by Karl » Fri Aug 14, 2009 8:17 am
Bob,
Thought I would share my results of an informal test of your Redneck antenna.
Equipment:
1) TV: LG flat screen HDTV (about 1 year and a half old). No converter box was used since the TV has the circuitry for digital TV signals built in.
2) The famous, stylish, yet inexpensive Bob Henry “Redneck” antenna.
Testing conditions:
My house is located in the northwest fringes of Metro Detroit, which is in southeast Michigan. The house is roughly equal distances from downtown Detroit (to the southeast), Lansing (to the west), and Flint (to the north).
The TV was located in my 2nd floor master bedroom, which is on the northwest corner of my house.
The “Redneck” antenna faced due north and was hung on an exterior wall on the north side of the house about 15 from the corner of the house using a 6 foot coax cable. While the bedroom is somewhat up off the level of the backyard (about 12-15 feet), the peak of the exterior wall was about another 10 feet above the Redneck antenna. Thus, there is still a lot of house structure potentially blocking signals in part or whole 180 degrees.
Two tests were performed (each used the automatic channel detection mode on the TV):
1) No antenna
2) Redneck antenna positioned as described above.
Results.
With no antenna of any kind plugged into the TV, I was unable to get even 1 DTV station signal. This was not unexpected considering that the TV is located inside the house.
With the Redneck antenna placed just outside my bedroom as described above, I was able to get 23 digital channels (which includes sub-channels of main channels…e.g., 4-1, 4-2, 4-3).
Conclusions and other comments:
The Redneck antenna worked VERY well even without any finetuning (rotation of antenna). I didn't get a chance to formally map out the broadcasting antennas in my general vicinity but with just eyeballing part of it a bit, I think I'm correct about the house blocking many DTV signals based on which signals were and were not received. Therefore, I feel that the Redneck antenna would likely have had an even better performance if (A) it could have been placed much higher up so that the structure would not block signals from the south and (B) if I had finetuned its direction for each station that was hard-to-reach.
As opposed to an omnidirectional antenna, the extreme “directional” nature of the Redneck antenna could be a very positive factor when the user/camper is trying to focus in on their favorite TV station back home since unlike an omnidirectional antenna, the ability to pull in specific signals can be greatly fine-tuned with the Redneck antenna by rotating it slightly.
Bob, your Redneck antenna performs quite well. Keep up the good work on your inventions. Too bad poor Billy Mays died or I would have suggested you have him do an informercial for you.
Karl
Tear Jerkers Director - Great Lakes Chapter
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Success is getting what you want while happiness is wanting what you get.