computoman

Noticed the Cleartv has changed antennas. The original antenna was not received very well and had some scathing reviews. Plus the specifications were easily attainable.   We made our our own version.  http://www.instructables.com/id/ClearTV-antenna-lookalike/   Now I have noticed they have come up wigh a new antenna and the pictures are blurred with no specific technical details in the advertisements. Wondering why that is? If I get a chance to duplicate it I will let you know. Could it be?

You can go to the dollar store and get materials to make the antennas for a few bucks.

The wiring sort of. One connect wire for each side.

Made an antenna guessing at the specs. Also did it do see how critical the angle of the dipoles were. Antenna pattern: http://web.archive.org/web/20130610164242/http://tradewhen.com/Log-Periodic-Pattern.pdf Original version: The antenna did not work that well. So I went back and looked at the original picture and noticed the angle was quite different. Oops, the original angle used was a bit wide. Hmm. S/B: Now, the new version with the corrected angle. Now to test it. Tested average.... Other antennas to look at:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Antennas-TV-Wifi-and-etc/ A bit about antennas:

http://www.instructables.com/id/ClearTV-antenna-lookalike/

Couple of antennas to play with:

Someone asked me the difference between closed source and open source software. For a layman, I thought the best way might be to use pictures. Closed source might be like a tv dinner where everything is almost precooked. Until you get the meal out of the box and into the microwave or oven (if the meal supports an oven), there is little you can do to change or alter the meal. But you have the advantage of no recipes to follow and it is easy per se to prepare. One shortcoming though is you do not know where the ingredients came from or how it was prepared. Actually this tv dinner was cheaper than expected and quite good to eat. I was surprised. The portions were exacting though. Added some butter for the mashed potatoes and the corn. With open source things are a bit different. You have to go out buy all the groceries to prepare and cook the meal. There is an advantage here is that you can inspect the ingredients to make sure you have what you want. You can also either use prepared recip...

Someone asked me the difference between closed source and open source software. For a layman, I thought the best way might be to use pictures. Closed source might be like a tv dinner where everything is almost precooked. Until you get the meal out of the box and into the microwave or oven (if the meal supports an oven), there is little you can do to change or alter the meal. But you have the advantage of no recipes to follow and it is easy per se to prepare. One shortcoming though is you do not know where the ingredients came from or how it was prepared. Actually this tv dinner was cheaper than expected and quite good to eat. I was surprised. The portions were exacting though. Added some butter for the mashed potatoes and the corn. With open source things are a bit different. You have to go out buy all the groceries to prepare and cook the meal. There is an advantage here is that you can inspect the ingredients to make sure you have what you want. You can also either use prepare...

Got out the old Mythtv box and updated it. Made a few tweaks and all was well. Now you can get standalone digital recorders aka pvr's that are not tied to a provider, Not tested any of them yet. Mythtv has one advantage that you can use it with thin clients and or touchpads as frontends to watch/listen media. Just like the new pvrs, with MythTV you can use OTA (over the air) antenna TV very easily. No wonder that cable subscriptions have allegedly gone down dramatically. Titantv .com is a good place for TV listings. http://www.instructables.com/id/Setting-up-a-computer-based-DVR-with-Mythtv-for-l/

Got out the old Mythtv box and updated it. Made a few tweaks and all was well. Now you can get standalone digital recorders aka pvr's that are not tied to a provider, Not tested any of them yet. Mythtv has one advantage that you can use it with thin clients and or touchpads as frontends to watch/listen media. Just like the new pvrs, with MythTV you can use OTA (over the air) antenna TV very easily. No wonder that cable subscriptions have allegedly gone down dramatically. Titantv .com is a good place for TV listings. http://www.instructables.com/id/Setting-up-a-computer-based-DVR-with-Mythtv-for-l/

We decided to make a very crude version of the famous  #ClearTV #antenna . We were able to get over 50 channels. Not bad for a couple pieces of foil. #Cablecutters   http://www.instructables.com/id/ClearTV-antenna-lookalike/

Finally testing some over the air foil based antennas Also wanted to test the composite output of an old computer I have made. Next antenna, I think is a gray-Hoverman antenna. I tried to follow the specs the best I could. The last antenna I tested was a fractal based antenna. it was definitely directional.

We decided to do an indoor version of the Ehow outdoor DTV antenna. For more details see: http://www.instructables.com/id/Ehow-outdoor-and-indoor-DTV-antennas/

If you were lucky enough to get the free coupons for the free dtv converters, you could still use your analog TV for watching television. In fact, we use the dtv converter with a dvd player in the man-cave. ( http://www.instructables.com/id/Extra-TV-setup/ ) We get about sixty stations, but only use about twenty of them. You will get the traditional major TV networks for free. Ironically, more and more cable is coming back to over the air TV in one form or another. See your favorite Food TV chefs on "The Chew". Also cut the cord, but we went in a different direction. We use OTA (Over-the-air) HDTV. (Works best in large metropolitan areas). Actually, most television stations still transmit the old fashion way. You can not use the old fashion tv tuner, but again you can use the dtv converter with an old fashion TV antenna. You do not need to use a special HDTV antenna. Marketing hype for an existing TV antenna. You can also make your own for almost free. You can find s...

One of my side hobbies is to make foil based equivalents of traditional antennas. This is my latest prototype of the Gray-Hoverman antenna. Just $5 dollars in materials. It is also almost light as a feather. My next goal is to step it up a bit with commercial antenna clone. Probably do this one with coat hangers. Looking for the specs. More home made antennas: http://www.instructables.com/id/Antennas-TV-Wifi-and-etc/

Whether it be for commercial radio, ham radio, TV, or even wifi people seem to love antennas. here are a few links to some of the antennas I have run into. My latest home made wifi antenna from someone else's design that is suppose to reach several miles! Still need to get the cable for the antenna interface. Directional wifi antenna: http://www.instructables.com/id/Two-quicky-directional-wifi-antennas/ Other wifi antennas: http://www.instructables.com/id/WIFI-Antenna-Hack!/ http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Wifi-Extender-Cantenna-build-with-a-stand/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Cell-Phone-WiFi-Signal-Booster-Antenna/ Tv antennas (regular tv antenna is a HD antenna already!). We also use the traditional coat hanger antenna also. (Left hand corner of picture.) Other antennas: http://www.instructables.com/id/Yagi-foil-HDTV-antenna/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Foil-based-fractal-antenna/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Yet-another-dtv-antenna/ http:...

Free OTA TV is a good thing and maybe I have harped on it a bit much, but soon we plan to go to the next step of Free Satellite Tv. You have to be real careful because there is a lot of misinformation and people who would like to take advantage of you for that. A site called www.ftalist.com has shed light on the right way to get into FTA. We have been using it as a guide on how to set things up. One of the biggest drawbacks to technology is that things are changing all the time. To get into FTA (Free to Air) tv does require and investment of several hundred dollars and if the technology changes that equipment is worthless.  To offset any start up costs of FTA, we have been looking around at resale places for the equipment one might be able to use. So far the investment has been less than twenty dollars for two receivers. The only thing left is the dish and the responder(s).  Updates coming...

One of the big things now is to be able to record what is on tv. Most of your cable providers will rent you a DVR (Digital Video Recorder) so you can record the shows you like (with limitations). Of course your computer can me made to do that also. In fact we made our own DVR with open source software. It is know as Mythtv ( http://www.instructables.com/id/Setting-up-a-computer-based-DVR-with-Mythtv-for-l /). I actually have built two of them. One for the one analog (now defunct) tv reception methods and one for the new digital tv reception. Love being able to record a lot of PBS educational media either for later viewing, or just be able to look at again and again. Cable viewing is getting rather expensive. so we dumped the tv portion of cable. We now use what is know as OTA-TV or Over-the-air tv. It's free!! Your selection is not as great but, since so many people are dropping cable tv, more and more cable stuff is comping to over the air tv.  In fact, cable tv providers are drop...