Digital VHF and UHF TV Antenna

thingiverse

I'll be writing this up over the next week or two, so stay tuned and bear with me! These parts are designed to attach, insulate, and configure the various components of an antenna that picks up free digital broadcast signals. To test it, I hung mine in a tree at approximately rooftop level, and I'm receiving 21 channels! Several are more than 60 miles away, and they're coming in crystal clear. The HD channels look better than the same channel over cable, and I just watched them during a heavy rainstorm. I was going to mount it higher later, but may just leave it! Your results may vary, but for most flat land, mounting the antenna 45' up will yield the best results. If you have high-speed internet, this antenna and a subscription to Hulu's new streaming service or YouTubeTV or USTV NOW (cheapest and good) or Sling is the cord cutter's ticket. You'll need: 12 plain wire coat hangers (not the ones with cardboard tubes for pants), 18 #8 x 1/2" Phillips pan head sheet metal screws, 12 #10 washers, 2 six-foot coax cables with female type F connectors on each end, and two UHF/VHF Balun splitters. You'll also need a RCA signal combiner/booster, one piece of 1"x3" wood at least 40" long, and enough coax cable with female type F connectors to connect the antenna to your tuner. Four UHF, one VHF, and one Balun prints from the attached STL files are required as well. You'll need a Phillips screwdriver, some wire cutters that can cut coat hangers, some pliers to bend coat hangers, electrical tape, and zip ties for wire control and mounting. You'll need to get specific lengths of wire from the coat hangers by cutting/straightening: eight 19" long lengths for your UHF "V's" bow ties, two 30" long lengths for your phase wires, and two 14.5" long lengths for the VHF "T". The diagrams I've attached give you an idea of the layout and spacing of the UHF bow ties. The VHF "T" goes at the very top and should be centered nine and a half inches above the top bow tie's center. These diagrams are all over the web, but I couldn't find who to attribute them to.