact that they require durable long lasting dependable antennas , however Yes you can buy and use them.
And Yes Wade Antenna sells Tv many other Tv antennas.
And Yes the Prices Reflect the Quality of the antennas.
The , J-283X VHF/UHF All Channel Antenna is a Excellent Antenna.
Wade Antenna sells antennas that installers have thought are no longer available. However still are.
I would like to see a comparison between that hovermen antenna and a bowtie antenna. Build an 8 Bay and see how it does. Nice video!
That's a very smooth construction skills. I will try to do that my own. Nice job.
UHF channel spectrum (14-83) was set aside in 1950s, BUT it was not Kennedy admin (FCC commissioner - Minnow) that they required TVs to include UHF tuner. BONUS: Fairchild (Robert Noyce) attributed that required for "the new" transistors fabrication -- that enabled eventual Intel -- later. The loss of the 800 MHz (70-83) in 1981 created the cellular telephone spectrum -- that you have used since 1980s
I built your antenna, I was getting only a few stations I put it up and now I get 35 thanks for your help I did not know how to look at your measurements so I built it from the pictures thanks for your help and good by cable and dish network and big bills.............Vince
Look up Danny s Hodges
Very nice build, but it was a bit of a let-down if you wanted to improve on the Channel Master.
Still, a little less than excellent is still excellent!
I agree, I don't really see the advantage for all the work he did.
I have to say you did a nice job. It looks perfect but I don't see the advantage. Was it really that much better? IMHO, You could have bought a 4228 and done better.
The link to the python file is no good. So the dimensions remain a secret and the video just a tease.
Very nice build. I fear silicone a added doing with a punch on the loose rods and silicone might work better in time. Just a thought. All gues and gums break down in time with sunlight. Thanks great video for a build. In fact, probably one of the best I have seen on here.
Those type aeriels are called Phased Arrays here in Australia
Thank you for this. Appreciate all the work you put in that you didn't have to and coukd have just kept private!
Curious, are you still using this antenna? And are you still happy with it's results??
Are you in a location close to the transmitter ???? Thanks Brian
Shouldn't the reflector rods be isolated from the structure frame with rubber grommets?
Your nec file shows your reflector wires to be 6.35mm radius which is .500 inch diameter and your element wires are 3.175mm radius which is .25 inch diameter. Am I reading that right? I changed the value by half and it showed a slight increase in gain.
Make sense.. I thought the same..
Yes. Antenna in this video is not Gray-Hoverman. For G-H - reflector must be electrically split (no matter if it is solid mesh or rods). This is the most annoying feature to actually go for G-H. I've seen dozens of DIY pictures where people do solid-reflector (non-split in halves). I will run HFSS simulation to see what happens, when you connect reflector halves.
Great video can you design one that will work for long range use? I live in rural Utah and the tower are 80+ mile away from my home. Maybe sell me a put together kit or something.
You can also find an aluminum pole outside, wrap it outside with copper wire, and plug in the coaxil to pick up 75+ channels in the city and 20+ channels in the country.
If you live to far from the transmitter antena, get you a signal amplifier and you will see the difference 🤔🤔
You never told us how to buid it. What are the dimentions and how long are the reflector rods. How far apart are they spaced etc..
Should have added more reflector rods , nice design by the way
Take the reflector off the channel master it makes it multi directional or just point it to the farther direction the 8 mile stations are close enough to push thru the reflector
Thanks a lot for your video , it was very helpful for me to build a good antenna for UHF channel receiving ..
How long are the rods and how far apart are they
By the way do you have a Kit and have you tried stacking two ?
Hey Brian, thanks for the vid. Am desperately trying to get better DTV reception and am sick of forking out money for high gain fringe antennas that don't do the job. And yes I am running a high quality mast head amp. Frequencies in our patch are mostly VHF: from 64.25MHz (odd one out) then 177.50 to 226.50Mhz with a couple in the UHF range 527.25 & 536.625MHz. All Horizontally polarised. I would consider ganging 4 of these together to cover the range. Are the receiver element lengths based on frequency wavelength?
buy Android tv box you can get everything you want for free
If you have twice the antenna the best you can hope for is 3 dB more signal. Are you in a deep fringe area? Any obstructions? Height problems? Trees in the way? If the transmitters are in different directions, a higher gain antenna will be harder to steer to each one.
Nice job with the antenna. it looks great. I'm interested in building one, however I need my gain to peak at UHF channel 42 (don't really care what else I receive) The design software is a little over my head, any chance you would run it for my situation for a donation? Looking to pick-up FOX-29 out of Philly from 63 mile northeast. I have been able to receive 3 Philly channels with the towers in the same cluster with my Wineguard HD-8800, but Fox is the one I am really after.
Frequency selective if you size for specific dipole gap and if you use multiple antenna to create a phased array and aligned perfectly with the transmitter you may not need Traps or Band-pass filters.[ 7:00] 15 to 31? I would aim tighter than that. If you used 3 antenna the distance between the three can help tune in the frequency.
Your redesign of the antenna proved pretty prescient after the FCC sold off all channels north of 36.
Can you do a design for channel 5 thru 43.2 ? I don't think I could learn the software like you did. thanks, rick
Hey Brian, how did you get the nut onto the screw for the center plastic standoff?
Looks pretty sturdy. Is that homemade GH still in use?
How has the antenna work for the past year? Great looking job!
You can find industrial cut offs of the plastic on ebay. Usually pretty cheap.
Cutting oil?
Can you provide a drawing with dimensions, as it is difficult to know how you did it, because you do not show how you made the elements.
@Vince Cimino
- Check Description.... I just download the Software myself.... It seems we have to learn some "Scripts", LOL
You know what works for tv works for radioham, I'm using 2 x Digital tv antennas as reflectors for my dipole, gained over 3 s.points on my signal
I was just wondering if you purposely allowed the reflector rods to be electrically connected. I've built a couple of these (not optimised for your channel range) using screens for reflectors instead of rods. I know there is a "gapless" version out there, but all the ones I've built needed the left and right sides of the reflectors to be electrically seperated to keep the SWR down. Anyways...I'm just curious and fascinated, not critical. Overall, I think it looks pretty nice.
Matt Hoover I considered electrically isolating the reflector rods using the plastic as I did with the driven elements, but in the end I didn't for several reasons. 1) It greatly simplified the design and construction, 2) that plastic is the most expensive part of the antenna, and 3) the biggest reason is most commercial antennas do not electrically isolate the reflectors so I wasn't sure if it's necessary or has much effect on the performance.
Brian Friesen OK..like I said, just curious. Easier to build is why I opted for using screens instead of rods. I live in the mountains of PA where I have to squeeze pretty much every decibal I can and use a pre-amp just to get stations broadcasting 20 miles away. I built a double bay version of this for myself and it works pretty well. Anyways, thanks for answering my question.
Brian Friesen Couldn't I use cheap plastic yardsticks for insulating?
Rainy Kay be careful what type of plastic you use as many types degrade and crumble under long term use in UV light. I used the gray, UV resistant PVC electrical pipe (1/2") for my build.
+Matt Hoover Good!
FYI: Hover is what a helicopter does. Hoover is a brand of vacuum cleaner and a President.
What's the spec's to make this antenna??...Thanks!
what happens to the other antenna - the 120 degree one that you mention in the beginning
First of all, I was wondering what software you use to get DB and statistic levels from your antenna?
Steal & copper make far better conductors..
Aluminum is pretty much a no go from what I have seen in other videos.
Your Antenna looks very pro looking!!
But I was told not to use aluminum for my conducting wires..
Thanks 4 Sharing!!
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If you attach nickels, dimes, or quarters, would it have a greater chance of getting channels?
Also, Would there be a better chance of getting channels if you use different metals or materials?
Daniel Vidal add 100, 50 ,20, etc dollar bills i heard that adding these will get u great reception higher the dollar amount better picture :p
Thanks! I got 3 extra channels because of it!
lol
it's a very nice desing, and also need to show how to assamble and mesures between rods on the reflector or mirror
thanx
nice stuff. I would have expected the software to be more user friendly in terms of installation.
Very nicely done.
yeah... i need to get 60+ miles over hilly and forested terrain... 8 miles? pffft.
I also want to pickup VHF channel 7 around 30 miles to the broadcast tower. How can I modify this antenna to get UHF and VHF?
If you look up the frequencies you can make a bigger antenna scaled up by the same ratio as the frequencies
I actually don't see any great difference between these antenna's, the only thing is that the hoverman antenna is far more complicated to build than the CM antenna
Hi do you have a Preamp in your set up? if you had a pre amp in your set up would it help Ch 19 to come in stronger and more clearly?
thanks
Sizes, dimensions, measurements? I have very similar channels.
Which metals are the best for receiving channels?
There is still LOW VHF in the MIX... so I made my own 4 bay bow tie whiskers with 10.5" length... elements. No reflector! It works great.
My only NBC channel is moving to channel 2 in 15 months. Not sure what chowderhead agreed to that. They must have gotten a bundle when they sold channel 32 at auction. Anyway, I have a little over a year to figure out something. I have line-of-sight at 32 miles. Is there any chance that this antenna will pick it up? or will I need some kind of dipole?
@@thewileyone1 - Try adding Roach Clips to it. I have been experimenting with Roach Clips.... Most Channels I'm using 5 Clips and then some I have to use 6 Clips... Strange, but it works!
Hmmm... one of my local channels is 62.1 all the others are lower channels. Btw, you still using windows XP?
Reason I ask is several of the ppl who home build a antenna..test the antenna buy way of a device hooked straight to a ltop USB port and connected to a voax lead to the antenna..and shows on the Lt how many channels are in that area
It would have been very helpful if you would have said how far those channels are from your antenna. How far are you picking up these channels?
+Charlie Fochs ruclips.net/video/DmKjjlS2Vi0/видео.html
Charlie Fochs listen to the first part of his video again most were 8 miles to the north. one was 40 miles south east if I remember correctly.
Nice build
I think you have to make a second vídeo explaning and showing how assambling piecez thanks
why not tel the lingh of the with of all the dimenions of this project.so what size is the squar
Here it is! - 7" + 135 Degree + 90 Degree + 1.7" Center Balun + 3.5" Reflector
hey if you have the time to answer my question id greatly appreciate it. so basically where I live I can get 9 channels with a little homemade antenna with a piece of wire and a stripped coax cable, and that's because the broadcast tower is within about 10 miles and the signal is very very strong. now I wanted to start to make a seirous antenna to get all the good channels like abc and fox. well the only problem is, thir broadcast towers are 40 miles away or so. so I bought a blaun with a vhf and uhf signal mixer in it considering a few channels in my area are vhf. but my main question is how much does this cost to make? you made it really good it looks store bought. but also whats the range on this? if I mount it 30 feet high in my attic, can it pick up a signal from 40 miles away?? please answer If you can.. thanks :)
+BassMaster101 The materials probably cost me around $30 which isn't bad considering commercial antennas of the same class cost $50 - $100. This antenna design would most likely pick up stations up to ~45 miles, but there are so many factors that affect that like local terrain, nearby structures, and the strength of those distant broadcast signals. tvfool.com is a great place to start to determine what you might be able to receive.
wow that's not bad at all.... thanks
Beautiful build love stat compare but you never show the tv reception the end game. I would never not show my end game i can build beautiful too but if it does not deliver what is the point. The Tv reception and signal speak for themselves.
So basically, in the end it performed as good as the CM 4221. If one didn't want to go through the build and for about an additional $20 you could just buy the CM 4221. Is that correct?
Yes. But buy a newer version of the channel master optimized for the reduced spectrum.
Wouldn’t a rotor have fixed your problem?
we call them phased arrays here in australia
You can use plastic cutting board and make your own insulators
Would it be a problem to use half inch copper tubing instead of the rods that you used for the receptors?
John Baker , No problem at all. Pretty much any metal will work. And if you are sticking this in an attic, aluminium foil glued to some cardboard would work just as well :). Only use the fancy stuff for outdoor installs.
John Baker , No problem at all. Pretty much any metal will work. And if you are sticking this in an attic, aluminium foil glued to some cardboard would work just as well :). Only use the fancy stuff for outdoor installs.
Questions. How did you attach the rabbit ears together. Second what was the angle for the rabbit ears.
birther1968 By "rabbit ears" are you referring to the zig-zag shaped elements? They are not connected together. Each side (left and right) is a single piece of aluminum rod bent into shape. The angles are all 90 in the middle and 45 at the very top. The elements attach to the rest of the antenna using metal bolts and nuts at the plastic fittings. For more details on the design (such as element lengths) you can download the antenna model.
yes
Is it just me or can someone explain how the signal is captured from the antenna and transported to the actual TV. I have watched many video's all of which show use of a Ballun and also Pre-Amp, a Combiner (if applicable), a Power Splitter (if applicable) and yet I don't see that in this video. Please advise.
Thank you
Brian
You attach a balun with wing nuts as shown at 18:06.
Keep up the great job !
For that hard to get Channel Try a Preamp frpm Kitz Technologies. You will might be surprised !
brilliant!! thank you!!!!
You're over doing it, and if you test them you will fined no more db gain then the cheap one.
you didnt show how the wire connected to the antenna
Do I need an amplifier
On this antenna?
hi my question is usually i see people making them out of copper wire tho yours is made from aluminum right the rods and everything els besides the bolts screws?
Copper versus aluminum shouldn't matter much. Copper conducts better than aluminum, but aluminum should withstand the elements better than copper. Both copper and aluminum conduct far better than steel. Go with whatever you have.
Most CB antenna's on auto's. are made with stainless steel. My base is made up of aircraft aluminium. Not sure if that would be any better but it would be more expensive.
It wouldn't matter if you are only 45 miles from the tower. It matters when it is 60+ miles from the tower! I get 6 channels 20 miles from my home by using just two stainless steel cooking tongs. BTW, the conductivity of copper is 40 percent better than aluminum and 6 times better than steel. Since stranded copper has a much larger surface area, it will have more gain than solid copper wire. So, use a stranded copper wire if you have one. Also, the difficulty of receiving signal is not linear to the distance.
You made this out of Aluminum ? Years ago I live in a trailer and it was wired with aluminum. Every six months or so a plug in would stop working. Or a light stopped working. Aluminum corrodes very quickly. Every time this happened we had to take it apart and clean the wires. We used something called, Nolox , it was supposed to help prevent it from corroding.
I was told that aluminum is not one of the best materials for making an antenna. Believe me it is a pain in the ass to have to take it apart and clean. Copper is suppose to be much better.
The problem I am having is how to keep it from rusting. Does anyone know of a some kind of sealer that keep it from rusting.
The only other thing I can think of to use is a Stainless steel. And like everything else I will have to order on line.
Usually when aluminum and copper touching each other is when you get damaging corrosion. It doesn't hurt for the elements to get a little corrosion only the connections need to stay clean.
i think william is concerned with the connections corroding, not so much the appearance of the elements. Clear coat would totally insulate the connections. The grease you use for aluminum house wiring or any dielectric should work well at the junctions.
William Wynn sad to say almost all the new stuff on the market is made with aluminium. SCARY
Aluminum can be filed or coated in a corrosion resistant material that does not interfere with the antennas Recieving properties.
Well done!
ask for the detailed size boss
so is this only good for UHF? trying to make a better antena here in Cosat Rica we dont have HD TV yet
If the digital age cut the UHF band to 14-51 why is there still channels 55 and even channels in the 60's? I don't think my tv has removed channels 52 through 69, my tv is only a few years old bought in 2015.
google the FCC phase-in report thing. I believe it will all be done sometime in 2020.
These stations are actually broadcasting on different TV channels than what they are branded as. In ATSC broadcasting, PSIP info tells the receiver what channel a station is branded as (virtual channel) and what channel the station is actually broadcasting on (physical channel). This allows stations on the higher channel numbers to continue using the channel branding and image (i.e. Atlanta's channel 69) they have built up over the years.
Mine goes up to 64 (Massachusetts)
btw the uhf band goes to 36 max
You forgot the Hat on your antenna top and bottom this will change the readings dramastically
hat?
The top and bottom caps are for VHF reception.
NAROD hats are only required if you want to receive VHF High channels.
so where does the coax cable connect to the antenna?
Pause the Video at 6:18 - Connect it at the "Y" Center Point, one on each side. You need a Balun first, then you can connect your cable to it. :)
8 miles away and a huge antenna ....
Yup. I have a tiny, indoor flat indoor antenna that I have dangling outside near my fuse box. I get as many channels as I want.
Does anyone have the element dimensions for this antenna?
Where is your ground wire for the antenna
@Ken Smolow - You add your Ground Wire during installation.
How is the reception for high vhf ~ for example channel 10?
+johnlvs2run I don't have any VHF channels in my area, so I can't say.
yes, I would like to know that, too. mine are 11 & 12
For VHF High reception, add NARODs cut for a specific channel or compromise middle of the road channel to the top and bottom of the antenna.
Very good job
I want to know how it is a "HOOVERMAN " when there is one "o" in it?
@DUSTY - It's like Catherine with a "C" instead of a "K".
Nitpicking?
It's a drinking game. Every time Brian says "Hooverman," take a drink.
can I ask the measurment of the elements?
I don't have the measurements. But if you download the design file load it in 4nec2 you can get the element lengths. Both download links are in the show notes.
thanks!