Get any old Romex house wiring and the ground wire is already stripped. The two hot wires are insulated.

@ cholla,

Concerning Copper and Brass – Although aluminum is a conductive material both Copper and Brass are much better conductors. Copper and/or Brass do not corrode. Copper and Brass are very corrosion resistinat metals are excellent conductors of electrical current. That is why these metals are used extensively in electrical and electronic circuitry.

Regards,
bjkg

bjkg;In circuits copper is coated.
I know it tarnishes & I have seen a green residue on exposed copper.I not sure if this would affect signal reception.
I know a lot of antennas are made of aluminium

Well all i have to say is your not running high voltage through all of it. Keep it light with light materials. It's a dang antenna.

Copper and brass is to heavy and cost to much.

Back in the 70's i knew some people that built a 5 element vertical beam. (beam is a directional antenna) But these guys wanted to build it out of copper. So they measured everything out and cut the copper tubing to the correct lengths. The boom on it was like (just guessing) 24 foot. The elements were (and again guessing) 12 foot but they are different lengths for the way the original design was. The antenna was called a long john 5 element beam made by Hygain similar to this but it had 5 elements and is vertical > http://signalengineering.com/ultimat...ment_yagi.html .

These guys theory was yeah use copper and it will work better than aluminum. Copper is a better conductor bla bla bla and i'm talking about a transmitting anntena not just to receive. The antenna was so heavy they had to get a crane to load it up on top of the tower they had. Got it all finished and started running tests and it never worked as good as the aluminum original......plus the rotor they had to use was the biggest one at the time a HAM-M couldn't hardly turn it let alone hold it in the wind.

No offense but this is why i say use light weight materials and it should work just fine

ripits rotor is pretty small and yes it's inside.......i'm sure he wants to go as cheap and light as he can.

By the way ripit your signal is going to depend on the closeness of the TV stations to you.

I don't have anything to back this up but I have a theory about using copper.
Being a better electrical conductor it also does a better job of conducting other electrical signals you don't want.Even though the receiver filters these out most of the time the result ends up a poorer signal.

CATV dop cable uses a thin copper coating on steel wire. Silver is also used in some situations (so called 'Headend' cabling). The reason? 'Skin Effect' (RF only travels in the outer layer of a conductor). Antennas typically use tubing partly for that raeson and also because the larger diameter of tubing allows broader bandwidth of the element.

I plugged it up (it was supposed to be for hdtv) and the dimensions are apparently quite right. I currently have this hooked up to the front tv
http://www.radioshack.com/graphics/u...1880_PM_EN.pdf
Which I think I paid 60$ for. It had some great reviews. The home made antenna blew it away (and it was just hand held, not even mounted or pointed in a particular direction). IT seems to be for digital band only though (which is fine). It didn't pick up anything analog. I'll think about improving it, but if it keeps working as good as it seems to, I'll just mount it on the rotator and leave it be. I guess all the stories about this design blowing away store bought antennas are right. I have an expensive terk on in the bedroom (better than the radio shack one) and it blew it away too.

glad to hear. I still haven't heard from my friend but not needed it seems. Thank you for reporting back ripit.

Also analog will be gone anyway so no worries.

What about picking up digital signals? Probably not?

Its getting all the digital signals, SD and HD clear as can be. I think I got about 35 over the air channels (including sub channels) with it.

ok i got your now.

I've been following this & I think I will give a homemade one a try based on the first design ripit posted.I don't need it right away as I'm waiting for the Echostar TR40 converter to come out .Hopefully by mid June.
I already have an antenna thet is supposed to do both analog & digital.It works OK for analog I wouldn't say great though.
This is what I have now:
http://www.winegarddirect.com/viewitem.asp?p=SS3000

oh kewl lets us/ripit know how it goes.

I might go for the home built also sometime but the town i live in only has 4 TV stations.......

Presently on UHF band, but starting next year, the band from Channel 7 up through UHF -- though ch 52-69 will eventually be reallocated to something besides TV. (if this is wrong, please correct me). And I HIGHLY recommend a rooftop antenna if possible. I use a regular Home Depot TV antenna mounted to my chimney running on RG6 75-ohm coax cable and easily recieve all the So Cal HD over-the-air channels. I watched the Celtics in HD on Channel 7-1 today...

".......Are DTV signals broadcast on special frequencies?

No. DTV broadcasts use exactly the same channels as regular analog television. While many DTV stations are now occupying UHF broadcast channels, broadcasters are allowed to move back to their original VHF or UHF TV channel once the transition to DTV is complete.

The only caveat is that TV channels 51 through 69 will be auctioned off for other uses at the end of the transition to digital TV. Stations who originally had analog channels in this band will have to move, no matter what...............Tests so far seem to indicate that high VHF channels (7-13) are quite well suited for DTV broadcasts, and many broadcasters plan to move back to their high VHF channels at the end of the transition. VHF transmitters also cost much less money to operate than UHF transmitters....."

previous quote from here: http://www.avsforum.com/hdtvfaq/HDTV...%20television?

See here also:
http://www.solidsignal.com/antennas/antenna_faqs.asp

[quote=Bob;2057022] Like i said i don't see any mention of the coil ohms or the coax ohms he used?

Most antenna's are 300 ohms. The illustration shows the transformer to have flat wire connecting the elements of the antenna. It appears to be a 300 ohm to a 75 ohm matching transformer. You would use something like RG6 coaxial cable to go from the antenna to the television set. Most of the modern televisions will accept 300 ohm and also 75 ohm inputs. 75 ohm is the best to use for digital TV because there is less loss and virtually no induced interference due to the shielding in the 75 ohm cable.

I am using a very cheap conventional antenna connected to a RCA converter box. I am only getting about 28% on my signal and I think the picture and sound quality is great. I only have one station that drifts causing digital drops and poor sound. The antenna and converter box gives me some 20 channels while the old analog gave me 5 or 6 channels. I may try making this antenna just to see if the signal that I am receiving improves.

That brings up another question and there is a thread here at CDF's in the High Definition Forum ........What brand/model converter box to get that has the most features using the good ol' USA's free coupon/card?

I got a $49.00 RCA WalMart special. It has a remote control and does an auto channel scan and that is about it. I am satisfied with how well it works. Not real shabby for $10.00 out of pocket. USA paid the other $40.00.

Thanks for the info.

ripit how's that antenna doing these days? And any news on a good converter box to buy?