Will "Rabbit Ear" TV antenna work in a metal pole building?

[gspren]

After selling our camper I have an extra TV that I could put in my building to watch local news, weather, etc. but won't spend much to get it working, as in no long cable run or even a big external antenna. I would buy a set of the inside type antenna if I thought it likely to get at least local tv.

[SawyerTed]

A cheap outdoor digital tv antenna kit with cables etc is $50 ish bucks.  An indoor one is 15-20 bucks but may not work in a metal structure. 

[Ianab]

It might work, depending on how the doors and windows are laid out, and how strong the local signal is. A metal building will act as a Faraday Shield to block radio signals, but it won't be a perfect one. Some signal will "leak" in via holes in the structure. Placing the antenna near a window facing the transmitter tower should give the best chances. Basically try it, move the antenna to different spots, and see what happens. 

[gspren]

I have a room within my building that's a sort of man cave, with a mini-split heating AC unit, no windows but a FM radio will work in there. I might ask around to some friends or neighbors to see if there's one I could borrow long enough to confirm it would work. 

[Ianab]

How to build a simple dipole TV antenna.

https://matthews.sites.wfu.edu/misc/dipole.html

[doc henderson]

I built one of those and put it on the roof of our (parents) house in high school.  good for FM radio as well.

[Erik A]

Go to a dtv map website and check where the transmitters are relative to you
then try to place the tv or antenna in line with it while missing any steal wall?

https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps

[rusticretreater]

Check the thrift stores.  You might find a coil of antenna wire so you can run things outside.

[RetiredTech]

 I went through this a few years ago. After some research I decided to try to build my own antenna. I settled on the Hoverman design. There's a lot of information on them out there. They are basically a uhf antenna but with a reflector of the correct length at the top and bottom it makes a decent vhf antenna also. It's a simple build. I built my test antenna out of galvanized steel wire because that's what I had on hand. It's worked so well that I still haven't built the copper version I had planned on. You can find some information here: https://www.jedsoft.org/fun/antennas/dtv/gh.html as well as other sites on the web.
 I found a very entertaining youtube site for building antennas while doing my research Danny S Hodges He builds the bow-tie style of tv antennas but he's fun to watch and listen to. He has multiple channels on youtube, this was just the first one I found.
 Good luck and have fun.

[doc henderson]

the guy that ran the radio shack in my hometown showed me how to build it and sold me the flat tv wire to build it.  It was a diamond, open on one end and pointed toward Salina from Concordia.  worked well to get FM radio.  we had cable already.  many RVs now have directional antennas, if you could find one cheap.  the expense is they are designed to go through ceiling and be turned and raised, and then lowered for travel.

[YellowHammer]

Radio Shack - I loved that place as a kid, ut they are long gone now, and it's a shame.  It smelled of electrons spilled on the floor, and cool things out of Star Trek. I enjoy building stuff as much as the next guy, but...and I'm not being a smart aleck, but....you could have it running in 2 days...because...

there are several under $20, a few under $10, solutions on the Mighty Amazon, and if it doesn't work, fill in the return form under "Didn't Work as Expected" and send it back. 

[hedgerow]

In my shop that is a pole building with two layers of metal one on the outside and one on the inside of the shop no windows only doors if the overhead door is close you get no radio, TV or cell signal with out an external antenna. Friend of mine has a wooden framed man cave in his pole shed one layer of steel and has windows and rabbit ears work in his to get TV. He has the TV radio and rabbit ears by a big window. 

[SawyerTed]

Same for me.  My shop is metal with plywood sheathing inside.  Cell signal is marginal, no TV without an outside antenna, no FM radio.  I do have Wi-Fi that I "steal" from my camper's satellite internet. 

A complete kit for an outdoor antenna is $50 ish.  Like Yellowhammer says, order one day, install in a half hour two days later.   

I went through 3 of those Amazon cheap indoor antennas before I found one that worked consistently for my main tv in the living room. 

[Ianab]

In my shop that is a pole building with two layers of metal one on the outside and one on the inside of the shop no windows only doors if the overhead door is close you get no radio, TV or cell signal with out an external antenna.

Sounds like you have a pretty effective Faraday Cage there. As you mentioned, if the metal shed has "holes", with wooden doors or glass windows, then it "leaks", and some radio frequency energy can get inside. It doesn't take much metal to block high frequency radio, hence the popularity of tinfoil hats.     Ironically, because they aren't a full cage, they may actually act as an antenna and receive more RF than usual. 

[Larry]

Radio Shack - I loved that place as a kid

You must be a youngster.  I was into Heathkit and couldn't wait for the catalog to show up in the mailbox. They never had a store close enough for me to visit.

[YellowHammer]

My Dad built our first color TV out of a HeathKit.  It took seemingly forever, and only pulled in the Wrestling Channel and Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.  I was the remote control.  "Hey boy, turn the channel and move the antenna."

 

[SawyerTed]

This is a terrible photo but the best I can do right now.

The "10:14" display is on a Heathkit clock I built during my Introduction to Electronics course in 1982 at East Carolina University.  The clock hasn't had a single problem in 42 years! Where did the time go?

I still have a Heathkit multimeter I built in the second level course, Circuit Analysis.   



Little did I know 3 or 4 years later I would be teaching those classes to freshmen and sophomores as a grad student and later a faculty member.  

[Ljohnsaw]

When I got my driver's license and started at junior college, I would stop by the Radio Shack store on my way home. I would buy the $1.98 package of semiconductor chips and LEDs and make stuff, like a clock or super loud police siren. When summer came around, I needed a job so I asked and they said might as well pay you, you're always here! That was back in 1978.

[Ianab]

We never had Radio Shack here in NZ, but back in the day we had Dick Smith, which was a similar chain, based in Australia. Back in the day they were good, components, kitsets, computer parts etc. Then Dick retired and sold the Company to some venture capital outfit. They changed it to a mediocre small appliance chain, of which there was a dozen others competing with it. It changed hands a couple of times and then collapsed. The Name still exists, but it's just been bought by an online discount electronics store in Australia. 

Fortunately we still have PBTech, which sell computers and components, and ironically are in the old Dick Smith building. And Jaycar, which was Dick's main competition back in the day, and stuck to the electronics and cool gadgets. It's the place to go for gadgets and components. A more up to date version of the old Radio Shack / Dick Smith store. 

[Southside]

But do you have to give your phone number just to buy a 9V battery? 

[YellowHammer]

I just looked at their website, they are still in business, with the motto "We are back" and sell the clock or one like it as the "Most Reliable Clock Kit."

[Resonator]

My dad fixed and built all kinds of electronics going back to the invention of the color TV. He built multiple Heathkit projects, though he could build a TV just using all the spare parts he had accumulated. 
He had a big carrying RCA case full of vacuum tubes he bring with him to a repair job. Sometimes us kids would ride along, and usually troubleshooting a TV started by turning the lights off and looking inside the set to see if any tubes weren't glowing orange. People would give him old TV's that he would part out, and some were still useable. Though you had to keep the pliers handy if you wanted to change the channel.

[rusticretreater]

My dad did a couple of heathkits.  I remember a Volt/Ohm meter.  In my guitar playing days I had a box that made the guitar fuzzy.  It went bad so I opened it up and then went to Radio Shack to get components to replace nearly everything inside.  Still have it around here somewhere.

My clock/radio which I bought sometime in the 1980's is a Radio Shack Realistic.  It still works like it was new and has been on the bedside table all these years.

You can probably still find a good roof antenna at the old Farmers Co-ops stores.

[RetiredTech]

 Heathkit and Radio Shack. That brings back memories. My dad built a Heathkit RC system back in the early days of model airplane remote control. That was before we had proportional controls. I still have it upstairs along with his single channel escapement rig. I was so young back then. Now that I think about it I still have the plane he built for the Heathkit system. He never flew it with the Heathkit system but we put many hours on it after I was grown with the more modern radios. As many planes as we destroyed learning to fly it's a wonder that thing survived at all. What memories. 

[Larry]

I helped my Dad build a Heathkit dwell meter, think I mainly watched and learned. Last Healthkit I built was Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater speakers when I was in the service. On GI pay I could not afford ready made speakers but could afford the kit.

I've been watching Arduino youtubes lately with the idea I might go down that rabbit hole. Maybe make something to help control or monitor my kiln. Never to old to learn new tricks.