DIY TV Antennas

1. Single Bay Gray-Hoverman Antenna (SBGH) 2. Folded Dipole Antenna 3. Bow Tie Antenna 4. Television Frequency Table

1. Single Bay Gray-Hoverman Antenna (SBGH)

The Gray-Hoverman Antenna is an open source design that shows high performance for most Digital / HD channels broadcasting in the U.S. today. Details about the history and evolution of the design, as well as detailed technical information, can be found at the official web site: http://www.digitalhome.ca/ota/superantenna/ (Note: One visitor emailed me to say that they believe that this is more simply a Hoverman Antenna and NOT a Gray-Hoverman. In reviewing the original specification at digitalhome.ca, I still believe this is a Gray-Hoverman. But do want to acknowledge that this is a point of debate.) As with my Folded Dipole Antenna, my goal here is to provide guidelines for a version that is inexpensive, easy to assemble and simple to install in the attic. Still, this antenna should perform quite well for you. This is the antenna that I

currently use in my attic and I get 22 channels. Most of these are broadcasting from 45 or even 50+ miles away. (See the broadcast tower information for my area at TV Fool.)

Parts List:
2 - 4 foot 1x4 pine boards 6 - 3/4" Screws 6 - Finish Washers 10 - 2" Wood Screws 2 - 5' lengths of 14 gauge wire 1 - Balun - This transformer is needed to adapt the antenna's signal to your T.V.'s coax input. It is available from many sources. I got mine at my local Walmart for less than $5. See pictures below. 1 - 2 foot by 4 foot THIN plywood or masonite board about 8 feet of 12" wide aluminum foil. clear packing tape

Assembly:

Mark one of the 1x4 boards as shown. The first line should be 7" from the end of the board. The second should be 10" from the first. The third 10" from the second.

Mark one each of these three lines with two marks as show. The marks should be 5/8" in from the edges of the board.

For the actual antenna elements, I used 14 gauge wire that I got at my local home improvement store. It came in a 100' roll costing less than $7. For this project, I used two 5 foot lengths. Cut these lengths from the roll and try to straighten them out. They will probably still be a bit wavy at this point, but that is okay.

Now bend the wires to the shape described in the diagram. I marked my wires with a permanent marker at 5 1/2" and then every 7" to know where to bend.

Using a pair of pliers to hold the wire as you bend it will help you get sharper angles. When you are done with all of your bends, you will probably have about 7" extra wire to snip off. Trim this down to 5 1/2" AFTER you have made all of your bends. This leaves room to correct errors you might make during bending.

To attach the antenna elements to the board, I used some short screws and finish washers. I like the way these washers "grab" the antenna elements better than plain flat washers. Put a screw and washer at each of the six marks on your board. Do not screw them in all of the way yet so that you have room to put in the antenna elements.

Put the inner bends of the antenna elements under the washers. The bend in the wire should go inside the screw. Tighten down the end screws, but leave a little room in the center screws to attach the balun.

Place the spades of the balun around the center screws and under the antenna elements. The ends of the balun should be in direct contact with the antenna elements. Tighten down the center screws.

The main assembly of your antenna is now complete. Depending on your needs you may or may not want to add a reflector to your antenna. A reflector will help give stronger reception for weak stations in the direction that the antenna is pointing. But on the down side, it will block the signal of stations behind the antenna. Without a reflector, I was able to get 26 channels with this antenna. But I added the reflector to

increase the signal on a particular station that I wanted to get from over 50 miles away. After adding the reflector, I am only getting 22 stations. Skip down to see a simple base that you can stand up this antenna with.

I built my reflector from a thin piece of masonite measuring 24" by 33". To begin, draw two lines down the center of the board running length wise. The lines should be 1" apart.

Tape aluminum foil to the front of the reflector. Use the lines to keep a space between the foil on the left and the foil on the right.

Make two spacers to support the reflector from 1x4 pine. Cut these spacers to 3 1/4" long. Screw the spacers to the top and bottom of the reflector as shown.

I did the final assembly of my antenna in the attic because it was easier to get the pieces up there that way. To attach the reflector, screw through the front of the antenna into the spacers on the reflector. The aluminum foil on the reflector should be centered behind the reflector elements.

Attach the cable to your television to the balun on the antenna. The cable should go down between the antenna elements and not in front of them. I used some zip ties to hold the cable in place.

The base of the antenna was made by attaching the remaining piece of 1x4 to the bottom of the antenna. For stability, you could screw this to a rafter or two. Mine is just balanced there since wind is not a concern in my attic.

PVC SBGH With Reflector

This is the first Gray-Hoverman Antenna that I built. The frame is 1/2" PVC fitted together without glue. The antenna elements are secured to the frame using zip ties. The reflector is made from poster board and aluminum foil.

2. Folded Dipole Antenna

This is the third antenna that I built but it is also the simplest, both in terms of design and construction. It is also the design that impressed me the most. A folded dipole is a very basic antenna design. Often, it is combined with other elements such as reflectors to produce more powerful antennas. But I wanted to see how it would perform in its most basic form since that would be easy for anyone to build. This antenna took me less than 10 minutes to build and I was surprised to find that after placing this in my attic, I was able to bring in 13 digital channels. This included the four major network channels (ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX), some independents and a few news and weather channels. The nearest tower is 8.8 miles from my house and the furthest is 51.6 miles away! (See the broadcast tower information for my area at TV Fool.) While this did not perform as well as my GrayHoverman Antenna, I would recommend it as a first build. If it gets all of the channels that you want, you won't need to take the time to build something more complex unless you want to.

Parts List:
1 Metal Coat Hanger 2 Screws 1 Balun - This transformer is needed to adapt the antenna's signal to your T.V.'s coax input. It is available from many sources. I got mine at my local Walmart for less than $5. See pictures below. 1 Wood Board - For this build I used a pine 1x2 that I had laying around my garage. 1 Bracket - This is used to mount and pivot the antenna. Again, I used one that I had laying around.

Assembly Photos

Homemade DTV Antenna

In June of 2009 the government-mandated switch to digital television (DTV) went into effect in the United States. With this change comes more channels along with DVDquality picture and sound. To enjoy these benefits of DTV, all you need is a converter box (or a TV with a built-in ATSC tuner) and a decent antenna. This page explains how you can build a great little antenna for not a lot of money and start enjoying overthe-air digital.

My Digital Conversion Experience

When I first found out about over-the-air digital TV I was pretty excited. I had heard that DTV broadcasts were in the UHF band and UHF channels had always been among the best analog reception for me. So I went out and bought a converter box and hooked it up to a cheap UHF loop antenna. Amazingly enough I got many channels with good clarity. I had a few had dropouts here and there, but overall the

picture quality was better than cable. Then I noticed a couple channels were missing. After visiting antennaweb.org, I found out why. It turns out that not all digital TV is broadcast in the UHF band. In fact, in Chicago there are two stations (CBS2 and ABC7) that still broadcast over VHF. Since a VHF antenna was required, I resorted to adding a pair of rabbit ears to my UHF loop. So now I've got free over-the-air digital TV, but at the expense of a really hokey-looking antenna atop my entertainment center. I started searching the Internet for a better solution. There are several space-age looking "HDTV-ready" antennas out there, but surprisingly many of them were only designed for the UHF band. I managed to find a few that advertised VHF and UHF coverage, but upon closer inspection the VHF band was pulled in by a set of rabbit ears.

Building My Own
I have a pretty solid background in electronics, so I decided to try my hand at building an antenna from scratch. I figured that with a little research, I could make one that's better performing and less obtrusive than what's commercially available. I started by researching some basic designs and finally settled on the half-wave folded dipole. I chose this antenna design for several reasons. Easy to understand, well documented antenna design. Can be built with readily-available 14 gauge copper wire. (The same stuff used deliver electricity to household outlets.) Good bandwidth covering a full octave. 300 Ohm impedance connects to commonly available matching transformers.

Design Criteria
Digital TV is broadcast in two bands, VHF High (RF channels 7-13) and a portion of UHF (RF channels 14 - 51). According to information at cgsnetwork.com, these channels correspond to frequencies 174 - 216 MHz and 470 - 698 MHz respectively. Looking at the DTV broadcast frequencies, I determined that it's just not possible to build a single folded dipole that performs well over the entire range. This did not surprise me however, since analog TV always required using two different antennas, one for VHF and another for UHF. So I decided to build two antennas and use an old-fashioned VHF/UHF combiner to bring the signals together.

The UHF Antenna

I started with the UHF antenna. I figured that being smaller it would be easier to construct and I wouldn't waste much wire if it took me a couple tries to get it right. The first thing to do is calculate the measurements of the folded dipole. I chose the center of the UHF band for my target frequency of 584 MHz. The formula to calculate the length of a folded dipole is taken from the ARRL Handbook For Radio Communications that I checked out from my local library.

l = 468 / f where l is length in feet and f is frequency in Hertz

or

l = 5616 / f where l is length in inches and f is frequency in Hertz

Using the formula, I found that the length of antenna required for my UHF target frequency is 5616 / 584 or 9.616 inches. Since measuring tapes have fractions and not decimals, I rounded to 9 5/8 inches. The distance separating the wires in a folded dipole design (s), although not extremely critical, should be small compared to it's length. I decided to wrap the wire around a screwdriver handle to form the curves, so s is about 3/4 inch. So now the trick is to take all of the measurements and build an actual antenna. I start by cutting a 20 1/4 inch (2l plus an extra inch) length of 14 gauge wire and marking the center of it. The extra inch is so I can make curves on the end and still end up with the correct width. From the center marking I measure out 5 1/16 inches in either direction, a quarter of the length of wire, and mark these distances as well. These last two marks show me roughly where the ends of my dipole will be.

The VHF Antenna

Designing the VHF antenna is the same process as the UHF antenna except that the center frequency is 195 MHz. This translates to a length (l) of about 24 3/4 inches. I'll

be using the same screwdriver handle to form curves on the ends of the dipole so again I added an extra inch to the length of wire to compensate. That makes the total length of wire 25 1/4 inches with a center mark at 12 7/8 inches and quarter-length marks at 6 7/16 inches from the ends.

Putting It All Together

To form the folded dipole elements, I take my straight piece of wire and place one of the quarter-length marks on top of my screwdriver handle. I then gently bend the wire around the screwdriver handle, lining up the end of the wire with the center marking. I repeat the process with the other side making sure the two ends have a gap of about 1/8 inch between them. After a little adjustment, I've got two nice-looking folded dipoles ready for mounting. Since I have two antenna elements, I need to combine the signals. I also need to convert the 300 Ohm antenna elements to the 75 Ohm input of my DTV converter box. I can accomplish both of these tasks with a relatively inexpensive UHF/VHF 300 Ohm combiner from Radio Shack. I can simply cram the ends of my folded dipoles under the screw terminals of the combiner and tighten them down so that the UHF element is stacked on top of the VHF element. If I want to get a little fancier, I could solder on some fork terminals first. The only thing left to tackle is hooking it up to the converter. It's not very practical to attach the 75 Ohm output of the UHF/VHF combiner directly onto the converter box. That leaves me a couple options. I can get a cable to attach it, but it will need a male F-connector on one end and a female F connector on the other end. That's not a real common item as most cables are male on both ends. My other option is to rig something up with a gender changer. I can plug one end into the UHF/VHF combiner and attach any standard coax cable to the other end.

Enjoying Over-The-Air Digital

Now that the antenna is done, I simply place it on top of my entertainment center, cable it to my converter box and point it toward the broadcast towers in my area. Most of the channels come in very well, but I do live 30 miles from the towers and occasionally there is some break-up in the picture of weaker stations. Fortunately, I was able to boost my signal strength with an inexpensive 12dB RF amplifier from a local home improvement store.

All-in-all I am very happy with my antenna design. It has several advantages: Good performance Fairly inexpensive Relatively easy to build Much less obtrusive than rabbit ears

Best of all, I learned a lot while building it, plus I get bragging rights for doing it myself.

3. Bow Tie Antenna

The Bow Tie Antenna is a simple design that can be found in many variations on the web. It can be made with a 2x4, some coat hangers, aluminum foil and a few other common parts. While very inexpensive to build, this design is able to pull in stations from 45 and 50 miles away. (See the broadcast tower information for my area at TV Fool.)

I had originally intended to include some detailed build instructions here. But since building my Folded Dipole Antenna, I have decided that I would not be recommending this design. Not that it is a bad design, but I feel that the Folded Dipole or my Gray-Hoverman are better DIY projects for someone not wanting to make a hobby of antenna building. Check out the pages for those antennas for the pros and cons of each design. If you really want to build a bow tie antenna, a quick web search will find MANY interesting designs. Here is a diagram and a photo of the Bow Tie that I built. In the third photo, you can see that I added a reflector to mine. This is just a thin piece of scrap plywood wrapped in aluminum foil mounted four inches behind the bow tie elements.

4. Television Frequency Table

This table is the frequency chart for the US designated Television Channels. There are both VHF and UHF channels listed. This is listed as a matter of information only and is part of the public domain information of the government.

GENERAL TELEVISION FREQUENCIES

Sub CATV Band - T7 - T13 VHF Band - Ch. 2 - 13 Low Band - VHF Ch. 2 - 6 Mid Band - UHF Ch. 14 22 - UHF Ch. 95 - 99 High Band - VHF Ch. 7 - 13 Super Band - CATV Ch. 23 - 36 Hyper Band - CATV Ch. 37 - 62 Ultra Band - CATV Ch. 63 - 158 7 - 48 MHz 54 - 216 MHz 59 - 88 MHz 121 - 174 MHz 91 - 120 MHz 175 - 216 MHz 216 - 300 MHz 300 - 456 MHz 457 - 1002 MHz

UHF Band Ch.14 - 83 - CATV Ch. 63 - 158 70 - 1002 MHz

VHF TELEVISION FREQUENCIES

BAND VHF LOW VHF LOW VHF LOW VHF LOW VHF LOW CH # 2 3 4 5 6 FREQUENCY 54-60 MHz 60-66 MHz 66-72 MHz 76-82 MHz 82-88 MHz BAND VHF HIGH VHF HIGH VHF HIGH VHF HIGH VHF HIGH VHF HIGH VHF HIGH CH # 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 FREQUENCY 174-180 MHz 180-186 MHz 186-192 MHz 192-198 MHz 198-204 MHz 204-210 MHz 210-216 MHz

UHF TELEVISION FREQUENCIES

CH # 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 FREQUENCY 470-476 MHz 476-482 MHz 482-488 MHz 488-494 MHz 494-500 MHz 500-506 MHz 506-512 MHz 512-518 MHz 518-524 MHz 524-530 MHz 530-536 MHz 536-542 MHz 542-548 MHz 548-554 MHz 554-560 MHz CH # 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 FREQUENCY 614-620 MHz 620-626 MHz 626-632 MHz 632-638 MHz 638-644 MHz 644-650 MHz 650-656 MHz 656-662 MHz 662-668 MHz 668-674 MHz 674-680 MHz 680-686 MHz 686-692 MHz 692-698 MHz 698-704 MHz CH # 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 FREQUENCY 758-764 MHz 764-770 MHz 770-776 MHz 776-782 MHz 782-788 MHz 788-794 MHz 794-800 MHz 800-806 MHz 806-812 MHz 812-818 MHz 818-824 MHz 824-830 MHz 830-836 MHz 836-842 MHz 842-848 MHz

CH # 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37

FREQUENCY 560-566 MHz 566-572 MHz 572-578 MHz 578-584 MHz 584-590 MHz 590-596 MHz 596-602 MHz 602-608 MHz 608-614 MHz

CH # 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61

FREQUENCY 704-710 MHz 710-716 MHz 716-722 MHz 722-728 MHz 728-734 MHz 734-740 MHz 740-746 MHz 746-752 MHz 752-758 MHz

CH # 77 78 79 80 81 82 83

FREQUENCY 848-854 MHz 854-860 MHz 860-866 MHz 866-872 MHz 872-878 MHz 878-884 MHz 884-890 MHz

CATV CHANNELS
CATV Channel Video Frequency Sound Frequency

SUB-Band CATV Channels T7 T8 T9 T10 T11 T12 T13 7.0000 13.0000 19.0000 25.0000 31.0000 37.0000 43.0000 LOW BAND 2 3 4 5 6 55.2500 61.2500 67.2500 77.2500 83.2500 59.7500 65.7500 71.7500 81.7500 87.7500 11.5000 17.5000 23.5000 29.5000 35.5000 41.5000 47.5000

CATV Channel

Video Frequency MID BAND

Sound Frequency

95 96 97 98 99 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

91.2500 97.2500 103.2500 109.2750 115.2750 121.2625 127.2625 133.2625 139.2500 145.2500 151.2500 157.2500 163.2500 169.2500 HIGH BAND

95.7500 101.7500 107.7500 113.7750 119.7750 125.7625 131.7625 137.7625 143.7500 149.7500 155.7500 161.7500 167.7500 173.7500

7 8 9 10 11 12 13

175.2500 181.2500 187.2500 193.2500 199.2500 205.2500 211.2500 SUPER BAND

179.7500 185.7500 191.7500 197.7500 203.7500 209.7500 215.7500

23 24 25 26

217.2500 223.2500 229.2625 235.2625

221.7500 227.7500 233.7625 239.7625

CATV Channel 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Video Frequency 241.2625 247.2625 253.2625 259.2625 265.2625 271.2625 277.2625 283.2625 289.2625 295.2625 HYPER BAND

Sound Frequency 245.7625 251.7625 257.7625 263.7625 269.7625 275.7625 281.7625 287.7625 293.7625 299.7625

37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53

301.2625 307.2625 313.2625 319.2625 325.2625 331.2750 337.2625 343.2625 349.2625 355.2625 361.2625 367.2625 373.2625 379.2625 385.2625 391.2625 397.2625

305.7625 311.7625 317.7625 323.7625 329.7625 335.7750 341.7625 347.7625 353.7625 359.7625 365.7625 371.7625 377.7625 383.7625 389.7625 395.7625 401.7625

CATV Channel 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62

Video Frequency 403.2500 409.2500 415.2500 421.2500 427.2500 433.2500 439.2500 445.2500 451.2500 ULTRA BAND

Sound Frequency 407.7500 413.7500 419.7500 425.7500 431.7500 437.7500 443.7500 449.7500 455.7500

63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

457.2500 463.2500 469.2500 475.2500 481.2500 487.2500 493.2500 499.2500 505.2500 511.2500 517.2500 523.2500 529.2500 535.2500 541.2500 547.2500 553.2500 559.2500

461.7500 467.7500 473.7500 479.7500 485.7500 491.7500 497.7500 503.7500 509.7500 515.7500 521.7500 527.7500 533.7500 539.7500 545.7500 551.7500 557.7500 563.7500

CATV Channel 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113

Video Frequency 565.2500 571.2500 577.2500 583.2500 589.2500 595.2500 601.2500 607.2500 613.2500 619.2500 625.2500 631.2500 637.2500 643.2500 649.2500 655.2500 661.2500 667.2500 673.2500 679.2500 685.2500 691.2500 697.2500 703.2500 709.2500 715.2500 721.2500 727.2500

Sound Frequency 569.7500 575.7500 581.7500 587.7500 593.7500 599.7500 605.7500 611.7500 617.7500 623.7500 629.7500 635.7500 641.7500 647.7500 653.7500 659.7500 665.7500 671.7500 677.7500 683.7500 689.7500 695.7500 701.7500 707.7500 713.7500 719.7500 725.7500 731.7500

CATV Channel 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141

Video Frequency 733.2500 739.2500 745.2500 751.2500 757.2500 763.2500 769.2500 775.2500 781.2500 787.2500 793.2500 799.2500 805.2500 811.2500 817.2500 823.2500 829.2500 835.2500 841.2500 847.2500 853.2500 859.2500 865.2500 871.2500 877.2500 883.2500 889.2500 895.2500

Sound Frequency 737.7500 743.7500 749.7500 755.7500 761.7500 767.7500 773.7500 779.7500 785.7500 791.7500 797.7500 803.7500 809.7500 815.7500 821.7500 827.7500 833.7500 839.7500 845.7500 851.7500 857.7500 863.7500 869.7500 875.7500 881.7500 887.7500 893.7500 899.7500

CATV Channel 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158

Video Frequency 901.2500 907.2500 913.2500 919.2500 925.2500 931.2500 937.2500 943.2500 949.2500 955.2500 961.2500 967.2500 973.2500 979.2500 985.2500 991.2500 997.2500

Sound Frequency 905.7500 911.7500 917.7500 923.7500 929.7500 935.7500 941.7500 947.7500 953.7500 959.7500 965.7500 971.7500 977.7500 983.7500 989.7500 995.7500 1001.7500

Frequencies Used by Wireless Cable Frequency Range 2,150 - 2,162 MHz 2,305 - 2,320 MHz 2,345 - 2,360 MHz 2,500 - 2,596 MHz 2.596 - 2,644 MHz 2,644 - 2,686 MHz Number of Channels 2 2 2 16 8 4 Type of Service MDS WCS WCS ITFS MMDS ITFS ABC&D E&F G Channel Groups 1,2,2(A) Channel Bandwidth (MHz) 6 5 & 10 5 & 10 6 6 6

2,644 - 2,686 MHz

MMDS MMDS

2,686 - 2,689.875 MHz 31*

Response Channels 0.125

* Each channel's bandwidth is 125 KHz, and does not carry video.

NTSC CONTOURS Channels Channels 2 through 6 Channels 7 through 13 Channels 14 through 69 Grade B Grade A City Grade Service Contour Service Contour Service Contour 47 dBu 56 dBu 64 dBu 68 dBu 71 dBu 74 dBu 74 dBu 77 dBu 80 dBu

DIGITAL TV CONTOURS Channels Channels 2 through 6 Channels 7 through 13 Channels 14 through 69 Grade B Grade A City Grade Service Contour Service Contour Service Contour - dBu - dBu - dBu - dBu - dBu - dBu 35 dBu 43 dBu 48 dBu