AWESOME SITE!!! lots of goodies here... like everyone else here i am a home theater nut.. not so much for projectors... but my currant set up is an 30" widescreen LG CRT, Onkyo DS777 reciever and an Energy Take series surrounds....

anyhow i am posting because i stummbled across the DIY OTA HD antenna write up i love it, and plan on doing it... but i need to learn more fist...

let me start by saying that after reading that tread ive come to the conclusion that there is a reason for the (channel number) - (anouther number) channel set up... not sure what it is, but i am sure ill stummble across it too... :-) that being said, apperantly the HD channels are in a certain freq range, VHF? and the analog channels are UHF?

well i currantly am using this antenna and i think it works well in my area (Columbus Ohio (Grove City)) here is a list of the channels i get

4-1
4-2
6-1
6-2
10-1
28-1
34-1
34-2
34-3
51-1
53-1

is this about all there is in the columbus area? i tried the site, antenna somthing other .com maybe it was... where you type in your address and it tells you the brodcasts in the area, well it kept telling me it couldnt find my address.

ok, thats enough for now to keepme busy.. but i am sure ill have tons more questions

thanks guys/gals..

This is not quite accurate. Each channel is broadcast on a certain frequency, but that depends on what the station was granted when it applied for a broadcasting license. Any channel frequency between 2-13 is in the VHF band, and those in 14-up and in the UHF band (Very High Frequency vs. Ultra High Frequency). In Chicago, all digital stations are in the UHF band except CBS, which is broadcast in the channel frequency 3.

Now, the (channel number) - (anouther number) format you see is actually the (channel number) - (subchannel number). For my ABC, which is channel number 7 (not the channel frequency [which is 52 for me]), I get 7-1, 7-2, and 7-3; all of which are ABC channels. I think it has to do with the digital stations taking up less bandwith so they can actually get multiple channels into one frequency.


With this antenna, you are using the rabbit ears in back to tune in the VHF frequencies and the circle to tune in UHF frequencies. The rabbit ears are known as a dipole antenna; I don't know if there is a term for the UHF antenna. The DIY antenna described in the forums here is an excellent UHF antenna, but will not work for any VHF frequencies.


I checked antennaweb.org for Grove City, OH (I skipped your street address) and got the following results:
Click to view attachment
You will notice that of all the digital stations in your area, you already receive them all. Also note the frequency that each digital station is broadcast on... If you go to the DIY antenna, you may lose ABC and NBC, since they are in the VHF-UHF border. You may not get any improvement at all.

I hope this helps some in answering your questions.

I also saw the DIY HD antenna and made a 2-bay version night before last. It was very basic (i.e. I didn't even use a reflector) but it picked up all of the UHF analog channels (nearly) perfectly, and the VHF channels down to 7. This was just a preliminary test inside leaning against a wall.

It did pick up 2 and 5, but they were horribly noisy. I haven't hooked it up to the digital box yet (the wife was watching Wheel of Fortune), but I have a feeling it will pick up all of my digital channels with no problem. The closest tower to me is 34 miles and the farthest (that I watch) is about 50 miles. The majority of my antenna choices were listed as either a red or blue type (purple for a couple fringe stations). I'm in Villa Rica, GA 30180 area by the way (Atlanta Broadcast area).

I should also note that I currently have the 12' long Radio Shack antenna hooked up right now which has excellent performance , but its huge and ugly. So something small and flat is definitely attractive to me. I tried the rabbit ears and loop antenna when I first moved in, and got nothing. The 2-bay version is many times better than the one you posted above (in my area).

I am adding two more bays to it tonight and will post pictures and results (of the digital quality) in the original thread if anyone is interested.

Yup, digital takes up much less bandwidth than analog so they can fit more channels in each channel... Same thing with TDMA going to digital GSM, it allowed more people per tower because it was digital instead of analog which took up more of the spectrum. Don't really need more channels, so I wish instead of dividing the channels up they'd just use more bandwidth for better quality...

I live on the north end of Columbus (Westerville), and am useing the DIY antenna (4 bay) and I pick everything up just fine. Well, as good as it can get since I am at the bottom of a hill with multiple apartment buildings surrounding me, but channels 4 and 6 come in far better than the radio shack antenna I was using before... And the channels you get are the ones I get as well.

Had to get in on this post because I live in the same area (Mount Vernon) and I'm about 34 miles out from the majority of the antenna in the area. I've built a (crude) DB4 but haven't got a balun yet. The only channel I can pick up reliably is PBS which is lsited as 22 miles out from me. The other stations I want (nbc, cbs, abc) are at about 34 miles out and I'm wondering if I go pick up a balun if it would help me get those stations better or if I need to do something else.