The windstorm left me reading a bit more about homemade antennas. Some real world experimentation has shown that in our particular reception area a different design worked slightly better than the Gray-Hoverman and was easier to build. In other words cheaper and smaller, about the size of an average saute pan. The GH still worked well but for channel seeking locals that stumble across this journal I wanted to update my previous post with the new particulars. This simpler parts list includes:
Four feet of solid-core 10awg bare copper wire
One standard coaxial cable (shielded, RG-6) to reach from antenna to tuner
One 75-300ohm impedance matching transformer (aka. “balun”) *
A sturdy stick as a mast (~ 1/2″ diameter e.g. a dowel or a particularly long spatula)
A small stick as a spacer (120 mm long, I used two popsicle sticks taped together)
Hot glue or electrical tape
* I needed two short wires to ‘extend’ the leads on mine. You might not.
You can find the build details on this excellent site of antenna designs by a very clever bloke named nikiml. Note that in my case, and presumably for most people in the county, I only needed the ‘top half’ of this design to get our three digital channels.
While it was a bit more picky on placement, even at ground level indoors this gizmo increased reception efficiency by about 10% which helps keep the signal stable in storms. We’ll see how it does when the snow comes. Happy hacking!
