I still get TV broadcasts over the air, but I’m not happy with the antenna I’ve got in one of our buildings. So I’ve been poking around the Web lately, looking at ideas for a do-it-yourself TV antenna. And then I found a site that has plans for a monster, designed for fringe reception. I [...]

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I receive four broadcast network statons, all but ABC (there is no ABC affiliate near here!) OTA, and I'll stick with my commercially-built antenna. All the stations are within thirty and forty miles from my location, so the antenna you talk about would be marginal at best. Mine is already about the size you mention, but when I was researching for an adequate antenna for my location, I found some much larger commercially available ones! The good thing is all broadcast channels are line-of-sight from me, across Monterey Bay and down the Salinas Valley (my location is right on the coast, in Capitola, California.)

I recently had to augment my antenna with an external amplifier to be able to get a consistent signal from a low-power station located in Monterey, KYMB, which broadcasts four digital channels on (nominal) channel 27. I would get so many dropouts some of the time, trying to watch was truly painful! A mast-mounted amplifier with around 12db of gain was equal to the task of giving me almost dropout-free picture and sound now. The best part was the amplifier wasn't overwhelmed with the signal from the other stations. Now, all but one of the broadcast network stations show 100% signal strength on my Dish Network receiver's (alleged) meter.

I'm really happy with my setup. It's been in place for three or four years, now. The antenna has been used with three different - and better each time - Dish receivers. If Dish ever reaches the point they no longer have an external antenna input in their receiver, I'm through upgrading! This way, I can record both OTA and satellite on the DVR in the receiver, and move movies to the external hard drive this receiver allows me to use (1 Tb - lotsa movies!)