DIY Fractal and Double Loop Antennas

Joe Turbolski, who many of you may know through his work at Thomson Broadcast, was kind enough to send me information on two do-it-yourself antennas he's been experimenting with at home.

One of these is a design for a fractal antenna. Details are available in the Instructables article How to make a fractal antenna for HDTV / DTV plus more on the cheap. This antenna worked okay, but Turbolski wanted something better, which he found that in a simple double loop antenna.

Unfortunately Joe didn't forward with plans and I couldn't find any detailed information on how to build it, but his photo should be sufficient given the extreme simplicity of the design. More information on patterns and how to calculate the size of the loops is at www.hdtvprimer.com/ANTENNAS/Loop.html.

For UHF, Joe used a diameter of 7.75-inches per loop, but I don't see why the loops couldn't be made larger for VHF. He was very happy with the results seen in using the antenna inside his house, noting, "To my surprise I was able to reliably pickup not only the local affiliates, but also the CW affiliate (WCCT with low ERP) and the Ion station (WHPX) over 57 miles away!!!"

If you decide to build one of these, please let me know how it works out.

Doug Lung is one of America's foremost authorities on broadcast RF technology. As vice president of Broadcast Technology for NBCUniversal Local, H. Douglas Lung leads NBC and Telemundo-owned stations’ RF and transmission affairs, including microwave, radars, satellite uplinks, and FCC technical filings. Beginning his career in 1976 at KSCI in Los Angeles, Lung has nearly 50 years of experience in broadcast television engineering. Beginning in 1985, he led the engineering department for what was to become the Telemundo network and station group, assisting in the design, construction and installation of the company’s broadcast and cable facilities. Other projects include work on the launch of Hawaii’s first UHF TV station, the rollout and testing of the ATSC mobile-handheld standard, and software development related to the incentive auction TV spectrum repack. A longtime columnist for TV Technology, Doug is also a regular contributor to IEEE Broadcast Technology. He is the recipient of the 2023 NAB Television Engineering Award. He also received a Tech Leadership Award from TV Tech publisher Future plc in 2021 and is a member of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society and the Society of Broadcast Engineers.