What about TV antennas?

[Karebru]

We put in a TV and blue-ray player for rainy days, but I'd like to be able to pick up local broadcast TV so I can check the news and weather in the morning.
I want to keep it simple. I was a stereo nerd of sorts in the 70's, and my knowledge pretty much ends with that. RCA jacks and flat antenna wires...
I'm thinking about starting with a short coax from the TV, through the outside wall behind it, to one of these.

Then a small home antenna on top of a telescoping fiberglass pole, (Maybe a long tree pruner handle.) with some king of socket or bracket to pop it in to when I want to use it.
Nothing permanent on the outside but the jack and bracket.
I don't think I need very much height for quick weekend getaways here in the flatlands.
We already tried an indoor antenna and got nothing. (Through the metal skin?)
Thoughts? ...Be gentle, please.

[onehoser]

i have a small yagi beam external antennae that i put on an 8' aluminum tube, i don't have it permanently mounted so i bungy ball it to the side door lock bar, this way i can just reach out the door to rotate the antennae

[bdosborn]

I made a DIY antenna when the transition to HDTV happened. I run it up a apple picker pole and it works surprisingly well. I saved the link on how to make it but it now points to a porn site! WTF? Anyways, we bought one of these for the cabin and it works well.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DGYGGSF/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Bruce

[dogcatcher]

Youtube has several, made 2 for our places, different versions both worked fine. Here is one https://youtu.be/hrRiBomPih8

[Karebru]

Thank guys.
Sounds like I'm on the right track.
Dad spent years working as a lineman. When we were kids, he mounted one of those yellow telescoping poles they use to change transformer fuses on our truck camper ladder. It put the antenna WAY up there.
Got a lot of funny looks from other campers.

[rjgimp]

I bookmarked this video a couple years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw

Haven't gotten around to building one but he seems to get good reception with it. Maybe I'll try making one soon. Y'know, when I finally find one of those 'Round Tuit' thingys. My dad used to have one, I sure wish I knew where it was...

[onehoser]

do you have a link for the coax box? i like it

[Karebru]

do you have a link for the coax box? i like it

Here you go, onehoser. Many to choose from on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017P8HAP2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=AXTYDUOH6EBGV&psc=1

I like the, bungee to the door bar idea. For me, that would work well with the left ramp door bar.

Might have to try making a DIY antenna... Some day. Why do today, what you can put off till tomorrow? Right?

[Grummy]

Get a "King Jack" Retrofit....

https://www.amazon.com/Tram-Digital-HDT ... 82&sr=8-17

I use one of these on my 6 x 12 and it works as well as anything I have ever used. Small, amplified, easy to store if you put it up and take it down.

If you make some of those FREE "eye pokers" antennas out of old metal hangers, they stink to haul or store. And they rust. At the price of a King Jack, you can't go wrong.

I bought a extendable Paint pole... 6' to 12' I think. Mounted it to the back corner of the trailer. Stays on the trailer permanently. Love it. Often I do not have to push it up at all.

[ZColorado]

Modern HD tv does not need any fancy antenna. The old rabbit ears from the 70s work great. It's still the same frequency, just digital. Your idea and plan should work great. The only alternative is to use a yagi type directional antenna since you can easily rotate the pole it could be mounted on. Hard to store though.

[Karebru]

I've been hitting Amazon again, and ended up ordering one of these. I've had one on a pole outside of the house for several years. It works pretty well.
Fairly small for storage...
If it doesn't do the job I'll try something else.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003L76BJS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Shadow Catcher]

My original concern was getting a cell antenna up and the TV antenna kind of followed. It is a King Jack amplified. I am now using a three section painter pole as the mast. Winegard has nice app that tells you direction and distance to the antenna https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.winegard.finder&hl=en_US&gl=US

[Karebru]

Thanks for the link. I looked around a little and also found several websites where you punch in a zip code and it gives you direction and distance to the transmitting towers. Makes it easy.
I rigged it all up this evening and actually pulled in a couple more stations than I get on the living room TV.
Shorter cable length, I'm guessing. 20 ft. vs. 100 ft.

[philpom]

Look here for a flat easy to store durable antenna that is directional. I have used a clearstream 4 antenna for many years, works well. They also have a single and double that are pretty small and flat.

https://store.antennasdirect.com/HD-TV-antennas.html

[bdosborn]

Here's a link to one like the one I built. Works surprisingly well and cheap.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ditch-cab ... v-antenna/

Bruce