Recently cut my contract with DishNetwork and have gone to SlingTV, but wanted local channels and been looking at several designs for a DIY antenna. Came across this one today and decided to give it a shot tonight. Threw one together rather quickly. 12 gauge wire. Cut 15-7/8" across the top. Screwed it all down to an old 1" x 4" plank I had lying around. Pointed the antenna towards Birmingham, AL, plugged it in, scanned my channels and boom!!! I now have 32 local channels. A couple of them show up more than once. It did pick up the VHF and UHF versions of the local Fox 6 channel, and a few more channel 6 VHF affiliates. Receptions is great. I am pleased. Will fasten it to something more permanent, maybe a piece of nylon tubing and put an aluminum backing and place it in the attic in the next couple weeks. Right now, it is just propped up here in the living room on a 6' board as a test. Thanks for the video and the very helpful information. However, I was expecting to get the local VHF channel 13 NBC, especially it's UHF channel of 52. Didn't get either, but will chunk it up to antenna location and perhaps direction. Again, thanks!!!
Wow! That’s good to read! Glad you’re happy with it. Hope those other two channels come in for you when you get it mounted in your attic. Thanks for your comment!
Well done, and many thanks! I've struggled with VHF reception with 3 different store bought antennae, this did the trick. I followed this design, tuned it for the one VHF station I needed, and after a little tuning I'm getting 4 bars on all my channels. I picked up a Philmore 25db FM/VHF/UHF Distribution Amplifier, and that helps a lot. Your video is well produced, too. Keep up the good work!
I built this antenna today. It performs about as well as an unbalanced antenna I built out of a section of coax last year, which is pretty good (74 channels vs 77). Unfortunately, I was not able to get it to tune VHF-Lo (RF 5) despite making sure the top sections were cut to the proper length. It looks better than my coaxial antenna and takes up less room in the attic, so that’s nice.
I wish I would have watched this before making my tuxedo. Although my only VHF channel comes in well, I'm sure tuning it like this might have helped as well. Love your antennas, keep up the good work!
Thank you Jonathan for your wonderful comments! I only hope that more people learn about OTA broadcast TV. This design is patricularly focused on those VHF channels that may be hard to get. If you give it a try please let me know how it works for you. Mine does quite well.
I could not pull in CBS or ABC in my area with a leaf antenna reliably. Looked up that these stations were VHF so with $3 of wire I built this on a piece of scrap wood and an old transformer in by tv junk box. I didn’t strip the insulation from the wire except where the transformer attaches. Tuned to the CBS channel which had been the worst. It pulls in CBS now like nobody’s business and ABC which needs a little shorter dipole (channel 10 versus 8) comes in too provided the antenna is hung in a good location. May move it to the attic ultimately but for now it works hanging behind a picture in a bedroom. Thanks for a great design!
I have a bunch of channels coming from northeastern direction and another group that come from West and northwest. Would a single antenna pointed to the north will be enough for picking both groups or should I build one for the northeast and another one for the west/northwest. Man, your videos are really informative and well presented, I have learned a lot from them. Thank you and I wish you the best!
Jelly G. In my home, I piont my antenna in a way that splits the difference between the two. No reflector. This makes it bidirectional and works ok for me. It may not work for everyone though. Thanks for your friendly comment. :)
Could you please tell me if you could make a fractal antenna that would get all stations from the bottom number to top number ??? Reason I asked is from my readings when you make multiple fractals on a single antenna the number of different receivable frequencies are greatly increased. Thanks
2 questions: is the list of channel frequency's the same across the U.S. i.e.will all channel 10's have a frequency of 192-198? If i want to optimize a channel 10 and channel 13 (antenna's located on same tower) should I add two separate VHF dipoles or split the difference between the lengths? tnx
I live in Simi valley close to Los Angeles area and with my Yagi antenna receive some of the VHF stations can I put the 1/4 Lambda lengths in a row for the VHF channels I do don't receive. I like your design
Yes. As many VHF channels are in your area that you can receive, it will pick them up just the same as it will any UHF channels. Even though your VHF elements are custom length for a specific frequency, it will still pick up other VHF frequencies. It will just be focused more on the frequency you design it for. Let me just say that I am not a technician or anything like that. I learned everything on google and youtube and I share what I lean here on my channel. Hope this helps and thanks again for your question. :)
VHF need at least 1/2 λ to receive decent reception not 1/4 λ. if your vhf antenna can receive uhf channel therefore hes not perfect for vhf. here in my country we have only channel 4 and channel 11 and one uhf channel 26 , all are broadcasting in an oldest analog. .,, i will try your antenna wish me luck.
Hey mike, I'm in the process of building the tuxedo w/ vhf. My ? Is I only have one vhf station which is channel 9, 75 miles SE.. so the top horizontal vhf length should be 15 7/8 ??... I get quite a few uhf channels now with an indoor antenna 30-40 miles away. I just want to watch some free hockey night in Canada eh. Thanks
Your measurements are correct. If you've picked up that channel before then you might get it. No guarantees though. It will depend on your location, terrain, transmit power of the station and polar plot of the transmitter to name a few. I have a channel 9 that is 66 miles but it only transmits at 29 KW. I've tried several times to get it but all have failed. Not that I need it though. I get the same network right here in my local area. Best of luck to you. And hey, let me know if it works. :)
built this antenna yesterday did not get any vhf only uhf it was a fun build as I was bored but not cost effective. a small flat 1byone brand 35 mile antenna got more channels it's a better antenna for sure and $9 from amazon. I like your video
I live near Philly which is one of the few locations in the country still having stations broadcasting on the VHF-Low band. Using your design, I built a trial temporary antenna using the white and black insulated wires from a piece of 12 gauge NM (Romex) cable. I only bared the parts where the balun is attached. I made each upper VHF part 18 inches long. I used no reflector and raised the antenna to a height of about 10 feet off the ground. My TV's channel autoscan indicated It was receiving about 80 channels including the two VHF-Low channels I wanted, KJWP MeTV (Channel 2 broadcasting at 54 Mhz.) and WPVI ABC (Channel 6 broadcasting at 186 Mhz.). Now that I see how great your antenna works I intend to build a permanent antenna using 8 gauge wire but will probably still leave most of the insulation on. I just need to figure out a good wind resistant way to mount it. Thank you very much for sharing your great antenna design.
Recently cut my contract with DishNetwork and have gone to SlingTV, but wanted local channels and been looking at several designs for a DIY antenna. Came across this one today and decided to give it a shot tonight. Threw one together rather quickly. 12 gauge wire. Cut 15-7/8" across the top. Screwed it all down to an old 1" x 4" plank I had lying around. Pointed the antenna towards Birmingham, AL, plugged it in, scanned my channels and boom!!! I now have 32 local channels. A couple of them show up more than once.
It did pick up the VHF and UHF versions of the local Fox 6 channel, and a few more channel 6 VHF affiliates. Receptions is great.
I am pleased. Will fasten it to something more permanent, maybe a piece of nylon tubing and put an aluminum backing and place it in the attic in the next couple weeks. Right now, it is just propped up here in the living room on a 6' board as a test.
Thanks for the video and the very helpful information. However, I was expecting to get the local VHF channel 13 NBC, especially it's UHF channel of 52. Didn't get either, but will chunk it up to antenna location and perhaps direction.
Again, thanks!!!
Wow! That’s good to read! Glad you’re happy with it. Hope those other two channels come in for you when you get it mounted in your attic. Thanks for your comment!
Well done, and many thanks! I've struggled with VHF reception with 3 different store bought antennae, this did the trick. I followed this design, tuned it for the one VHF station I needed, and after a little tuning I'm getting 4 bars on all my channels. I picked up a Philmore 25db FM/VHF/UHF Distribution Amplifier, and that helps a lot. Your video is well produced, too.
Keep up the good work!
I built this antenna today. It performs about as well as an unbalanced antenna I built out of a section of coax last year, which is pretty good (74 channels vs 77). Unfortunately, I was not able to get it to tune VHF-Lo (RF 5) despite making sure the top sections were cut to the proper length. It looks better than my coaxial antenna and takes up less room in the attic, so that’s nice.
I wish I would have watched this before making my tuxedo. Although my only VHF channel comes in well, I'm sure tuning it like this might have helped as well.
Love your antennas, keep up the good work!
Thank you Jonathan for your wonderful comments! I only hope that more people learn about OTA broadcast TV. This design is patricularly focused on those VHF channels that may be hard to get. If you give it a try please let me know how it works for you. Mine does quite well.
I could not pull in CBS or ABC in my area with a leaf antenna reliably. Looked up that these stations were VHF so with $3 of wire I built this on a piece of scrap wood and an old transformer in by tv junk box. I didn’t strip the insulation from the wire except where the transformer attaches. Tuned to the CBS channel which had been the worst. It pulls in CBS now like nobody’s business and ABC which needs a little shorter dipole (channel 10 versus 8) comes in too provided the antenna is hung in a good location. May move it to the attic ultimately but for now it works hanging behind a picture in a bedroom. Thanks for a great design!
CBS, and ABC, you wouldn't by any chance be in WNC, would ya?
I have a bunch of channels coming from northeastern direction and another group that come from West and northwest. Would a single antenna pointed to the north will be enough for picking both groups or should I build one for the northeast and another one for the west/northwest. Man, your videos are really informative and well presented, I have learned a lot from them. Thank you and I wish you the best!
Jelly G.
In my home, I piont my antenna in a way that splits the difference between the two. No reflector. This makes it bidirectional and works ok for me. It may not work for everyone though.
Thanks for your friendly comment. :)
Could you please tell me if you could make a fractal antenna that would get all stations from the bottom number to top number ??? Reason I asked is from my readings when you make multiple fractals on a single antenna the number of different receivable frequencies are greatly increased. Thanks
2 questions:
is the list of channel frequency's the same across the U.S. i.e.will all channel 10's have a frequency of 192-198?
If i want to optimize a channel 10 and channel 13 (antenna's located on same tower) should I add two separate VHF dipoles or split the difference between the lengths? tnx
Cool, damn I suppose to know how to calculate this 👍
I live in Simi valley close to Los Angeles area and with my Yagi antenna receive some of the VHF stations can I put the 1/4 Lambda lengths in a row for the VHF channels I do don't receive. I like your design
Thanks for the comment. I've never tried putting them in a row but if you want to give it a shot, let me know how it works for you.
Please sir dose it work for VHF analog channels ,?
never mind you just answered my Question thank you
So is it possible to receive more than one vhf channel? How would you do that?
Yes. As many VHF channels are in your area that you can receive, it will pick them up just the same as it will any UHF channels. Even though your VHF elements are custom length for a specific frequency, it will still pick up other VHF frequencies. It will just be focused more on the frequency you design it for.
Let me just say that I am not a technician or anything like that. I learned everything on google and youtube and I share what I lean here on my channel. Hope this helps and thanks again for your question. :)
VHF need at least 1/2 λ to receive decent reception not 1/4 λ. if your vhf antenna can receive uhf channel therefore hes not perfect for vhf. here in my country we have only channel 4 and channel 11 and one uhf channel 26 , all are broadcasting in an oldest analog. .,, i will try your antenna wish me luck.
@@TunogSunday he has two sides that each are 1/4 wavelength, and together as a dipole, it's 1/2 wave.
Waiting for a cedar tree antenna
@
Roy Hsieh - LOL - I like Pine Trees!
Hey mike, I'm in the process of building the tuxedo w/ vhf. My ? Is I only have one vhf station which is channel 9, 75 miles SE.. so the top horizontal vhf length should be 15 7/8 ??... I get quite a few uhf channels now with an indoor antenna 30-40 miles away. I just want to watch some free hockey night in Canada eh. Thanks
Your measurements are correct. If you've picked up that channel before then you might get it. No guarantees though. It will depend on your location, terrain, transmit power of the station and polar plot of the transmitter to name a few. I have a channel 9 that is 66 miles but it only transmits at 29 KW. I've tried several times to get it but all have failed. Not that I need it though. I get the same network right here in my local area. Best of luck to you. And hey, let me know if it works. :)
DIY Projects With Mike... OK thanks mike
built this antenna yesterday did not get any vhf only uhf it was a fun build as I was bored but not cost effective. a small flat 1byone brand 35 mile antenna got more channels it's a better antenna for sure and $9 from amazon. I like your video
I live near Philly which is one of the few locations in the country still having stations broadcasting on the VHF-Low band. Using your design, I built a trial temporary antenna using the white and black insulated wires from a piece of 12 gauge NM (Romex) cable. I only bared the parts where the balun is attached. I made each upper VHF part 18 inches long. I used no reflector and raised the antenna to a height of about 10 feet off the ground. My TV's channel autoscan indicated It was receiving about 80 channels including the two VHF-Low channels I wanted, KJWP MeTV (Channel 2 broadcasting at 54 Mhz.) and WPVI ABC (Channel 6 broadcasting at 186 Mhz.). Now that I see how great your antenna works I intend to build a permanent antenna using 8 gauge wire but will probably still leave most of the insulation on. I just need to figure out a good wind resistant way to mount it. Thank you very much for sharing your great antenna design.
Actually the VHF parts are 23 inches long. I remembered I had not trimmed them to 18 inches as I had planned.
just how do you know it is a vhf or uhf