You also need a UHF(ultra high frequency) HDTV antenna to receive digital HDTV signals.
Olden days antenna are usually VHF(very high frequency) antennas for receiving analogue TV signals.
If you still remember, our old antenna are usually mounted outside the house and are very big with long metal rods. This is because antenna length is a fraction of wavelength. And wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency.
So the higher the frequency, the smaller the wavelength, and the smaller the length of the antenna rods.
Therefore a UHF HDTV antenna is much smaller in size than a VHF antenna and can most often be mounted indoor.
One of the best digital HDTV antenna you can use to receive HD signals is the db4 HDTV antenna.
db4 HDTV antenna uses use 4 pair of antenna loops to receive HDTV signal.
Likewise db2 antenna uses 2 pair of antenna loops and db8 antenna uses 8 pair of antenna loops.
The more the antenna loops, the better signal receive, but also the bigger the antenna size.
A db4 antenna is more like a sweet stop, not too big in size and excellent HDTV receptions.
You can either get db4 HDTV antenna from the shops or DIY it yourself at home using fairly cheap parts.
db2 antenna
db4 antenna
db8 antenna
To build your own DIY db4 HDTV Antenna
You will need:
1. a inexpensive balun (300ohm balanced-75ohm unbalanced). The origin of the word balun is “balanced to unbalanced”.
75 to 300 Ohm UHF/VHF Matching Transformer
RCA Matching Transformer -VH54R
2. Copper wires, aluminum wires or steel wires. Copper wires are preferred as it is a better conductor than aluminum or steel. You can easily get steel wire from your clothes hanger by stripping away the rubber coating.
OOK 50160 16 Gauge, 25ft Copper Hobby Wire
3. a thin wooden board(about 3x24 inch) for mounting your antenna loop/wires
Midwest Basswood Sheets 3/32x3x24
4. some bolts and nuts to fasten the antenna wire to the wooden board
Small Machine Screws with Nuts Assortment, 195-Pack
Follow the DB4 antenna dimensions plan to cut and bent your copper wires.
Take note the right copper wire (red) should not touch the left copper wire (blue).
At the cross section, use a plastic tape or Blu-Tack separate the two.
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| db4 HDTV Digital Antenna Dimensions |
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| Balun |
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| Wooden Board |
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| Thick Copper Wire |
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| Bolts and Nuts |
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| DIY DB4 HDTV Antenna |
Once the DIY DB4 antenna is done, plug it into your HDTV and do a auto tuning.
You should be able to see the HDTV channels in your area.
