Tv Antenna (a Sweet Hack)

This past weekend I was receiving 40 channels on my new antenna setup:

I started with two shock-corded poles that I found at work. They were previously used to standup a conference banner. One of the poles was "used" for parts. I didn't measure the length, but I'm guessing a pole is 6 feet long when extended. Here's a picture of a pole folded:

I created a mounting post by screwing a 3/8 inch wide 16 pitch 3.5 inch long bolt up through one of the unused holes in the trailer tongue. I placed washers on both sides and a nut on top. Here's where I got lucky... I "fashioned" a spacer by removing the male end from a pole section, and it screwed onto the bolt fitting it perfectly. This made for a solid placement of the pole onto the mounting post (I used a pipe cutter to remove the male end).

The antenna is a Mohu Leaf 50. I cut a section of pole to size to fit between the antenna's mounting holes, and then attached it with a loop of steel wire. I used another loop of steel wire to fashion a T shape such that the post of the T fits into the top of the extended pole. I can make a better T bracket than this, but it works well and the antenna stows away easily in the storage cabinet next to the TV. My last concern is how to survive wind gusts. I may need to fix the pole to the mounting post and the antenna to the pole.

--Glenn

 

We bought a portable HD Antenna from Camping World and it works really well. I think it was $45.

 

@Van_and_Terri -- Does your antenna sit outside? Do you mount it on anything? This is an indoor antenna, but it can be waterproofed easily with some silicon calk. There's a youtube video to that effect.

I didn't mention it, but I suppose I could hang a flag from this pole when not using it for TV.

 

Very slick. Great post.

 

It has suction cups and we just put it on a window inside the camper. Not sure how well it would hold up to the elements.

 

that looks cool. I wonder if the indoor antenna would get a good signal.

 

Hi..I know that on our cable TV system the Internet data and the TV signals are contained within different frequency ranges. The cable TV feed from the street is fed into a locked box which can only be opened by the cable TV engineers, this is also where the signal splits.

turnkey pcb assembly

 

We recently purchased one of these Channel Master flat antenna's (https://www.amazon.com/Channel-Mast...ocphy=9019503&hvtargid=pla-593353693114&psc=1 ), and had opportunity to use it this past weekend when I went to a STOL competition event in my home town just about 20 miles away. I also have a small pre-amp on it as well ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DQN3R9O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ) which is powered by a USB port on the TV.
It worked quite well, receiving the same 34 Twin Cities area OTA channels we receive at home with our much larger amplified antenna, which is a little closer to the broadcasting towers than the site I was camping.

I made a PVC frame to surround and support the very thin antenna, cutting a slot in the PVC pipe and the right angle corners connectors that the flat antenna can slide into as well as the T at the bottom to mount the frame on a PVC mast that mounts on the TD tongue. I used another length of PVC pipe with a T fitting on each end as a support for the mast, with a section of the T wall slightly smaller than the mast diameter cut out, so that it will snap onto the mast.

 

Is that a Cessna Skycatcher in your hangar?

 

No, but I can see where you might think so from the limited view, since I think Cessna took some cues from Glasair Aviation in their design. It's actually a Glasair GlaStar that I finished building in 2007, and now have a little over 800 hours of flight time in so far. Unfortunately Cessna pulled the plug on on the Sky Catcher after just s short time, as they recently did on the Corvalis too. Too bad

 

I bought an old digital antenna at goodwill. It looks like a rectangle of metal instead of the rabbit ears of old. I just set it on top of the tear and if it is windy I rubber band it to my roof rack bracket. Since most people do not have the roof rack bracket perhaps a suction cup? I do not use it often but it works great when I do and it only cost a couple bucks and takes up very little space in storage.