Grench
SILVER Star
Calling the radio McGyvers out there.
Purpose: To receive an HDTV broadcast of the Nebraska football game on 11/27 from the top of a hill 70 miles from the broadcast tower and two miles from my truck - backpacking.
Tivax 7" portable HDTV. Battery operated. The TV came with a magnetic ground plane antenna - cheap little whip style thing.
Weight is a big issue - backpacking trip.
Other equipment that will be there that might help: a 14" spun steel wok. Foil. Beer cans. a 30" diameter cut culvert fire ring. A 36" long 14" wide rusty steel top off of an old stove with 3 10" holes in it. Duct tape can be involved.
My thoughts are to build the antenna on site from other components that will be reused later or are reused from consumed items (beer cans).
Ideas...
1. Flip the wok over, connect the magnetic antenna to the base of it for a ground plane. Cut the tops and bottoms off of 3 beer cans, flatten them out some to form a roughly parabolic reflector strung together with duct tape. Using a couple of sticks and more tape, fix the reflector about 2" from the non-signal side of the antenna. Effort ~ 30 mins.
2. Put the wok right side up, set the magnetic antenna in the center of it. Tilt the set on it's side to use the wok as a quasi-dish reflector. Point at the station's magnetic heading.
Effort ~ 5 mins.
3. Skip the magnetic mount antenna. Cover the old stove top with 1 layer of foil. Run a 2-3" diameter stick down the center and tie it off with duct tape. Use 8 20" long pieces of stripped copper wire bent into 10" V shapes. Duct tape 10" sections of insulated stranded wire between 3 of the 4 V shaped antenna sections on each side, skipping the same one on both sides. Then patching from the non-skipped inside set to the portable TV's antenna port.
Effort ~ 1.5 hrs.
4. Try to build a proportional wave-form dipole and hang it from a tree. The catch with these is getting the length right. Any idea how long it would have to be to optimize channel 7? I could probably string it vertical 20' - but the trees up there aren't much taller than that.
Any other ideas?
Purpose: To receive an HDTV broadcast of the Nebraska football game on 11/27 from the top of a hill 70 miles from the broadcast tower and two miles from my truck - backpacking.
Tivax 7" portable HDTV. Battery operated. The TV came with a magnetic ground plane antenna - cheap little whip style thing.
Weight is a big issue - backpacking trip.
Other equipment that will be there that might help: a 14" spun steel wok. Foil. Beer cans. a 30" diameter cut culvert fire ring. A 36" long 14" wide rusty steel top off of an old stove with 3 10" holes in it. Duct tape can be involved.
My thoughts are to build the antenna on site from other components that will be reused later or are reused from consumed items (beer cans).
Ideas...
1. Flip the wok over, connect the magnetic antenna to the base of it for a ground plane. Cut the tops and bottoms off of 3 beer cans, flatten them out some to form a roughly parabolic reflector strung together with duct tape. Using a couple of sticks and more tape, fix the reflector about 2" from the non-signal side of the antenna. Effort ~ 30 mins.
2. Put the wok right side up, set the magnetic antenna in the center of it. Tilt the set on it's side to use the wok as a quasi-dish reflector. Point at the station's magnetic heading.
Effort ~ 5 mins.
3. Skip the magnetic mount antenna. Cover the old stove top with 1 layer of foil. Run a 2-3" diameter stick down the center and tie it off with duct tape. Use 8 20" long pieces of stripped copper wire bent into 10" V shapes. Duct tape 10" sections of insulated stranded wire between 3 of the 4 V shaped antenna sections on each side, skipping the same one on both sides. Then patching from the non-skipped inside set to the portable TV's antenna port.
Effort ~ 1.5 hrs.
4. Try to build a proportional wave-form dipole and hang it from a tree. The catch with these is getting the length right. Any idea how long it would have to be to optimize channel 7? I could probably string it vertical 20' - but the trees up there aren't much taller than that.
Any other ideas?
