Put up my homemade antenna on my shop and I’m getting 35 digital channels! Memphis, and MS public broadcasting from Oxford. Not too shabby!
Here are extensive instructions for the Hoveman antenna I made:
https://www.hamradio.me/antennas/superbowl-dtv-antenna.html
This just shows the dimensions on the bends for the 2 sections of wire that you make. You want to use some fairly heavy, stiff “wire”. I used a couple of lengths of galvanized wire that is used to run through the bottom of chain link fence I had on hand. The backer is usually a piece of 1 x 4, but I had a strip of clear plexiglass on hand. You have to buy a two pole analog to coaxial connector like you used to put on the back of the old TV’s that made a connection between the “rabbit ear” type, 2 screw connection and coaxial cable.
I connected the wire to the plexiglass using beer bottle caps and 1/2” nuts and bolts. On wood you could probably just use a washer and wood screws, but the bottle cap ridges helped grab the wire and kept it from popping loose. Anything similar can work. Be creative. I just happened to have a lot of spare beer caps on hand! ?
Some of these Hoverman antenna plans show an additional horizontal wire at the top and bottom. I didn’t do those, but I haven’t noticed a need for the reception I’m getting. Be sure your bends and lengths on the wire bends are as accurate as possible, as they act as kind of a set “tuning” to receive the correct bandwidth for the digital signal. The closer to dimensions the better, but it ain’t rocket science. ?
