Turning old Rabbit Ears into an outdoor TV Antenna for Free Over the Air TV Channels
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 ส.ค. 2024
- Turning old Rabbit Ears into an outdoor TV Antenna for Free OTA TV Channels
Making a homemade indoor or outdoor TV antenna out of a pair of old rabbit ears. It won’t surpass a well built deep fringe antenna, but it works pretty well.
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Thank you so much for this valuable info on how to hack my old RCA rabbit ear antenna. I found the Balun (black converter), but I needed the double ended extender(silver) to finish off my conversion. This saved me from throwing away my husband’s beloved rabbit ears! They sat around for the last 15 years unused as decoration for his old stereo ….finally they will get some use!
Back in 2006 my dad bought a small TV and the rabbit ears was included in the box We had cable back then and we still have it now but before installing the cable channels I did a reception test and I was very surprised with the results. All 3 channels on VHF High Band had crystal clear picture as for the UHF band, 2 channels had very good picture and the last 2 had good picture. The high power UHF channels had very good picture and I was surprised to see that the low power UHF channels had good picture. Since I had cable TV, the rabbit ears were very useful for my radio. The FM reception was awesome and improved the stereo reception on some channels, unfortunately I no longer have the antenna.
Yes, I gave away a couple of pairs of nice long VHF rabbit ears years ago, wish I had saved them.
You just opened my eyes to something i never tought about,thank you
Cool! Feel free to visit my channel anytime! Thanks for watching!
Thank-you for talking the time to explain each step you took to do this. Easy to follow for someone who knows nothing about analog , digital etc. lol.
Happy to do it. Thank you for watching!
Another good job Mr. I always have a couple kicking around and use for fm reception on my radios.
They’re handy, for sure. Thanks again.
I live in North Texas and received over 60 free channels with rabbit ears crystal clear
I did exactly that with my rabbit ears. Mounted them on a 10 ft 2x2 up on my front porch roof. Used a 25 db amp. Was able to receive the big 3 network stations for about two years. But last weak a huge storm came through my area. I lost all 3 channels. Reset the "ears" used new cable and an amp but still no signal anywhere on my property. My wife has to watch her soaps now on the computer usually a day later. So much for free TV.
That’s unfortunate, but I’m glad you had success with it before the storm. Maybe try locating it elsewhere, or possibly did the amplifier get damaged? If it’s broken you’ll likely get no signal. Maybe try it without the amplifier. You can always replace the amp.
@@NorthcoasterHobby I tried different "ears", cables and amps....no luck anywhere on my property or my neighbors either. It's just ..gone. The storm was huge. Major damage everywhere so it did something to block my signal. The stations are still OK. Going to have to go over to my neighbor's to watch the USFL playoffs...on cable. He's having a good laugh.
I had them rabbit ears work outside and used at the time an old broom handle
It would be nice if flat tvs would have the holes in the top of tvs like the old tube tvs because these work way better then the flat antenna crap that you buy at Walmart.
That would be cool!
My mom owned that when he watch free tv in Ottawa.
How did you get the cableling through your exterior wall to your tv? Other than that ommision, very good, straight forward video.
I have a conduit chase I installed to feed coaxial cable through the wall from outside to inside.
With that rabbit ears you have both DTV and FM radio.
Very true!
@@NorthcoasterHobby As a suggestion: In the future, can you do a video on how to improve FM reception and test different antennas? And if you have HD Radio channels in your area you can do a video about that.
@@Nicholas_Chris I’ll check into that.👍
I can't believe you made this cool antenna without utilizing the handyman's secret weapon. Keep your stick on the ice.
Do you mean duct tape or a hockey stick? Because both could be used to make a TV antenna!😃📡
@@NorthcoasterHobby I know eh? 🇨🇦
look like preforming better then the winegard omnidirectional
Yes, it’s works really well!👍 especially since I have all VHF channels, the long elements make a big difference.📡
Are those "ears" giving you almost the same signal levels as the Steller labs 30-2475 antenna? I was going to buy the 30-2475 but I'm afraid that I'm going to waste my money as I can't find a signal anymore on my small piece of property after a big storm rolled thru.
They give a good outdoor signal. I’m about 7-8 miles away from the broadcast towers (pretty close). It’s a cheap alternative to buying an outdoor antenna, but it might not last as long! But then again it’s also inexpensive to replace. You can also make your own antenna:
How To Make a Simple Homemade Dipole TV Antenna - get free OTA TV Channels
th-cam.com/video/6tqQkylXZFM/w-d-xo.html
Couldn't you get a piece of wire and make a UHF loop to go along with it?
You could. Or get a loop antenna and add to it.
Vintage TV Antennas from the days of Analog TV - Rabbit Ears, Loop and Bowtie - still work in 2022
th-cam.com/video/MHnTes8HJ6s/w-d-xo.html
@Northcoaster Hobby But they're not HD and 4K ready.🤣
Since the UHF band is now only ch 14-36 would you make any size adjustments to the loop for optimization?
@@KevinT7274 A bigger loop would be better optimized for RF channels 14-36.
@@KevinT7274there is no such thing as “hd or 4k ready” tv antennas, they are a marketing scheme
HOW do you know that the transformer from three hundred to seventy five ohms pass the test ??
I’m getting all my channels.
I understand Sir. How would one check to see that the unit is working besides the TV is working test ??@@NorthcoasterHobby
I suppose you could connect it to a spectrum analyzer to check for signal.@@victoryfirst2878
Any way to check with a ohm meter ?? @@NorthcoasterHobby
good antenna
Thank you!
This work
Yes it does!
That screw between the 300 ohm leads is a big no no.
What is the reason?
@@NorthcoasterHobby The spacing of the wires determines the ohms. A screw in between can act as a capacitor and notch out a frequency. What you have built is a notch filter.
@@timcat1004 fair enough, but it didn’t affect reception of any channels whatsoever. Plus it’s easily removed.
Gharagh sounds like you're from boston
Ha! I’m not even close to Boston, but I’ve been there before, it’s a great city!📡
Make sure you add some balls of aluminum foil to each end
Will that help?