Home made 8 bay antenna

Dann0

well I built this today at work with whatever I had lying around...Total cost...$10.00 for the "reflectors". I wish I would have done a DIY on this. I will be setting this up on Sunday and will report back on the results.

Its too late tonight to go into detail about what I used and how I built it so, ask away and I will do my best to answer.

Dan

Rick0725

nice job. like the oven rack idea.

Dann0

Thanks, I had no idea how big each reflector should be so i got a pic from the net, blew it up to actual size in photoshop then measured all the parts and spacing. I calculated each reflector to be about 13"x19". Do the bends on the ends of the channel master antenna reflectors actually make a difference?

scootski

Nice... and affordable...

Dann0

Update:
Antenna installed on roof, no real difference from my home made 4bay...too bad
Still 18 channels, moste are great, some not so good...oh well..

jvadas

Mine made a huge difference when I installed mine. I was getting Cleveland stations at 45 miles away and my 4 bay would not get them at all.

Make sure that you weather proofed your antenna. It only took a week or two for mine to start rusting.

w0en

They are just there to mechanically stiffen the metal mesh a little and shouldn't have an electrical effect with RF. There are those who claim the solid (to UHF RF) continuous profile of the two screens on the CM 4228 helps with high VHF pickup and advise mechanically connecting the two refelector screen panels together to ensure a continuous surface. I notice all other manufacturers have either air gaps on their reflector screens or use rods.

donnyjaguar

How are you feeding the antenna? I'm wondering if there's a problem there as this antenna should, by rights, work better than a 4 bay.

Don_M

Put the 4-bay, YouTube "Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna" together last weekend in much the same way -- no cost, just pieced together using scrap wood, 12 ga. copper wire and an old balun. Dann0's design inspired me to pick up a couple of those cookie racks for $4 to use as reflectors. Made it a much stronger antenna, but please note: The reflectors should be at least 3 inches behind the whiskers, as Dann0's seem to be.

My original 4-bay was mounted on 3/4-inch plywood, which placed the reflectors about an inch behind the elements. The resulting antenna was weaker than it had been without any reflectors at all, so I "sistered" a 2x4 onto the back of the plywood, and then attached the reflectors to the 2x4. Voila! Far better than the original with no reflectors. It's stronger than our amplified "disc" antenna up in the attic despite three disadvantages: It lacks a pre-amp, it's 18 feet closer to ground, and it's propped up "behind" one of the steel garage-door tracks with respect to the local signals.

techlights

How far apart are the two gangs of 4 bays? In other words, what is the distence between the two "towers?" Soes it make a difference with reception?

edders

I am very pleased to see people making their own UHF antennas, that is a great trend IMO.