Not quite a computer, but TV Bunny Ears

Maniacal

Maniacal

the green Napoleon
Joined
Mar 13, 2005
Messages
18,778
Location
British Columbia, Canada
At my dad's house we have bunny ears, no cable availiable, my dad is cheap (even thoguh he can afford satalite, well, maybe not right now but in a few months for sure). We jsut got the bunny ears hooked up onto a balconey on the story above, so, something like 15, 13 feet? 12? Not sure. But we have a cord going from the TV, nito another cord, going ot the antenna. THe reception os at like, 98% (wait, no, 97.65% now) clear! That's a HUGE GIANT improvement. But I'm worried about the antenna, we get storms here, we are rahter expsoed to them being on top of a ridge, but the ears have a house and trees in the way of half the directions. I'm wondering if there is a CHEAP (under $30 CAD) otpion that doesn't involve having them outside... it's hard to find decent bunny ears here. And even harder for one of those arial antenna things.
 
oh man, bunny ears! i remember thoes. i had a pair, and i had to put one antana on my head to get proper reception, these were the kind that were inside, ontop of your tv
i use to be a cable tech, and one thing we'd do is install a grey box on the side of the house, and in it would contain a RG59/RG-6 grounder. since you have one cable going into another cable, you are obviously using a coupler to join the two. i think there is a place on the net that senns the grounders, though i can not check right now, will post again soon
 
The ideal solution would be one of the antennas that you mount on the roof, with a motor and a control box (inside by your TV) that lets you rotate the antenna.

Smaller bunny ears that you'd use inside just plain suck. They can pick up halfway decent most of the time, but they're impossible to set. Get within 3 ft of them and your body boost their reception by 500% :rolleyes:
 
PrinceScamp said:
At my dad's house we have bunny ears, no cable availiable, my dad is cheap (even thoguh he can afford satalite, well, maybe not right now but in a few months for sure). We jsut got the bunny ears hooked up onto a balconey on the story above, so, something like 15, 13 feet? 12? Not sure. But we have a cord going from the TV, nito another cord, going ot the antenna. THe reception os at like, 98% (wait, no, 97.65% now) clear! That's a HUGE GIANT improvement. But I'm worried about the antenna, we get storms here, we are rahter expsoed to them being on top of a ridge, but the ears have a house and trees in the way of half the directions. I'm wondering if there is a CHEAP (under $30 CAD) otpion that doesn't involve having them outside... it's hard to find decent bunny ears here. And even harder for one of those arial antenna things.
Click to expand...

you did have your cables corrected grounded right ? in the remote case of a lighting strike a earth cable is mandatory for all roof mounted annetnues in australia
 
PrinceScamp said:
We cannot get cable where we live, it is only availiable on the main roads.

I think the bunny ears are outside now on the balconey.
Click to expand...

I know you can not have cable becasue in your location. You said that. but you say you had one cable pluged into another. is this one coaxal cable pluged into another? if so, you need something like this http://www.abccables.com/n-385.html. simply plug one end of each cable into one side of it, then run a wire or something into a ground, then you should be ok
use the screw on the top to connect the ground wire
 
what on earth? can someone post me a pic.. i have no idea what these are. Guess we dont have them in the UK...
 
ah, yea i get yah, never heard of them called that before thats all!
 
its quite a silly name. I had them for years. There was a french braudcast tower about 7kms away. and it always screwed up our english station, it was so bad we only got one channel and sometimes 2, both of poor quality. i did not speak french at the time, either. the french tower is so powerful though that i can get it with nothing hooked up to the tv.
 
gotta worry with that strenght if it can do somthing to brainwash you!
 
No it's not grounded, it's a 300 ohm antenna cablr hooked up to the rabbit ears. No lightning strikes, it's an island. And there is a big metal roof about 5 feet away from it. I don't think there have been anylightning strikes on this island for a long time. I get 2 channels, CBC (wich I'm used to anyways, it's all I need, though I would like some other channels like SPACE and HISTORY).
speedo said:
The ideal solution would be one of the antennas that you mount on the roof, with a motor and a control box (inside by your TV) that lets you rotate the antenna.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't mind that. Although they aren't very common and my Dad is too cheap. As soon as i mvoe out I bet he will get satalite. I am mostly concerned about the wind or rain damaging the ears.
 
PrinceScamp said:
No it's not grounded, it's a 300 ohm antenna cablr hooked up to the rabbit ears. No lightning strikes, it's an island. And there is a big metal roof about 5 feet away from it. I don't think there have been anylightning strikes on this island for a long time. I get 2 channels, CBC (wich I'm used to anyways, it's all I need, though I would like some other channels like SPACE and HISTORY).
Click to expand...

It's absolutely illegal in Canada not to ground your antenna. Not to mention dangerous!

You don't think lightning is going to hit a conductor sticking way up in the air, just because you're on an island???

I wouldn't mind that. Although they aren't very common and my Dad is too cheap.
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Well, they used to be *really* common before cable was widely available. Everyone had one (I think my uncle still does). There has to be a pile of them somewhere, for cheap. Like alot of other stuff built back then, alot of them probably still work (hell, I still have the TV my parents bought in '78 in the basement workshop ... works great, but the red runs a little).
 
frekk said:
It's absolutely illegal in Canada not to ground your antenna. Not to mention dangerous!

You don't think lightning is going to hit a conductor sticking way up in the air, just because you're on an island???
Click to expand...


I did not know it was illeagle myself. I also have to agree with Frekk. just becasue your on an island does not mean anything. your going have to ground it. so your not using coaxal cable.... you will have to look for a grounding device for your bunny ears. i suggest contacting the the company that made the rabbit ears to see if they have anything available
 
We got these ears 17 years ago. And it is grounded through the TV and I know islands get struck. I need to work on my sentence structure and typing.

It isn't exactly sticking up in the air either but I know lightning can still hit it.

I've painted a messy picture here :headbang:

EDIT: I jsut took a look at it, it's just taped onto the side of the balconey, not in the air at all.
 
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