TV Antenna and Fractals

There are may plans online on how to make a TV antenna to receive digital signals. But also i just got done watching a NOVA show on PBS about Fractals.

Nova - Hunting the Hidden Dimension

A fractal is an infinitely long line or shape that no matter how much you zoom in, or how detailed you look, the repeating self-similarity pattern is the same.
animated Fractal Gif image, repeating pattern, star fractal, kochsim
For examples of fractals in nature there are things like trees, rivers, clouds, flowers, DNA, blood vessels, snowflakes, lightning and many, many more.
Fractal Fern, repeating leaf pattern, fractal plant, repeating tv antenna http://ontfin.com/Word/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/oxeyedaisy3.jpg,Fractal daisy flower

Here's how fractals are used to create mountains in computer animation in movies. Instead of writing a huge program for each little individual point, the fractal equation is used and it creates the mountain. For example, Jurassic Park used fractals to show raindrops on the dinosaur's skin.
animated gif fractal mountain, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Animated_fractal_mountain.gif


This one reminds me of the Triforce in The Legend of Zelda
Fractal triangle pattern, sierpinski triangle

Fractal, triangle, pattern, triforce, zelda

Long story short, it turns out that fractals also make great antennas. They are in all of our cell phones because of their great range of reception and compact size. That's why cell phones don't have those little flimsy pole antennas any more. The fractal antenna is inside.
Fractal, cell phone, antenna

So i started with the basic antenna plans seen here
.
Fractal TV Antenna, make, DIY
Then i took ideas from fractal antennasFractal TV Antenna, pattern, make, build, DIY
I laid everything out that i thought i'd need
Fractal antenna, parts, pattern, wire
This was the basic fractal pattern i used to bend the wire
TV Fractal Antenna Pattern, measurement, dimension, star
The wire after being bent.
Fractal wire, bent, tv antenna
After making 10 of the wire shapes above i started experimenting with them.

3 sided
Fractal wire, bent, tv antenna, parts
4 sided
Fractal, wire,bent, tv antenna, design
5 sided
Fractal, wire,bent, tv antenna, 5 sided, design
6 sided Fractal, wire,bent, tv antenna, 6 sided, design
There were endless possibilities
TV Fractal Antenna star pattern
I decided on combining 3 things:

  • aluminum foil wrapped cardboard backing plate
  • hexagon shaped fractal wire
  • 4 piece wire antenna
Final design for Fractal Antenna to make

This is the upper halfFractal Antenna TV, upper half part
Here it is on the board
. I wrapped the aluminum foil with rubber window screen so that the wires didn't actually touch the aluminum foil. Then secured it with hot glue on top of the solder points.Fractal Antenna TV, foil back plate
1" pvc pipe and bolts were used to raise the upper wires
Fractal Antenna TV, weld, solder, wire Fractal Antenna TV, weld, solder, wire, plate
Here's the finished product
. I connected it to a 75 to 300 Ohm matching transformer, which is really the only thing i had to buy, it was $5. small fractal antenna, tv reception
I also made another version.
small version, fractal tv antenna 75 to 300 Ohm matching transformer, small fractal tv antenna
After connecting them to my tv i was able to check the signal strength. They both worked pretty well, picking up all UHF channels such as 2.1, 4.1, 7.1, .... Although surprisingly, the smaller antenna worked a little bit better. 2 versions of Fractal TV antenna
I plan on trying a few more designs. I think the best idea would be to paint a 7 foot tall fractal design on a wall with metallic paint. It would look cool and possible get great reception. You could always paint over it and no one would know it was there.

You have read the best review article categorized by 75 to 300 Ohm matching transformer / cell phones / fractal antenna / fractal tv antenna / Hunting the Hidden Dimension / make a fractal antenna / NOVA PBS Fractals / repeating pattern / signal strength / UHF and the title TV Antenna and Fractals. You can bookmark or spread this post by using this URL http://duiattorney-info.blogspot.com/2011/01/tv-antenna-and-fractals.html. Thank You!

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