Simple Antennas

These two UHF antenna projects are fairly simple and suited for stronger signals and suburban reception:

• Make Your Own Antenna for Free (and legal) HDTV
• How to build a UHF HDTV Antenna….CHEAP!

More Powerful Antenna

If you’re looking for an antenna a bit more advanced and better suited for weaker signals, check out the Gray-Hoverman antenna:

• The Gray-Hoverman Antenna for UHF Television Reception

Construction Forums

For some detailed discussions and tips about antenna construction, check out these forums:

• OTA Build-It-Yourself Antennas & Gear
• Lumenlab DIY HDTV Antenna Forum

The Lumenlab forum does require registration to view. Both forums contain good information and posts by some knowledgeable people.

Rolling Your Own

What if you catch the antenna bug and want to create your own designs? That requires quite a bit more time and knowledge, but it can be done. You’ll find some discussion of antenna design on the Lumenlab forum. One tool you will need is some kind of antenna modeling software to test your designs. Here is one of the best free programs:

• 4nec2 Antenna Modeler and Optimizer

I told the associate in that section what I was after, and asked him if they had any aluminum wire or rods. He acted as puzzled as if I had asked him if they carried gold bars. The only aluminum material he could think of was electric fence wire (which turned out to be galvanized steel) and rods used for arc welding. Neither seemed like a good choice.

I’m left confused by the lack of aluminum material. Is there an aluminum shortage I’m not aware of, or was this Home Depot just a bit lacking in aluminum?

Mounted on one side of the house:

• 1 DISH Network DISH 500 satellite dish
• 2 DirecTV dishes (one considerably larger than the other)
• 1 unlabeled small satellite dish

Mounted directly on the roof:

• 1 StarBand satellite dish for satellite Internet
• 1 full-size mesh satellite dish

Mounted on a rotatable mast on the roof:

• 1 FM antenna (model and brand unknown)
• 1 Channel Master 4228 UHF antenna (these are very recognizable)
• 1 Wade-Delhi VIP-306 or VIP-307 VHF antenna (I was less sure about this, but they are also fairly recognizable)

Mounted on a second fixed mast on the roof:

• 1 more Wade-Delhi VIP VHF antenna
• 1 HF antenna that I didn’t recognize, but possibly related to amateur radio

And that isn’t counting the satellite dish on the shared lawn, which might have belonged to a neighbor. I was tempted to knock on the front door, just to try to shake the owner’s hand.

Photo courtesy of Joe Roberts
(used with permission)

The Channel Master 4251 is generally regarded as the most powerful consumer UHF television antenna ever produced. The 4251 has acquired somewhat of a legendary status because production stopped sometime around the year 2000, and no comparable consumer antenna is sold today. It was a 7-foot parabolic dish, similar in design to a satellite dish, but designed for a different set of frequencies. The sheer size of the 4251 meant a large signal capture area, and the parabolic shape meant that it could focus and amplify signals better than any other television antenna available. Unfortunately, that sheer size also meant a large area to catch the wind. A 4251 required careful anchoring to prevent damage during high winds.

Now that that the digital television conversion has created renewed demand for television antennas, I’m a little surprised that no company has developed a consumer parabolic UHF antenna. The awkwardness and size of the 4251 made them uncommon, but there used to be two of them installed in our area. The huge parabolic dish and the solid bowties made them quite noticeable, not to mention the many guy wires anchoring them to the roof. Neither one of them is still installed, presumably superceded by the DISH Network and DirectTV dishes now there.

I was reminded of the Channel Master 4251 when I encountered Joe Robert’s excellent Channel Master 4251 Tribute Page. I never had a chance to see a 4251 up close, so I was intrigued by his pictures, the background information, and his story of buying his 4251. If you have any interest in classic antennas, then his page is well worth a look.

It seems unavoidable that many people won’t be able to receive the digital versions of analog stations they previously could receive. Part of the problem is the all or nothing nature of digital television, or what is called the “cliff effect”. Part of the problem is caused by the changed reception areas created for the new transmitters. The FCC has gone to great lengths to try and keep the digital reception areas as similar as possible to the analog areas. But it would be technically impossible to make them identical. This can work the other way too; the reception area of one digital station in our area moved considerably closer to us than the analog equivalent.

The article’s conclusion seems to be that many people will need to upgrade their antennas. The article is specific to the Washington, DC area, so they are mostly talking about people who have strong signals but suffer from multipath and other reception problems. Outdoor antennas are usually necessary for people in weaker signal areas, but indoor antennas can often work well for people in urban areas. Washington isn’t exactly a “fringe” reception area, so it is likely that something as simple as a Silver Sensor would suffice for many of these people.

If you do live in a poor reception area, then the situation is quite different. A better antenna won’t help if there is no signal to receive in the first place. Where we live, we will probably lose one or two channels after the transition. That is alleviated somewhat by the three extra sub-channels belonging to our local PBS station. Signal strengths should improve in February 2009 when all TV stations move to their final allocations and power levels. I’m hoping that those improvements will be enough to push some of the weaker stations back in the viewable category.

Channel Master 4221

The Channel Master 4221 is a mid-range antenna, with a stated range of 45 miles. This type of antenna design is called a bowtie dipole, easily understandable if you notice the four “bow-ties” visible. The main part of the antenna (excluding the pole) is around two feet wide by three feet high, considerably smaller than any combination VHF/UHF antenna. Despite the smaller size, UHF reception is much better than any combination antenna can deliver. On the other hand, the 4221 has no VHF reception at all.

Although the stated range is 45 miles, it is important to remember that range is very dependant on your location. You might achieve over 45 miles easily in some places, but struggle with 20 miles at others. But if reception is at all possible, then the 4221 is one of your best choices.

Channel Master 4228

The Channel Master 4228 is a long-range antenna, with a stated range of 60 miles. It is essentially two 4221′s placed side-by-side and connected together. Not surprisingly, it is around twice as wide as the 4221, twice as heavy, and twice as expensive.

In addition to greater range, the 4228 is far more directional with a much narrower “beam width” (around 15 degrees for the 4228 versus 45 degrees for the 4221). A directional antenna can be good in that it can reject stations located too close to each other. It can be bad in that aiming must be more precise, often requiring a rotator.

One curious feature of the 4228 is that it has surprisingly good reception of high-VHF (channels 7 to 13), even though it is the wrong type of antenna for VHF. This is well known, and good high-VHF reception is apparently just a quirk of the design of the 4228. But if your only VHF stations are high-VHF, this could mean that you don’t need a separate VHF antenna.

The type of antenna that you need really depends on the number of stations you can receive in your location and the strength. Predicting television reception accurately might seem like more of an art than a science, but there is still plenty of science involved. Two good web sites that can help you gauge your potential television reception are TV Fool and AntennaWeb. Both have services that can predict your reception based on your address. Considering all of the many variables involved, they both do a pretty good job. My personal favorite is TV Fool, but be sure to try them both and examine the results closely.

Given a choice, most people would prefer to use an indoor rather than an outdoor antenna. Inferior performance is the main disadvantage of an indoor antenna versus an outdoor antenna. This is because you rarely can mount an indoor antenna as high and you may suffer significant signal loss from walls.

There are two main reasons why you might choose an indoor antenna for your television:

• The stations you can receive are numerous and strong, so you can afford to lose a little signal strength.
• You live in an apartment or other housing where you can’t (or aren’t allowed to) install an outdoor antenna.

Two indoor antennas that I can recommend are the Philips Silver Sensor UHF/HDTV Digital Indoor TV Antenna and the Philips MANT950 Indoor/Outdoor Amplified UHF/VHF/HDTV Antenna.

Philips MANT950

The Philips MANT950 looks fairly inconspicuous for an antenna, even though it is around six feet wide. It looks somewhat like a long piece of pipe and can even be painted to match its surroundings. Unlike most indoor antennas, the MANT950 is durable enough so that it can also be mounted outdoors. If you do that, you can even use it with a rotator.

As proof of its inconspicuous appearance, one of the most popular locations to mount the MANT950 is near the ceiling in the room with the TV. Another popular mounting location is in the attic. Unlike many other indoor antennas, the MANT950 works with both VHF and UHF stations.

The Silver Sensor

The Silver Sensor is famous for its design, and some people even display it almost like a work of art. Like the MANT950, the Silver Sensor has excellent performance, although not quite to the same levels. Unlike the MANT950, the Silver Sensor works only with UHF stations, not VHF. This may or may not be a problem depending on the stations you can receive.

The unusual look of the Silver Sensor results from the fact that it is a log periodic dipole, rather than the more conventional television antenna designs normally seen.

The Silver Sensor doesn’t have as good performance as the MANT950, but it is much less expensive. If your stations are stronger and you don’t need VHF, then the Silver Sensor might be the better choice.