Post originally found at http://www.lumenlab.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9613 and the original poster’s username was pitman2. Put together by Digg’s supermanred as a PDF, but I take no credit for this instructional. I can however say this damn antenna works, and I am doing it a second time to make a smaller collapsable version I can keep in my macbook bag and take with me on the road.
Original post follows:
I thought that I'd pass this along for anyone looking to buy an OTA HD antenna. I purchased a DB2 antenna a while back, and for $40 + S/H (@ the time) it looked exceedingly simple. So I took some measurements and built one from stuff that I found around my house.
Materials: (what I used)
1 piece of card board cut to 18" x 12" cost : 0
1 sheet of tin foil also cut to 18" x 12" cost : 25 cents
1 strip of wood 1" x 1" x 12" cost : use scrap, 0
2 blocks of wood. Each cut about 2" off of the end of a 2x4 (1 1/2" x 3 1/2" x 2") cost : 5 bucks or use scrap
2 wire hangers cost : check your closet.
6 screws (I used 2") cost : 25 cents cents
4 medium sized washers (don't recall the exact size) cost: 25 cents
2 smaller washers cost : 10 cents
1 UHF matching transformer (or balun) cost : 7 dollars or find your old atari 2600 it had one...seriously.
scotch tape
hot glue stick (optional)
Shouldn’t cost you more than 10 dollars, it’ll be under a dollar if you can find an old UHF matching transformer. Ask your grandpa he might have had one for his old wooden box tv.
Tools:
Screw driver
Pliers (heafty enough to help bend the hanger wire)
Dykes/wire cutters (heafty enough to cut the hanger wire)
Hot glue gun (optional)
Sand paper, wire brush, or a file.
Assembly:
1: Lay the tin foil over the cardboard and use the scotch tape to kepp it in place. Then draw a line down the center of the front and back of the reflector along the 12" width.

2: Lay the 12" strip of wood on the center line on the back side (not the foil side) of the reflector and temporarily secure it with a couple of dabs of hot glue.
3: The other two blocks of wood will be attatched to the front as in the following drawing.
4: Insert screws into the blocks of wood attatched to the front of the reflector. Each block receives two screws and two medium washers. The screws on one of the blocks will also have the smaller washers ontop of the medium ones. Do not tighten the screws down all the way.
5: Straighten out the two wire hangers. You want four pieces of wire each 14" in length, and two pieces 6 1/2" to 7" in length. (I will now refer to the wire as rods)
6: Bend the four 14" rods in the middle to about 24 degrees or until the two ends are about 3" apart.
: Using the sand paper or whatever you have, clean the coating off of the rods at the points circled in the drawing (above). While you are at it make sure that your washers are capable of making a clean contact with the rods.
8: Place the two straight rods on the blocks as shown. (EDIT: The rods in this picture are shown to be on the "inside" of the screws. But they should be placed on the other sides.)
9: Place the bent rods on the blocks as shown, and tighten the screws. Only lighly tightening the screws with the small washers. (EDIT: As in the edit above, the rods in the top part of this picture are placed incorrectly. However they are correct in the drawing in the lower part of the picture.)
10: Connect the UHF matching transformer to the antenna using the screws with two washers each and tighten to secure. (EDIT: Again, rods bad, I suck.)
COMPLETE!
In my un-scientific tests this antenna seems to hold it's own against the DB2 as an indoor antenna . In outdoor tests it performed almost as well as the DB2. Although I wouldn't use this one outdoors, being card board and having a solid reflector. One good gust of wind and it'll fly away. But there is no reason why you can't build one with higher quality materials to be used outside. Like a cooling rack for a reflector so that it doesn't catch the wind.
