Read several posts on RV.net over the years about folks asking about television antennas, specifically for their HD - digital sets in their RV's. In order to simplify an answer, and maybe start a "tech-no" war about television reception, I've always said, all you have to do is stick a paper clip in the coax cable hole on the back of your television and you'd get reception on your HD-Digital set. I think just about everyone does not believe that.Well, we're getting ready to start remodeling another section of our house and before we can do that, it means moving furniture and stuff around, which included moving the television out of our living room. One thing led to another. But it left one television without an over-the-air antenna. So, in order to get an antenna, I did improvise the paper clip idea. But just to prove you DO NOT have to purchase any kind of "special" antenna to get digital-HD television, let the photos speak for themselves. The 3rd photo is the antenna! If you don't believe me, let the photos speak for themselves! But if you still want to spend a ton of money, I'll sure not stop you.d This is the end a section of coax cable where I'd cut the end off some time ago. The other end still had the barrel connector, but all I did was strip the rubber off. This works as you can see from the above 2 photos. You may call this "the poor man's antenna!" So I think the purpose for this is to state, YOUR BATWING antenna will work OK too!

Dutch... We have been singing that song for a long time.. A long long time.What makes it even better is one of the members here (At least one) has access to an electronics lab and has put the good old batwing up against it's main competition... and the batwing won.. Big time.

how far are you from those stations and what is the topography?bumpy

Well- it's good to know that tv antennas are just a huge scam, and that a wire stuck in the TV is every bit as good. Think of the millions of dollars that you have saved people (though forcing Winegard and Channel Master out of business is not very nice).

Bumpy, we are, probably, 40-50 miles (straight line) from down town Indianapolis; 70 miles from Lafayette, 30 miles from New Castle, 45 miles from Kokomo, 20 miles from Noblesville. Not sure where the actual towers are though.We live on some pretty flat ground here, surrounded by corn and bean fields, no high buildings. That simple wire pulled in 20 channels. The bat wing in my camper, parked in my driveway, will pull in 50-60 channels. I suppose that booster pulls in more, or maybe the signal does not have to pass through walls in the house.

This is a situation in which a bare wire can work fine, but a properly sized antenna usually, but not always, will work better. Electromagnetic radiation (TV signals) have specific wavelengths (around half a meter for the signals in the TV band). An antenna the receiving elements of which are approximately this length or multiples of it will have higher gain (ability to receive) than will an arbitrarily sized wire. The OP's improvised antenna will work fine as long as the signal strength is reasonably high.

Digital television antenna - a simple solution | Good Sam Community

20 Replies

burlmart
Explorer
Apr 08, 2014
I still dream of cutting cable w/ an attic antenna and an in line amp. The coat hanger 4 bowtie I made got nearly all local channels. The bowties are each formed by two 14" lengths of wire bent into sideways Vs w/ points adjacent to one another. I thought if I doubled their size, I might pick up more things.

Truth is, as sorry as cable TV gets, OTA is even more lacking. Will likely never cut cable, I guess.
MNtundraRet
Navigator
Apr 08, 2014
"Actually the best antenna is the one that was so big it didn't survive the last ice storm."

How true. :B

My mother had one on her home out in the outer suburbs. It worked fine (got all the local channels). We got her a High Def. TV back in 2005, and replaced it with a larger one in 2008. Both picked up all the digital and analog channels transmitted locally without problems.

My mother died in October of 2010. The antenna never survived a big snowstorm a few months later. :M

Also; they don't travel well, and do not fit under the trees in most state and national parks we camp in. :(
camperpaul
Explorer
Apr 08, 2014
burlmart wrote:

If I had to pick rabbit ears (VHF) over a loop (UHF), I gather that the UHF is where most digital stations are...

MNTundra, what is best UHF antenna form (bow-tie, fractal, Yagi...)

I realize this is like asking what is best dog breed, but a few thoughts would be useful.

Because the frequency range is so wide ...
I would recommend:

Helical

Log-periodic V

Log-periodic

Trapezoidal

Four bay bow-tie

Actually the best antenna is the one that was so big it didn't survive the last ice storm.
MNtundraRet
Navigator
Apr 07, 2014
I like what I have. The Winegard III with the additional RS in-line amp.
burlmart
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014
MNtundraRet wrote:
DutchmenSport wrote:
Gene&Ginny wrote:
I think the whole point of the OP's post was to show that there is no such thing as a digital antenna.

I think you hit the nail right on the head! Thanks! You said that much better than I did!

That part is dead on.

Adding the right equipment: good directional antenna, RG-6 coaxial cable, good amplifier, second in-line amplifier, can improve the range vastly (up to 160 miles at night.

if I had to pick rabbit ears (VHF) over a loop (UHF), I gather that the UHF is where most digital ststions are...

MNTundra, what is best UHF antenna form (bowtie, fractal, yagi...)

I realize this is like asking what is best dog breed, but a few thoughts would be useful.
MNtundraRet
Navigator
Apr 07, 2014
DutchmenSport wrote:
Gene&Ginny wrote:
I think the whole point of the OP's post was to show that there is no such thing as a digital antenna.

I think you hit the nail right on the head! Thanks! You said that much better than I did!

That part is dead on.

Adding the right equipment: good directional antenna, RG-6 coaxial cable, good amplifier, second in-line amplifier, can improve the range vastly (up to 160 miles at night.
DutchmenSport
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014
Gene&Ginny wrote:
I think the whole point of the OP's post was to show that there is no such thing as a digital antenna.

I think you hit the nail right on the head! Thanks! You said that much better than I did!
Gene_Ginny
Explorer
Apr 07, 2014
I think the whole point of the OP's post was to show that there is no such thing as a digital antenna.
Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Apr 06, 2014
DutchmenSport wrote:
Bumpy, we are, probably, 40-50 miles (straight line) from down town Indianapolis; 70 miles from Lafayette, 30 miles from New Castle, 45 miles from Kokomo, 20 miles from Noblesville. Not sure where the actual towers are though.

We live on some pretty flat ground here, surrounded by corn and bean fields, no high buildings.

That simple wire pulled in 20 channels. The bat wing in my camper, parked in my driveway, will pull in 50-60 channels. I suppose that booster pulls in more, or maybe the signal does not have to pass through walls in the house.

Terrain, buildings and other obstructions along with any RF noise in or around your TV antenna plays a large role in what you are able to receive.

I am about 50 miles from my nearest TV station in a very hilly area surrounded by trees at 50+ ft above my home. A pair of amplified indoor rabbit ears netted me a grand number of three USABLE digital stations. Analog days that same antenna would easily get a dozen or so stations.

To get the twenty stations that I have nearby (50-60 miles) it takes an 15ft+ long outdoor antenna on twenty feet of pipe with a 25DB gain low noise preamp, RG-6 coax and I had to change out the passive splitters for a $175 eight port AMPLIFIED splitter..

Even then, when spring arrives and the leaves are on the trees I lose a few stations and a heavy rain reduces that even further..

Needless to say, your "antenna" doesn't have much of a chance in my area..

Flat open area, sure it can work, put some hills, trees and buildings into the mix and all bets are off.
burlmart
Explorer
Apr 06, 2014
punomatic wrote:
The tuner is part of the equation, too. We live in a rural area and can pick up a couple dozen stations with an antenna in the attic. I rigged up a computer to use as a DVR with the same antenna. The tuner on the TV card in the computer doesn't pull in stations as reliably as the tuner in the Toshiba TV set. Frustrating when I want to record a program on one of the weaker stations.

yes. I am pretty sure the USB tuner was not as capable as the 19" best buy insignia tv at capturing from the same antenna.

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Digital television antenna - a simple solution

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