TV Antenna

The admiral wants an LCD TV/DVD player for mother's day so I'm researching TV antennas. What antenna do you have? How high is it mounted? How well does it work in the Puget Sound, San Juans, etc?

Raul

[Seapuppy]

we have the shakespear one that isn't worth a poop.....I've ordered a single reciever and sat. dish to be mtd on the boat when we are at the dock.....I am thinking of a using a tripod to mount when on dock or a flip up rail mount....... :argh arrr

[tolly28]

We use rabbit ears up here in the San Juans and get a few channels. We get Channel 13 pretty good from our slip in Anacortes and have picked it up out in the islands as well as a few Canadian channels.

I've thought about adding some sort of antenna, but we've been ok with what we get with the rabbit ears. Besides, we bring along a few DVDs which gives us something to watch!

Steve

[1northernstar]

I made my own a few years ago. Tear into one of those Shakespeare's and you'll find very similar to what's described below. My cost was under $10. It works good at certain locations, not so good for others. Best of all it works at Shipwreck (perfect for watching NFL football while trolling for silvers).

At Home Depot, get a 3ft or 4 ft bar of 1" wide aluminum (1/8" thick I think). Cut it in half and bend each half into a semi-circle (try bending around a basketball). Connect the ends of each semi-circle together with a non-conductive material (small square of wood or plexiglass works), the result being a circular antenna. Make sure the two aluminum semi-circle pieces do not touch each other.

Using flat ribbon TV wire, connect one wire to one half of the antenna, the other wire to the other half of the antenna, then connect to your TV (or use an adapter to convert it to coax cable).

To mount it, I screwed a piece of 1x2 wood with a hole in it to the two semi-circle pieces (imagine if you will...the two non-pieces are at 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock, then teh 1x2 is screwed to the antenna at 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock)

The hole in the 1x2 was drilled precisely to allow sliding the TV antenna down my fiberglass antenna (which is tapered) to a point above all other metal on the boat yet low enough to not break the fiberglass antenna due to sway/swing.

If you'd like a picture, I can email or post one...

[Webjammin]

northernstar i would like to see a picture of your tv antenna.


Bob

Hey Bob.... I think I've got some nice thin stainless flat. Throw some in my bender and we're in there :)

Steve, Shakespeare makes a number of antennas. Which one specifically do you have? Is it amplified? How high do you mount it?

I'm mainly interested in a few channels, not the whole spectrum. We're cable/satellite-impaired at home so I'm not addicted to having 700 channels :wink:

1northernstar, there's an antenna sold for sailboats that's pretty much your design.

Raul

[Seapuppy]

hey raul,
I have it mounted on the rail...it shouldn't matter how hi it is since it is amplified...but we only get like 2-3 channels on a good day....we've been right under the broadcast antenna's in seattle and still couldn't get a clear picture...I've talked to others too and they say the same thing...crappy unit for 150 bucks.....I bring dvd's along to watch at nite...
update...I got my sat. dish..now I gotta figure out how to mount it and get it up and running....if your interested in my tv ant. I'll sell it to you for 50 bucks...complete......

.. :argh arr

[1northernstar]

Here's a link of the antenna I built. Would like to make a cover for it so it isn't so ugly, but it does the job...

http://community.webshots.com/user/1northernstar

I've got some flat stock and a roller. I should kick out some of those to see how well they work. Interesting design. Just tell 'em its a "prototype" :D

Anything special about that diameter, or is that just a swag for what the commercial one used?

[Randygh]

Does the diameter of the Al antenna circle effect the number of TV stations received or the strength of the reception? Does Al recieve better than steel or iron? Would a large diameter Cu wire like a heavy duty, bare battery cable work as well as Aluminum. Just curious. :?:

Steve, let me give your antenna a try and see if I can get it to work on a few stations. I'll buy it if it does.

Raul

[Webjammin]

Thanks for posting the picture of the antenna.

Bob

[Go Aweigh2452]

I'd cover it with a paper bag its soo frigin ooogly... glad it works though...

[1northernstar]

Yep, its ugly.. (and a prototype !!)

In this case, yes SIZE DOES MATTER!! The bigger the diameter, the better the reception.

I've heard that the handrail that encompasses the boat works as well too, but haven't tried it.

I used a 3ft piece for the current antenna, but may redesign it with a 4 ft piece to see if there's any improvement. Unverified rumor that the more perfect circle, the better it works too.

I understand the "size matters" part. :)

Was just wondering if you swag'd it (3' being the swag) or if you'd computed the length.

You've essentially built a 300 ohm omnidirectional half wave folded dipole antenna. Actually, "squashing" it to an ellipse might give you better gain, but becoming more directional. Also... with folded dipoles oriented in the horizontal like that, you'd reduce ghosting quite a bit by using vertical loops.

Something like this:



http://www.iboatnw.com/gallery/data/media/27/folded_dipole.gif

[Seapuppy]

Steve, let me give your antenna a try and see if I can get it to work on a few stations. I'll buy it if it does.

Raul


I brought it home..so your welcome to swing by and pick it up....let me know when you wanna stop by......