Reflector Material for GH in the Attic?

3249 Views 4 Replies 3 Participants Last post by mrvanwinkles, Oct 15, 2010

niverde

Discussion Starter · Sep 20, 2010

About a month ago I built an antenna using coat hangers and an aluminum foil reflector. It is in my attic and has performed pretty well. I am getting a number of channels from 45 and 50 miles away.

Here is the basic design I used. Added the reflector that isn't on this design. http://cdn.makezine.com/make/television/04/DTV_Antenna_FINAL.pdf

I am now in the process of making a gray hoverman from pvc and steel wire. I am also planning to put this in the attic, replacing my original antenna. While I realize that not all antenna's are created equal, I am trying to make this as cheaply and easily as possible. So I was thinking I would use an aluminum foil reflector again. Would I get a *dramatic* performance boost from another reflector? Wire screen / Mesh? Rods? Again, if one will only get a 5% increase over the other, I would rather stick with the cheap foil. But if using rods would give me a 50% boost, I would probably think about it.

As a point of reference, my investment in this antenna is probably only about $10 so far and I would like to keep it really low. Also, I would like to keep construction very simple as I have been passing off instructions to friends and co-workers.

Thanks!

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300ohm

· #2 · Sep 20, 2010

So I was thinking I would use an aluminum foil reflector again. Would I get a *dramatic* performance boost from another reflector?

Aluminum foil on a flat surface makes a fine attic reflector. For a bit more gain, have a 1" vertical open space down the middle of the reflector.

Holl_ands has the u-tube / Make magazine antenna analyzed here:
http://imageevent.com/holl_ands/multibay/4bay/utube

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niverde

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 27, 2010

Thanks for the info. I finished my SBGH this weekend and it works great. I made the frame of PVC and attached all of the wires with zip ties to avoid using metal screws. Don't know how much of an effect screws would have, but I figured it couldn't hurt to avoid them. I actually have 4 inches of space between the two elements. I had come across someone else on the web doing this and I thought it would make my PVC design simpler. As such, I made the space between the sheets of foil 2". Right now I am getting 21 stations, most of these are broadcasting from 45 and 50 miles away, so I am very pleased.

(You can see the 'old' bowtie that I built in the background)

Thanks again!

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300ohm

· #4 · Sep 27, 2010

Right now I am getting 21 stations, most of these are broadcasting from 45 and 50 miles away, so I am very pleased.

Thats pretty good. You have a lot of foil in the attic, so finding the hotspot location will be critical.

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mrvanwinkles

· #5 · Oct 15, 2010

Aluminum window screening. Very fine mesh.

I did notice, in a Home Depot hardware store, 48 inch wide rolls of aluminum window screen being sold.

That's a 4 foot wide roll ! (and long length on the roll ... for around 30 or 40 bucks)

A much finer mesh than is required for UHF frequencies ...

Probably not good outdoors - too much wind load and snow / ice buildup during freezing rain or wet snow weather events.

However ... for large indoor reflectors ... like, for example, in the attic ... probably good. Light. Easy to cut and work with. Flexible.

(I have ideas on LARGE parabolic UHF reflectors for more UHF GAIN. Assembling/building something like that in an attic might be a possibility.)

Just theorizing ...

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