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Best and cheapest TV antenna yet!

gulfareagulfarea Member Posts: 506
in Battery/Electrical & Solar 

<span class="post-font-size-medium">I am a Ham radio man, don’t let that fact make you think I am smarter than you, I am not! I would like to pass this on to all who may need it. Take a short coax cable with connectors on both ends, cut one end off, strip the outer layer off the </span><span class="post-font-size-medium"><u><b>cut tip</b></u></span><span class="post-font-size-medium"> leaving 22 inches of bare copper showing, making sure you don’t let one small strand of the outer ground wire touch the center copper conductor, I only get 20 over the air stations with it here in the city of Mobile Al. Art</span><span class="post-font-size-medium">Best & cheapest TV antenna yet</span>

2019 TaB 320 S Boondock Edge
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    pthomas745pthomas745 Moderator Posts: 3,642
    What is the magic number of 22 inches for?  Wavelength or some other technical reason?  Or, magic?
    I hope everything worked out for you through the hurricane (if your Mobile reference is for you).
    2017 Outback
    Towed by 2014 Touareg TDi
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    DalehelmanDalehelman Member Posts: 2,410
    Here is a good way to hide the coax on the outside of the trailer.
    1. Hash  T@B Fun
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    CrabTabCrabTab Member Posts: 457
    @gulfarea or @Dalehelman, could the coax core be grounded to the Keder rail to create a larger antenna? Thanks in advance.

    2019 320 Boondock Edge     - Sold Jan 2022
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    gulfareagulfarea Member Posts: 506
    You would think I used A magic formula to find 22 inch length, like I said I am not that smart. I had no electricty in the home from hurricane Sally so I wanted some info fast in the TAB from the tv I just quessed and came up with 22 inches. I live on a canal off dog river, no water in house!  We might not have electricty here for another 2 weeks, sure is hot! If a little more testing was done I am sure I can find a better number than 22 inche length. It seams that over the air transmission can be receiver then inturpted by the tv with a wide range of antennas. Dalehelman like how you routed your antenna. Art
    2019 TaB 320 S Boondock Edge
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    BywaysNWBywaysNW Member Posts: 71
    Your Keder rail suggestion is interesting. My engineer dad, long ago, hooked his FM antenna to our roof gutters. Worked great. 
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    TampakayakerTampakayaker Member Posts: 554
    Depending on how far you are from the transmitters, I've used an opened up paper clip plugged into the middle of the coax connector on my home TV.

    Digital signals go a lot further than the old VHF ones.
    2006 RAM 1500 4 door, 2016 T@B 320 MAX S 
    Tampa FL
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    CrabTabCrabTab Member Posts: 457
    @BywaysNW your dad's fabrication is where my mind was going. I'm just not sure if the Keder rail is grounded to anything that would preclude it working as an antenna mast. It is something I never considered before this discussion...

    2019 320 Boondock Edge     - Sold Jan 2022
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    ChanWChanW Member Posts: 3,158
    edited September 2020
    @Verna! But that would have been the answer to everything!!!

    (OMG - it's getting out of hand... https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/history/42-the-answer-to-life-the-universe-and-everything-2205734.html)
    Chan  -  near Buffalo NY
    2014 S Maxx
    2011 Tacoma 4cyl ... edit: 2022 Tacoma 6cyl - oh yeah! 

     A_Little_T@b'll_Do_Ya
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    dragonsdoflydragonsdofly Member Posts: 1,925
    edited September 2020
    @ChanW, did you mean it's completely IN hand? Wouldn't you have the answer IN hand, if you had the answer to everything? Yep, 42. @Ratkity, where are you when we need you?
    2017 t@b sofitel(Dr@gonsFly)TV 2015 Silverado 2500hd(Behemoth). Wyandotte, Michigan.
    Draco dormiens numquam titilandus.
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    VernaVerna Member Posts: 6,878
    @Ratkity has taken a break from social media (smart lady!), or I’m sure she would be in the midst of this discussion for sure!  
    Verna, Columbus, IN
    2021 T@B 320S  Boondock “The T@B”
    Towed by a white 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 Supercab, 3.5L V6 Ecoboost “The Truck”
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    TabberJohnTabberJohn Member Posts: 588
    edited September 2020
    Hmm... decided to try this today on an upstairs bedroom TV normally connected to an attic antenna.



    Results: 27 digital channels found, half of which are usable (steady signal) but missing local ABC and PBS which the attic antenna grabs.

    Who wants to try this on their T@B? Ours is under cover at the moment.
    1. Test inside the T@B.
    2. Test with the outside connector.
    Try a regular size paper clip which appears to be same diameter as the coax conductor core.

    2015 T@B Max S (White/Silver) -> 2014 Ford Escape 2.0L (turbo, AWD, factory tow)
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    BywaysNWBywaysNW Member Posts: 71
    Just don't do anything that turns your camper into a lightning rod. 
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    CrabTabCrabTab Member Posts: 457
    Hahaha, good point to consider @BywaysNW! My comments on this topic are just speculation. I have been successful with 'rabbit ears' on the roof.  Fun to brainstorm a bit though...

    2019 320 Boondock Edge     - Sold Jan 2022
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    pthomas745pthomas745 Moderator Posts: 3,642
    In the interest of Tab Science, I tried the paper clip today.  This magic paper clip is a standard Office Depot model.
    I live in Lakewood, Ca, a suburb SE of Los Angeles  The transmitters for Southern California are (mostly) on Mt. Wilson, which is exactly north of where I live, approximately 27 miles away.   To add to the complexity here, my house is in the way of the paperclip antenna, so I'm a bit surprised at how many channels showed up.
    SoCal has tons of stations in lots of languages, with many subchannels riding the digital band, so that is why this many channels show up.  My regular antenna on the roof of the house picks up about 160!
    Any of the digital antennas will have strange channel "drops".  Some of the stations picked up on the scan were not really watchable.  Some stations, like the local Fox and ABC outlets, did not show up at all.    I had the same basic problems with Mohu leaf antennas when I tried to use them inside an apartment and inside my house.  There are lots of reasons for some channels not to show up.

    But, two thumbs up for the Paper Clip Antenna!

    PS....I wonder if I could daisy chain a bunch of clips together.........

    2017 Outback
    Towed by 2014 Touareg TDi
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    CrabTabCrabTab Member Posts: 457
    If you start adding paperclips, I envision the start of a new meme 'Show Us Your Paperclip Antenna Art' @pthomas745.😊

    2019 320 Boondock Edge     - Sold Jan 2022
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    CharlieRNCharlieRN Member Posts: 438
    edited September 2020
    I built a variant of a Gray-Hoverman antenna to use on a temporary outdoor patio set-up for a television that I could not connect to my cable system. It worked very well but I live fairly close to Phila, so that may not be saying much. Still, the general consensus is that it's an effective antenna with good range. If you do an online search, you'll get a ton of info on the antenna.
    The big advantage is that it is simple and very inexpensive to build. I had  enough scrap wire, hardware and a 75 ohm matching transformer (also called a Balun xformer) around so my cost was zero. Even if if you had buy everything though, your cost would be minimal.
    I'm considering building a simpler, modular variant for my (on order) Outback that can more easily be taken apart to store when not needed. Perhaps others on this forum have already done that and it would be interesting to see what their experience has been.
    2021 T@B 320 S Boondock / 2022 Telluride - Phillies/Eagles/Flyers Country
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    pthomas745pthomas745 Moderator Posts: 3,642
    Last add for the antenna test....I strung a bunch of paperclips together, and there was some minor improvement in channels (the local Fox station showed up, but not ABC).  Some of the signals were stronger.  One problem:  there is no way to lift or move it for a better signal, since the first clip would pull free of the connector.
    I call my Paper Clip Chain Antenna Sculpture:     "42".
    I tried an FM dipole antenna, one of those clear plastic "T"'s that you might have stretched around your stereo system back in the day.  It worked about the same as the paper clip, and I'm keeping it in the trailer for longer range testing on the radio's antenna.
    I tried a Mohu leaf outside the trailer, using my SAE cable 12v adapter to plug in the USB amplifier on the antenna.  I've never had good luck with these (many reasons) and it probably worked worse than the paper clip. Too many moving parts, too fiddly, impossible to mount unless you put way too much work into it.  
    The clear winner, without a doubt, was the simple pair of rabbit ears plucked by a friend from a garage sale for the price of 25 cents.  I knew it worked ok, but it blew away all the other test candidates:  140 channels, ABC and Fox, etc., came in loud and clear.  It worked sitting on the ground.  It worked with the antennas halfway down.  It just worked.

    2017 Outback
    Towed by 2014 Touareg TDi
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    CrabTabCrabTab Member Posts: 457
    We've been traveling with rabbit ear reception (or is it 'T@B ear' ?) for more than a year.



    2019 320 Boondock Edge     - Sold Jan 2022
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    gulfareagulfarea Member Posts: 506
    Up date! I hid the wire into this track. I slid a thin plastic (smaller than a soda straw) covering over the bare copper center wire so it would not short out in the alumnium channel. I still got 17 channels with it! Did not have to cut into the trailer at all. Art
    2019 TaB 320 S Boondock Edge
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    ReenieGReenieG Member Posts: 175
    @Dalehelman how long is your total coax cable? Is there are reason you peeled back the out layer but didn't expose the copper wire like gulferea. I like this idea. BTW, is that "track" you have the cable in part of where my awning would go? (I'm new here so I may not be using the right terminology for T@B parts)
    2018 T@B 320S / 2020 Chevy Traverse V6 AWD / Phoenix, AZ
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