Homemade High-Def Antenna

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PhoneGuy
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Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by PhoneGuy »

A guy here at work made an Antenna out of a scrap board (1x2?), 6 metal coat hangers, and a coax splitter. He brought it to wotk today to demo it for us and it works perfect.
Here is where he found the idea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by Ruutu15 »

That's pretty awesome. I wonder if the fetus material on my hangars would cause interference though..?
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by Mellanby_equals_grit »

Ruutu15 wrote:That's pretty awesome. I wonder if the fetus material on my hangars would cause interference though..?
You're supposed to sanitize those you freak.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by PhoneGuy »

He did say to "clean" the coat hangers...

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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by strocklen083 »

Ruutu15 wrote:That's pretty awesome. I wonder if the fetus material on my hangars would cause interference though..?
really? we're making those types of jokes around here now?

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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by Ruutu15 »

strocklen083 wrote:
Ruutu15 wrote:That's pretty awesome. I wonder if the fetus material on my hangars would cause interference though..?
really? we're making those types of jokes around here now?

Jokes around here have always been so high-class. Sorry for overstepping the boundaries.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by section319 »

Ruutu15 wrote:
strocklen083 wrote:
Ruutu15 wrote:That's pretty awesome. I wonder if the fetus material on my hangars would cause interference though..?
really? we're making those types of jokes around here now?

Jokes around here have always been so high-class. Sorry for overstepping the boundaries.

Jeez, man what are you thinking, making jokes like that when we have such non-offensive jokes in the A. Nigro threads.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by rebelmusic »

strocklen083 wrote:
Ruutu15 wrote:That's pretty awesome. I wonder if the fetus material on my hangars would cause interference though..?
really? we're making those types of jokes around here now?
I lol'd. Twice.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by big d note »

Ruutu15 wrote:
strocklen083 wrote:
Ruutu15 wrote:That's pretty awesome. I wonder if the fetus material on my hangars would cause interference though..?
really? we're making those types of jokes around here now?

Jokes around here have always been so high-class. Sorry for overstepping the boundaries.
C'mon, you've been here long enough to know better than to make a fetus joke without mentioning vomiting them. :wink:
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by Mellanby_equals_grit »

How do you make a dead baby float?












Two scoops ice cream.. One scoop dead baby.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by abc789987 »

Hmm, that would be nice if it would work for me... Something tells me I will not be able to use this to replace my 80inch antenna that i have as my centerpiece on my dining room table...
...

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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by Leedog »

An old timer at radio shack told me that if you have a set of old rabbit ears it will work just fine. Of course Bugs Bunny doesn't like that much.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by cprice12 »

Mellanby_equals_grit wrote:How do you make a dead baby float?












Two scoops ice cream.. One scoop dead baby.


Q: What's the difference between a refrigerator and a pile of dead babies?








A: I don't have a refrigerator in my garage.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by cprice12 »

I decided to make this antenna.

I followed the instructions perfectly.

The thing doesn't work. It gets half a dozen stations, half are a little fuzzy...and none are even close to being HD quality.

Maybe Edwardsville is too far away to get a good reception...I dunno. But at any rate, from Edwardsville, it doesn't work worth a shit.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by Leedog »

cprice12 wrote:I decided to make this antenna.

I followed the instructions perfectly.

The thing doesn't work. It gets half a dozen stations, half are a little fuzzy...and none are even close to being HD quality.

Maybe Edwardsville is too far away to get a good reception...I dunno. But at any rate, from Edwardsville, it doesn't work worth a shit.
That doesn't seem right. First of all a HD signal is digital. You either get a good digital signal or not one at all. Sounds like you are getting the analog signal. Do you have your manual for the TV? You probably have to do a scan for available chanels. When I had the HD antenna I had to do it. I would have, for example 4 which was the fuzzy analog signal for ch 4, but I also had 4-1 which was the digital/HD signal for ch 4 etc. Also, they say if you do the scan and, say, get ch 4-1, 5-1, 5-2, 9-1, 11-1, but don't get 2-1, reposition your antena and scan again. If you get it then, save it and you may need to mess with the antenna to get the desired signal. But it is all or nothing. This worked for me.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by cprice12 »

Leedog wrote:
cprice12 wrote:I decided to make this antenna.

I followed the instructions perfectly.

The thing doesn't work. It gets half a dozen stations, half are a little fuzzy...and none are even close to being HD quality.

Maybe Edwardsville is too far away to get a good reception...I dunno. But at any rate, from Edwardsville, it doesn't work worth a shit.
That doesn't seem right. First of all a HD signal is digital. You either get a good digital signal or not one at all. Sounds like you are getting the analog signal. Do you have your manual for the TV? You probably have to do a scan for available chanels. When I had the HD antenna I had to do it. I would have, for example 4 which was the fuzzy analog signal for ch 4, but I also had 4-1 which was the digital/HD signal for ch 4 etc. Also, they say if you do the scan and, say, get ch 4-1, 5-1, 5-2, 9-1, 11-1, but don't get 2-1, reposition your antena and scan again. If you get it then, save it and you may need to mess with the antenna to get the desired signal. But it is all or nothing. This worked for me.
I did do a channel scan on input ANT B (which is the input I plugged it in to) and set it to scan for over air stations...not cable.
And yeah, it looked like fuzzy analog stations. The stations it found weren't 4-1 or 4.1...it was just round numbers, like 4, 9, 11, 24, etc. It would be nice if I just did something wrong, and choosing a different setting will have it work.

Question...
Where the longer coat hangers cross at the top and bottom of the antenna, do they need to be insulated? Mine are not because the guy in the video didn't say anything about that.
I'm in Chicago right now...I'll mess with it more when I get back on Wednesday night.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by abc789987 »

cprice12 wrote: Question...
Where the longer coat hangers cross at the top and bottom of the antenna, do they need to be insulated? Mine are not because the guy in the video didn't say anything about that.
You just need to make sure that where they cross they are not touching each other.
...

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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by abc789987 »

Any antenna is a HD antenna. It doesn't have to say HD to be one. Manufactures just add the word HD to make it seem better...
...

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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by Leedog »

abc789987 wrote:Any antenna is a HD antenna. It doesn't have to say HD to be one. Manufactures just add the word HD to make it seem better...
That is exactly what the guy from radio shack told me. However, if you get one, it usually has something to amplify the signal the antenna picks up.
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Re: Homemade High-Def Antenna

Post by cprice12 »

abc789987 wrote:
cprice12 wrote: Question...
Where the longer coat hangers cross at the top and bottom of the antenna, do they need to be insulated? Mine are not because the guy in the video didn't say anything about that.
You just need to make sure that where they cross they are not touching each other.
Maybe that's the problem. Mine are touching.
I guess I'll have to slip something between them....I can't just bend them. There's no slack and the coat hanger wire is thick.
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