/diy/ - Do It Yourself

so an antenna?

>>636987
I see your indoor antenna and raise you this one I built and used for over 2 years.

The elements are 3/16" brass rod. The inteconnects are 3/32" brass rod. The insulators were cut from a plastic cutting board. The hardware is all stainless steel, and I used nylock nuts so they wouldn't come loose from the wind. Elements and interconnect rails are all soldered for reliability. The pole is standard electrical conduit. Worked awesomely even without a reflector.

>>636997
Oh, and one more note: For ultimate 'fuck you Comcast' factor, I used the RG6 coax that Comcast installed on the house to bring it in from the roof to the inside of the house. XD

>>636998
Bravo!

>>636987
I built the exact same antenna. Only downside to it is the fact it's ugly. Works better than any antenna on the market under 100-200$. I'd really like to get the thing in the crawlspace or on the roof, but I live in an apartment.

Wait wait wait...

I know diddly about this, so excuse my stupidity, but didn't they shut down over-air broadcasting a year or two ago? It was supposed to happen right as Obama went I to office but they delayed it so the bubbas would blame him for taking away their tv. They even gave out free conversion boxes. Or are you telling me you built an antenna that can intercept cable and satellite?

>>637019
That was analog, now the signal is digital.

>>637019
Uh ... what?

The only thing that changed is that analogue broadcasting was shut down and switched to digital. You may have noticed that your local stations didn't cease to exist.

But no, this antenna isn't going to get you free cable or satellite. OP shouldn't have bragged about "saving X thousand dollars" because it didn't save him shit.

>>637020
Use this to "see" what stations are around you: http://www.antennaweb.org/Address.aspx

>saved me around $12,000 over the past 10 years

Congrats. I live in the middle of the prairies, so my hand built antenna(which isnt any better than the shitty $5 antenna they sell at a dollar store) only picks up 5 channels. One of which is french, and another is trying to convert me to Christianity...

So people who want to cut their cable connection... take a minute and research whats available OTA in your area. I wouldnt pay for cable anyway, but its kinda annoying the only show i can watch that interests me at all, is the daily show.(everything else gets torrented)

>>636997
OP here. Thanks for taking the b8. You posted your antenna many months ago and the thread got deleted when I went back to save the image to replicate your setup.

I'm due for an upgrade now that I can mount this outdoors.
Did you have to ground yours? If so, was it a DIY ground or used an existing pipe/grounding rod?

>>637028
this requires an explanation. please. I want to save thousands too

>>637074
pretty sure it's a wrench for his local cable company box. ... really just lucky they haven't bothered to disconnect him at the terminal. His terminal must be somewhere that's not worth checking like up a hill a thousand feet from the road.

>>637124
I specified local because companies pick different ones, so what you need will depend when your box was installed, and by what company, if you're disconnected at the terminal too (which they're supposed to do)

Sometimes it's just a security hex bit. Sometimes it's just a really deep socket. sometimes it's a triangle bolt. Just needs the tool, usually like $20-$50, it used to be more secure before internet shopping made it so you could just google it and buy one.

>>637126
>>637124
holy wow.
literally every assumption you made was wrong
top kek

>>637028
wots that m8?

>>637132
What is it then?

>>637132
Free electricity, I'm guessing.

>>636997
Explain more, please. And why did I think that the antennas for digital broadcast were fancy pants antennas? This is pretty cool. I'm glad I never got around to purchasing an antenna.

>>637073
It wasn't grounded. So far as I know you don't need one any more than the ghetto version you made for indoor use needed one.

So far as your post being 'bait', that wasn't necessary, you could have just asked. It's not like what I built was unique or innovative in any way, I just elaborated on an existing design using the best construction techniques I could justify.

>>637407
There's not much more to explain, really, I described the raw materials used, the rest is just construction techniques. The insulators are attached to the conduit using conduit hangers you'll find in the same section of the hardware store as the conduit. You'll need a fairly high-wattage soldering iron to solder the elements and the smaller gauge brass rods connecting them together. As per the ghetto-version antenna instructions the elements have to be a specific length and bent to a specific angle. I made a simple bending jig out of a piece of 2x4, some wood screws, and some aluminum spacers; use whatever method works best for you.

>>637020
MOST stations are digital-only. There are still some low-power stations that are transmitting an analog signal.

>>637462
A. It answered his question about what signals were changed.

B. Since they are such low power, they really don't count.

> sent my children to boarding school in the south of France with the savings from this

>>637469
>B. Since they are such low power, they really don't count.
Depends on your interests, actually. If you like evangelical broadcasts or home shopping channels, then they're 100% relevant. XD

>>637476
That wasn't a boarding school. It's white slavery.

>>637048
>take a minute and research whats available OTA in your area.

http://www.tvfool.com/

>>637073
>save the image to replicate your setup.

https://www.google.com/#q=grey+hoverman+plans

>>637073

Google Grey Hoverman plans

>>636987
Same here. I ditched cable/satellite TV and now record network shows on my TiVo over antenna.
I got better reception with a $40 GE brand antenna. I installed two in my attic.
However when I made my DIY antenna I didn't bother building the reflector that the plans for these typically include.

I was surprised at how many stations I pulled in with $40 antennas. Some of the local networks in the Washington D.C. area have sister stations that play movies.

TIL: people still watch channels

>2014
>not having your shows in commercial free hd rss download to your networked hard drive

I can understand sports and live events, but that's all. Uploaders and their feeds these days are so on point. Maybe an hour tops after a show airs, most in minutes.

>>637022

"i saved over $2000" but what he really meant is "im not paying for cable so i didnt spend $2000"

can i get the same result if i just use a satellite dish like the one in the link?


http://img.mx.class.posot.com/es_mx/2014/03/21/Antenas-SKY-son-3-for-sale-o-cambio-por-Wii-20140321163953.jpg

>>637861

I just do this for shows I can see myself watching again.

>tfw I also use my 2 high-gain antenna setup for RTL-SDR activity

Too bad there's nothing to listen to where I live, outside of medium wave, shortwave, pager, and point-to-point comms all over the place.