Building the UHF-17 DTV Antenna

The UHF-17 DTV Antenna is a streamlined modification of the Hoverman design that is described in great detail with photos and theory. The finished project is a broadside array of only 10" x 20" with high UHF Gain for easy reception of free broadcast HDTV. A VHF option uses a coupled resonator for High-Band reception.
Television broadcasters have completed the digital transition and offer high quality video, audio, and integrated services. All of the major network channels are still available for free along with local and alternative programming, retro movies, music videos, and Public Broadcasting. To receive digital TV signals, you only need a digital tuner on your TV set and an inexpensive indoor antenna. Television receivers manufactured after 2007 include digital tuners; if your TV set is older, a converter box can be purchased for about $30 to convert broadcast DTV to analog TV. The legacy roof-mounted television antennas still work fine for receiving the VHF channels 2 through 12 for DTV. With a combiner, you can add the VHF TV signal to a UHF signal from an indoor antenna and have an economical system for receiving all the available DTV channels.
If you live in an apartment or dormitory, the rooftop antenna probably isn’t an option. My eBook “Building the UHF-17 DTV Antenna” will allow you to construct an antenna for indoor use that receives UHF and VHF High Band. These are the frequencies most often used for DTV. The VHF channel frequencies usually require a rooftop television antenna; however the UHF-17 uses elements of a more convenient form factor for indoor use. Unlike other antennas, the VHF High Band response of the UHF-17 is not an accident, but a deliberate resonance that creates acceptable impedance matching.
Antennas are rated by their signal Gain parameter, which is a measure of how much the antenna can gather and focus the incoming energy into a narrow beam. As a point of reference, a DTV antenna having a Gain of 15 dBi or greater can receive DTV signals 60 miles away from the transmitter over rugged topography. Whether an antenna works at a distance of 150 miles for UHF (as is often advertized) depends to a great extent on the transmitter broadcast power, the flatness of the intervening terrain and the weather conditions at the time.
The UHF-17 DTV Antenna achieves UHF signal Gain of 15.7 dBi and VHF High Band Gain of 10.5 dBi or 13.6 dBi with a reflector. The UHF-17 (Adams-Hoverman) DTV Antenna project meets or exceeds most comparable commercial DTV antennas for Gain.