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How to make a fractal antenna for HDTV / DTV plus more on the cheap
by williamruckman on January 3, 2009 Table of Contents How to make a fractal antenna for HDTV / DTV plus more on the cheap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: How to make a fractal antenna for HDTV / DTV plus more on the cheap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 1: Adding the reflector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 2: Drill holes and add mounting points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 3: Measure, cut, and strip wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 4: Measure and mark wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 5: Create fractals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 6: Create dipoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 7: Mount dipoles and mount transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Step 8: Testing verses store bought antenna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

Intro: How to make a fractal antenna for HDTV / DTV plus more on the cheap
This instructable is from: http://ruckman.net/archives.htm#FEATURED and submitted by William Ruckman of http://ruckman.net The first thing I would like to discuss is a little history, theory, and uses for fractal antennas. Fractal antennas are a recent discovery. First discovered back in 1988 by Nathan Cohen and later published and patented in 1995. A fractal antenna has a few unique attributes as seen in this definition from Wikipedia: "A fractal antenna is an antenna that uses a fractal, self-similar design to maximize the length, or increase the perimeter (on inside sections or the outer structure), of material that can receive or transmit electromagnetic signals within a given total surface area or volume." What exactly does that mean? Well, you need to know what a fractal is. Also from Wikipedia: "A fractal is generally a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole,a property called self-similarity." So basically, a fractal is a geometric shape that repeats and appears over and over no matter how far out or how far in you zoom magnification. Source: Wikipedia and http://patimg2.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=6&docid=US007088965 Patent number: 7088965] Fractal antennas have been found to be approximately 20% more efficient than normal antennas. Which could be useful. Especially if you want to make your own TV antenna to pick up over the air digital or high definition video, increase your cellular range, wifi range, FM or AM radio reception, and so on. Most cell phones already have built in fractal antennas. If you noticed in the past few years that cell phones no longer have antennas on the outside. That is because they have a internal fractal antenna etched on a circuit board which allows them to get better reception and pick up more frequencies such as bluetooth, cellular, and WIFI all from one antenna at the same time! Wikipedia info: "A fractal antenna's response differs markedly from traditional antenna designs, in that it is capable of operating with good-to-excellent performance at many different frequencies simultaneously. Normally standard antennas have to be "cut" for the frequency for which they are to be usedand thus the standard antennas only work well at that frequency. This makes the fractal antenna an excellent design for wideband and multiband applications." The trick is to design your fractal antenna to resonate at what ever center frequency you wish to receive. Which means it will look different and be sized different depending on what you want to receive. A little math can be used to figure this out. (Or a online calculator) In my example, I am going to make a simple one but you may want to make a more elaborate one. The more elaborate the better. I will use a spool of 18 Gauge solid core wire to make a antenna as an example but you could go as far as to etch your own circuit boards for aesthetic reasons, to make it smaller, or more elaborate with more resolution and resonance. I am going to use the example of making a TV antenna for digital or high definition reception for over the air broadcasts. It is easier to work with these frequencies and they fall around half a foot to a few feet in length for half wavelengths of the signal. I am also going to base it off a common dipole antenna for simplicity and cheapness of parts for VHF. For UHF you may want to add a director or reflector which will also make it more direction dependent. VHF is direction dependent as well but instead of pointing directly at the TV station like UHF you want VHF rabbit ears (dipole antenna) to be perpendicular to the TV station. But there is a little more design to that. I want to keep this as simple as possible as it is already a very complex subject. Basic supplies (cost me about $15): Mounting surface such as the plastic project enclosure (8"x6"x3"). http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062285 6 screws. I used steel self tapping sheet metal screws. A impedance matching transformer 300 ohm to 75 ohm. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062049 Some 18 gauge solid hook up wire. http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2036274 RG-6 coaxial with terminators (and rubber jacket if mounting outside). Aluminum if using a reflector. The enclosure above came with one. A sharpie marker or equivalent preferably with a fine tip. Two pairs of small needle nose pliers. A ruler of at least 8 inches. A protractor to measure angle. A drill and drill bit that is smaller diameter than your screws. Small wire cutter. Screw driver or screw gun. NOTE: The bottom of the antenna is to the right of this picture where the transformer sticks out.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

Step 1: Adding the reflector

Assemble the enclosure with the reflector under the plastic cover.

Step 2: Drill holes and add mounting points

Drill small tap holes on the opposite side from the reflector in the following positions and place a conductive screw.

Step 3: Measure, cut, and strip wire

Cut four 8" pieces of the solid core wire and strip it bare.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

Step 4: Measure and mark wire

Use a marker and mark every 1" on the wire. (This is where we are going to make the bends)

Step 5: Create fractals

You will repeat this step for each wire. Each bend on the wire will be 60 degrees exactly as we will be making equilateral triangles with this fractal. I used two pairs of pliers and a protractor. Each bend will be made at the 1 marks. Make sure you visualize the direction of each bend first before making it! Use the diagram below to help.

Step 6: Create dipoles

Cut 2 more pieces of wire at least 6 inches long and strip them. Bend these wires around the top and bottom screws going longways and contact the center screws. So all three are contacted. Use the wire cutter and trim unneeded wire.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

Step 7: Mount dipoles and mount transformer

Place and screw down each of your fractals to the corner screws. Attach the impedance matching transformer across the two center screws and tighten them down. BUILD COMPLETE! Test and enjoy!

Step 8: Testing verses store bought antenna

To see the results of the tests I ran click the link below: http://ruckman.net/archives.htm#DTV ENJOY!

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Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 245 comments
Mar 15, 2011. 4:16 PM REPLY

killersquirel11 says:
Hey

Wouldn't the bending go a lot easier if you just pounded a nail into a board, then marked off a dot @ 1 inch on one side then 2 more @ 1 inch after the bend for 60 and 240 degrees?

jschwab says:

Mar 14, 2011. 2:03 PM REPLY I've modified the design to increase fractals, adding another set of fractal "whiskers" giving 3 sets per side and iterating the fractal shape several more times, while still fitting into the same compact space. bending the wires is a little time consuming, but in theory it should add more stable reception. i thought it might be helpful if anyone else was curious about increasing the fractal bends. Attached here is a pdf for use as a guide / template.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

Also, this can easily be mounted to cardboard, pexiglass etc and placed INSIDE the project box, to conceal the antenna.

increased-fractal.pdf203 KB

jschwab says:
update: the original design gave me 56 channels.

Mar 15, 2011. 9:41 AM REPLY

with increased fractals (like the pdf above) i now get 88 scanned channels (southern california). that's a pretty significant improvement.

jschwab says:

Mar 13, 2011. 11:17 AM REPLY This antenna works great. Also, you can mount this to a circuit board, or just some cardboard and place it inside of the project box for a cleaner concealed look. This works as good or better than the $50 clearstream micron i purchased from best buy. I am also interested in more iterations on the fractal design, but i cant imagine id be able to tell the difference as i already get 50+ channels with this. if only 40 of them werent in foreign languages. :)

greengraff says:
good day sir . . . . . . can i use mesh screen for reflector

Feb 28, 2011. 5:10 PM REPLY

charlie.nourse says:
Would a coat hanger work for the antenna?

Feb 26, 2011. 5:14 PM REPLY

avengine says:

Feb 10, 2011. 12:44 PM REPLY this is a very cool project, just curious to know before you do this did you also compare the design of this to db4 & gray-hoverman antenna design. I think your design has the smallest area, and more simple to build. On the other hand I want to know is there anyone has any chance to compare the strength of this 3 design and find out which one get the best result. thanks again for the great instruction. Mar 15, 2010. 11:19 AM REPLY My mom wanted to dump cable, but could not get a dish because of her condo association. Doing a little research on TV antennas, she opted to buy a Philips indoor/outdoor antenna, with full low/high vhf & uhf receiving capacity (channel 2 thru 69), with a 40 mile range. Her neighbor bought a Terk indoor antenna with similar specs, but with a 45 mile range. They live about 35 miles southwest of the Chicago TV broadcast towers. The Philips received only 2 channels, very badly. The Terk received none. So I decided to build her an antenna. After weeks of research, I decided to combine a few designs. I found the basic fractal design on Ruckman's sight, but changed it slightly. See attached drawing/photos. I came up with a picture frame antenna that works really well. I live 25 miles northwest from the broadcast towers. The day I tested this antenna it was raining and jets were flying directly over head of the house ( 200 to 300 feet above). It should be noted that the jets disrupt the roof antennas signal. Every station came in clear, no problems, even channel 2 (cbs) which is the hardest station to get (low vhf band). So I took it into the basement. Totally below grade, steel, concrete, not signal ever was received before. This antenna received all stations clearly, even channel 2. I couldn't believe it. Took it to moms. Placed it on her TV (54 inches off the floor. Got every channel but channel 2, very cleanly. She's using it as I write this. Channel 7 (abc) which is also hard to get (also vhf), comes in better than it did on her cable. I'm working on a better vhf antenna to try and get her channel 2. Hope the pictures make it. Baddahbing

baddahbing says:

TOTAL ANTENNA 1.PDF(1512x575) 2 MB

hankuruski says:

Jan 26, 2011. 5:04 PM REPLY It is incredible how this simple design grew legs and run like this. I watched NOVA: Fractal on PBS once and was searching about and found this instructable. INCREDIBLE! To the first INVENTOR "thank you, Sir!" And, this refined model I thought to claimed this first once realized to expend the design by the fractal pattern from wikkipedia but you posted first so you are the MAN! Regardless, "WHO" was on first since this first simple design was free and the subsequent designs are also F.R.E.E and I am here to say "why would anyone pay more...for an antenna?" I reside in San Diego area but reaching to get LA stations with expensive antenna...yup DB8 but no luck so now for cosmetic reason to the house I reverted to this design and settle for just the local stations it is absolutely fabulous! Gentlemen, you are geniusesseess!

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

DIYSlacker says:

Apr 25, 2010. 4:39 PM REPLY I've made your version of the antenna with 1/2" bends (for a total of 9" per branch or 18" per element with 12 gauge wire). the only variation is that I've also kept the 9" distance between the elements and connected the balun at the middle (4.5"). from my tests (15 or so miles away from the towers, all in the same direction) I'm indeed getting very good results and constant signal for UHF, as expected (all channels 80-100%, mostly between 90-100%) on the other hand one channel using VHF 7 is only 40% and quite constant, but when cars pass by the street i get breakups. i assume i could improve signal by adding a reflector and moving the antenna to find the "sweet spot" where all channels are in best shape. overall I'm not sure there is much difference between this one and the normal "V" shaped element DB4 antenna, other than smaller size. it may work better if drawn on a PCB.

DIYSlacker says:

Apr 25, 2010. 9:17 PM REPLY OK i tried adding a reflector in various positions up to 6" from the elements and it made the signal degrade significantly up to being lost on most channels. not sure if it's just my particular case or if the reflector for this kind of antenna shape makes the signal worse generally. moving the antenna (without a reflector) around a bit increased channel VHF 7 to about 50-60% and slightly degraded the others to around 80%. I'll do some more experimenting, maybe adding an amplifier into the mix over the next few days.

DIYSlacker says:

Apr 28, 2010. 3:31 PM REPLY i've tried your original 1" distance between the stacked elements (about 6" on center), but it's getting worse signal, especially on VHF 7 so i'm back to my 9" distance on center between them. the reflector at any distance made it definitely worse. overall my bi-quad antenna with reflector (looks like a squared number "8" with a 5" arm length) beats this one in both UHF and VHF (channel 7).

curiousgeorge03 says:
Hello,

Mar 30, 2010. 6:56 PM REPLY

Could you tell me how you connected the 4 dipoles to the two center wires and the tabs for the matching transformer? Did you solder them? And did you bend the copper wires by hand? That must have been tedious. I would like to try your design and was trying to figure out how to go about doing it. Thanks.

econtrerasd says:
Would it work if you etched the design on a cooper board?, That way you could create a complex fractal easily.

May 9, 2010. 11:10 AM REPLY

RustBelt says:

Dec 26, 2010. 9:39 PM REPLY WHAT IS A "cooper board"? Do you mean a Printed Circuit board? Yeah, that should werk. . There is probably a way to print it with conductive ink... then you could glue it onto about any (insulating) material you have handy, connect the terminals to a tranformer or a cable connector and plug it in! , If it gets damaged or worn print out a replacement! Even print several copies and build an array. . Tin foil or a matel screen (strainer, etc.) makes an excellent reflector. Suggest you experiment with tin foil, scissors and scotch tape.

runninutes says:

Dec 21, 2010. 6:37 PM REPLY I've been thinking about making one of these, but was thinking about iterating once more on the fractal. However, there's an important question that I hoped someone could help with. Which is the important length? The overall length of the wire, or the length of each segment? That is, the pattern calls for 8 inch wires bent into 8 segments of 1 inch each. Is the 8 inch length the important part for the calculation of what frequencies I'm trying to catch, or is it the 1 inch measurement? Thanks!

George3573 says:

Nov 29, 2010. 3:19 AM REPLY I am truly pleased with the design. Would you think that there would be much of a modification needed so as to be able to build one for a Wifi for computer Use? Do you think that you might consider this Idea for the future? Thank You. Nice project. Nov 19, 2010. 8:02 AM REPLY Built this last night, and it gives better SNR by 1-4dB on all channels in my area. My previous antenna was an amplified Philips. It only drew 3-5W but not having that plugged in 24/7/365 will save ~40kWh per year. Thanks for this great Instructable. Nov 8, 2010. 4:16 PM REPLY Great antenna! I upgraded mine to commercial materials and a little sheetmetal. how can i put a picture up. its over kill but i think you might enjoy. And it is the same size as the design just made two instead. i point one over lake ontario and one faces toward the cn tower. 19 HD channels. dont mock anyone. if you cant get channels try looking up tv towers in your area .

jmengel says:

lynchcon says:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

servant74 says:

Oct 16, 2010. 8:50 PM REPLY What would be the lengths for WiFi? Instead of 1" segments that is. I am guessing 32mm(1.26") long segments and a box 18mm(0.71") deep, rather than 25.4mm(1") and 76.2mm (3") deep box. . And how sensitive are the dimensions? ... Thanks.

servant74 says:

Oct 16, 2010. 8:43 PM REPLY What would be the lengths for WiFi? Instead of 1" segments that is. I am guessing 32mm(1.26") long segments and a box 18mm(0.71") deep, rather than 25.4mm(1") and 76.2mm (3") deep box. And how sensitive are the dimensions? ... Thanks.

erik61820 says:

Sep 19, 2010. 8:04 PM REPLY i cobbled together a couple of these antennas tonite, I was able to get a chan they couldnt before with amplified rabbit ears, and I needed one. I can also get the same chan that I couldnt before with regular rabbit ears that had 5 foot whips. They both work really well, One has a balun one doesnt..They both are superior to the amplified & unamplified rabbit ears. The next time I make another I will probably solder things together and better the construction. Thanks for the plans

Houdinipeter says:

Aug 17, 2010. 11:26 AM REPLY Just had an idea. Could I solder the wires together instead of using screws? I'm using a piece of cardboard instead of the project box though.

vulkr says:

Jul 18, 2010. 10:29 AM REPLY Thank you for the fantastic instructable. I was wondering if you could help me with the ideal center frequency pattern & size required for AM/FM HD RADIO for my car. The existing antenna blows and I have dropouts all over. My plan is to use thin aluminum foil strips in the required pattern and affix them to my rear window with custom-cut black vinyl sticker that really hugs the foil, minimizing view obstruction. The foil would be between the vinyl and the glass along the vertical sides of the window (and possibly the horizontal also) to maximize reception. The top of the foil patterns would terminate in wires that go to my car's OEM ceiling antenna rig (it's a 01 Jetta) through the headliner, and I'll cover the outer hole with a plug. I just need the ideal "center frequency" pattern & size for max resonance and best reception. Also, would I need a transformer? This version doesn't seem to have one: h**p://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIwdNccmo_s ... Thanks in advance.

vulkr says:

Jul 18, 2010. 10:57 AM REPLY PS I was wondering if FOIL TRANSFER using a laserprinter would work... That way the pattern could be incredibly intricate, more than possible with me cutting foil strips. Printing silver foil on black paper would be ideal. Example: h**p://www.texascraft.com/hps/product.php?productid=16972&cat=275&page=1

melmocca says:
are you sure that the reception you received could be as well be received by the dipole by itself?

May 19, 2009. 5:07 PM REPLY

Weegee097 says:
The fractals are the dipoles. The line in between is called the phasing harness. It picks up extremely little.

Jul 16, 2010. 4:16 AM REPLY

williamruckman says:

Feb 23, 2010. 10:24 AM REPLY It is possible, depending on the actual impedance of the dipoles which can vary. I had no way of measuring or easily calculating that so the easiest thing was to use a Balun. Depending on your center frequency it may work. Try it both ways.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

ka irnie says:
sir good day, if i will use a balun for this fractal antenna ,what impedance should i use?ntx.

Mar 24, 2010. 7:36 PM REPLY

Weegee097 says:
A 300ohm to 75ohm Matching Transformer/Balun. Hope this helps.

Jul 16, 2010. 4:17 AM REPLY

ka irnie says:

Aug 11, 2010. 6:34 PM REPLY Good day sir, I already made my prototype of this fractal antenna, I follow your suggestion to put a Balun 300/75 ohm matching transformer.Unfortunately I cant test it here due to that our broadcasting here is still analog,Have you tried this in your country? BTW I live here in the Philippines. Tnx. Best regards.

nelu57 says:
750 ohm ? or 75 ?... Attention that you did wrong here !!! You know what you say?

Jul 16, 2010. 9:53 PM REPLY

Weegee097 says:

Jul 19, 2010. 4:14 AM REPLY Don't you know the difference between a o and an 0???????? I clearly said 75ohm! Also consider learning English before correcting me. "You know what you say?".

nelu57 says:

Jul 19, 2010. 1:11 PM REPLY Sorry if I wrote was wrong, but it can not read well. Makes you a space between words. Sorry of English spoken. I use a programme of automatic translation. Only good news.

Weegee097 says:

Jul 20, 2010. 1:45 AM REPLY Um, if you can't even speak a little English without a convert tool, then don't try instructing me on proper grammar.

nelu57 says:

Jul 20, 2010. 3:17 PM REPLY Professor you never wrong ? ... You get a perfectly man? at the age which is shown ? To no longer asked in vain Ok.? End !

Weegee097 says:
You, sir, are very insulting, and I suggest you stop spamming my posts.

Jul 20, 2010. 6:45 PM REPLY

Weegee097 says:

Jul 16, 2010. 4:12 AM REPLY One word. Fantastic! I will have to make a 4 bay version of this. You have researched this well, your instructable is very simple and helpful, and the final product is very high powered. This gets 5 stars from me! I award this the Weegee097 Seal of Approval. Not many things get that, but this is such a simple and powerful antenna that it amazes me! Keep up the great work!. Jun 28, 2010. 12:38 PM REPLY I live in Niagara Falls, Ontario. I put two of your fractal antennas (built on 2x3 lumber) in my attic without reflectors pointed NNW (toward Toronto, about 60km) and SSE (toward Buffalo, about 40km). Each antenna has a dedicated 24db RF amplifier before they join into a RG6 downlead. No baluns as I found the signal loss from the balun was greater than that from the mismatch. Excellent reception on the US stations (all digital) and on most of the Canadian stations (they don't convert till August 2011) including TVO (analog ch 19). CBC is excellent (ch 5.1) as they installed a good digital transmitter some time ago and transmit from the CN tower. By all rights, attic antenna should not work here. Local dealer wanted to sell me a roof mounted DB8 for $250 plus installation. Nice work. May 27, 2010. 3:27 PM REPLY

cchandler48 says:

ohh1941 says:
I made one for my sailboat and it outpeforms the special marine antenna and the rca antenna .it doubled the channels i get

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

rvnutman says:

Apr 14, 2010. 6:41 PM REPLY thanks for the incredible idea. My question is this.....looking to use this design with my pop up camper. Would it be possible to rig up some type of PVC pole or mast to get it up in the air say 15-30 feet? Just throwing some things around and wanting to make sure that it CAN BE done. Generally take satellite with us, but I believe this would work well and looking forward to your input as well as the project. The place where we go on our spring fishing trip is rural in nature, but I know some type of signal is available because I used some rabbit ears last year to make sure that I could receive a signal so I could watch my daughter on the news broadcasts. Not a really good signal, but a signal. With this set up, I hope that I can pull those local stations in with clarity. Thanks for the advice and/or suggestions. Mar 7, 2010. 9:50 AM REPLY Great Project! So far I've made two of these, one by your exact designs and one I modified to fit inside of the project box for outdoor use, by shortening the array to 3/4" segments but still maintaining the 60 deg. I also add an additional array and soldered it 1" above the first array. I had better success from the additional array, and it can pick up 12 DTV channels with great clarity.

Pukinpr says:

curiousgeorge03 says:

Mar 30, 2010. 6:03 PM REPLY I cannot see clearly where you soldered the second array to the first. Can you post a close up picture of where the solder connections are? Thanks. I want to try the same thing and see if it improves my reception.

feltonite says:
Pardon my ignorance, but what materials do you use for the reflector?

Nov 6, 2009. 6:42 PM REPLY

williamruckman says:
It was an aluminum plate. Aluminum foil or aluminum/copper mesh can work as well.

Feb 23, 2010. 10:21 AM REPLY

curiousgeorge03 says:
William,

Mar 30, 2010. 5:57 PM REPLY

Thanks for the instructable! It is really cool. I came across your design the other day and decided to try it out this past weekend and it worked pretty good, just in my living room and with no reflector. My antenna is made with 8 dipoles instead of 4. I sort of combined your design with the bowtie design. I was able to pick up all the same channels as my two uhf only antennas from Radio Shack. Granted I had to rotate the antenna to aim it in the right direction and not all signals came in as strong. The antenna is not totally finished. It's still missing a reflector. I've read on some other sites that wire mesh might work better as a reflector, as opposed to a sheet of aluminum. What do you think? Also, is the distance between the dipoles and the reflector important? My dipoles are on mounted on 1/2" plywood stick. If I put the reflector on the opposite of the plywood, would it be too close? I am going to try to add this antenna with my existing two in the attic and combine all the signals into one to see if it will improve my reception. I plan to point all three in slightly different directions to be able to pick up all the stations. I don't have a rotator. Thanks again for the cool design.

laborracha says:
not criticizing the design, just the use of the word fractal.

Mar 18, 2010. 10:35 PM REPLY

laborracha says:
http://www.sciencprog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007i/fractal/koch_figure.png

Mar 18, 2010. 10:34 PM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/

laborracha says:

Nov 6, 2009. 6:55 PM REPLY Not to nitpick, but I'm not sure those are technically fractals without one more level of self similar repeating scale. Without that next level you may not get the benefit of fractal antennas, which is the ability to pick up different frequencies.

williamruckman says:

Feb 23, 2010. 10:27 AM REPLY Yes, it would be best to go one more iteration. This is the first and initial build. I found that it worked great, so I shared it for everyone else to experiment with as well. But anymore iterations than one more, then you don't see too much more gain.

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http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-a-fractal-antenna-for-HDTV-DTV-plus-/