[ZippyTheChicken]

hi .. for a long time i have been considering getting off of cable .. well I will have cable internet because there is nothing else but dialup here and I will have an antenna for television supplemented by free hulu or youtube or individual tv stations that broadcast the news.

I purchased an antenna off of Amazon and I got really great results with it considering its size, quality and cost. The name of it is .. Esky HG-981 so you can look it up for reference.

I get tv signal from 3 different directions here in delaware. as you may know delaware is very flat and there are barely any trees but i do get blocked by neighbor's homes since I am in a 1 story and many of them are 2 story and we do have a small hill near I would say 100 or so feet tall.. but I can get pretty decent signals in clear or moderate clouds .. i have not tested in a full rain storm yet.


OK SO

55 miles to the north i get most of my channels from phillly
40 miles to the west i pickup a handful in Baltimore
50 miles south I pickup 2 stations

I would like to receive all of these stations at the same time so that I can feed the bunch to a few tvs in the home over my installed Cable TV lines .. reserving one for cable modem which will be the only one actually connected to the CableTV Provider ..

I don't want to deal with the screaming matches that a rotator will cause when someone wants to turn the antenna and others don't

I understand to distribute through the home i might have to use a distribution amp if a splitter takes too much signal from the main feed.

The antenna that I have now is great for someone in an apartment where they can toss it out when they move or keep it maybe ..

But its slightly rinkydink if i expect it to last for 15 years or more.. without its amp it gets no signal and I don't think its going to survive 15 years being on 24/7.

BUT i am seriously happy with it because if the decision comes quick to shut off cable tv I won't be hunting for an antenna i can click that thing on and get TV to two tvs and point it in one direction.

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SO I need plans for building an antenna that can get near fringe distance reception in 3 directions.

I was looking at the 8 bay bow tie ones and the larger 8 to 12 foot channel master and other brand directional antennas but because my attic has trusses it could be difficult getting the correct orientation...

an 8 bay might work but I was looking at the Channel Master (CM-4228HD) says 75 miles and it only gets HighBand VHF starting and VHF is at a shorter distance.


For Materials i have a friend that worked a concert with camping here recently and he let me harvest tent poles and chair rods...

Everything is steel tubing with paint.
I have about a dozen 1 inch by 4 foot long tent poles
and about 3 dozen half inch by 2.5 foot long tubes from chairs.

however i do have a couple beach chairs that are aluminum so I have some 1 inch tube but its bent in square shapes about 2 foot square .. you know how beach chairs with the woven webing is.


Anyway i got the summer.. i got the tubes and i got a 300 ohm balum from lowes for $5 so I figure i should give this a try...


What do you guys think?

I need something thats really going to work and I do not want to deal with funky YouTube how tos that are some guy with coat hangers ...

I figure if the big antenna manufacturers thought a couple coat hangers would bring in 60 + mile range including channels 2 through 62 they would make antennas that way ..


So i need 3 ... i need real detailed dimensions...
I need to make it so i can get all the signals and if they don't overlap which i am pretty sure they don't .. i want to have one cable down to a distribution amp or a 6way splitter..

any help is appreciated
reliable plans with dimensions for a long distance antenna REALLY APPRECIATED.. heh

thanks ..

I hope I can help others while I get this working.