In article ,
"RogerN" wrote:

Update,

Thanks for the replies everyone! I was able to try out my digital TV
reception, my mother in law had a converter box and now has cable, so we are
getting to use her converter box and rabbit ears DTV antenna.

The picture is great on the stations we get (5 or so channels), there is
another station my wife would like to get and it comes in if he holds the
antenna just right, but I hate to have to keep getting up to feed her
popcorn while I'm trying to watch TV! :-)

I searched "make HDTV bowtie antenna" and found one that looks real simple
to make, it's not weatherproof, the writer was using it in his attic.
Anyway I'll probably make an experimental version of this and see what kind
of reception I can get. From there I can decide to buy or build one like it
using aluminum wire and some wire mesh backing. Anyway we should be able to
pick up local channels good anyway. I don't miss the hundreds of channels
with nothing to watch all that bad, been without TV for about 3 or 4 months
now, would like to see local news though.

There are many suitable antenna designs available. The best source is
the ARRL Antenna Book http://www.arrl.org/shop/The-ARRL-Antenna-Book/,
which has construction details. This is what the radio amateurs use.
The book comes out in a new edition every few years, and older versions
are widely available used.

Joe Gwinn