$5 DIY HDTV Antenna! Get FREE TV! 

Hey Kip, I just tried an even cheaper version of this. I used one of my kids school folders and used a free hand template for the foil. The foil ripped and wrinkled and looked horrible. AND IT WORKED. Tomorrow I am making a more permanent version. Thanks for the lesson.

2:59 there is a book in the bottom left that's called "Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls"

Kipkay thank you! We did this tonight and it is getting 23 channels! All we could get was FOX and now I get NBC and the rest of them!! PEOPLE THIS WORKS!!!!!!!

When I knew I had to buy an antenna I said let me see if Kipkay has a video on how to make one. This is the best antenna and very easy to make. Thanks a lot

Build this easy HDTV Antenna and get FREE TV! Eliminate cable and satellite!

I taped the aluminum pattern to a window. It works great! No box build was necessary. Thanks Kip! :-)

I made this tonight. It was a huge pain cutting aluminum foil and keeping it intact. I used staples and hot glue to hold my coax cable ends to the foil just like in the video. I'm happy to say that this antenna outperforms the 40 dollar amplified RCA antenna I had. My TV effortlessly picks up all of the local stations now. Thanks! This took me two solid hours to build. Kip Kedersha

This video saved my life! My project was due in 2 days and this simple one saved me from a lot of work. I got 51 channels in Toronto...

Dude , I think you are a genius !

THIS WORKS! I made this out of cardboard. Was expecting this NOT to work. Surprised I got eight digital channels w/o adjusting the antenna. Without this I get zero OTA channels. Just noisy 'snow'. I don't watch tv so only care because this looked like a neat idea to try. Plus never know when will need to watch emergency local news for warnings. May as well have this sitting in a closet in case ever need it. The ota signal is stronger than local cable company wired connection. Way better HD from this than local cable by far. Changes I made: glued template upside down to foil and cut it out to avoid tracing, used glue gun because faster hardening (ditched other glues), used cardboard. Next: going to make this look like a Tie Fighter somehow. Nerd in me :p

Holy Crap. I bookmarked this video and was threatening to actually make this antenna. After about a week, and almost purchasing an outdoor antenna, I finally said "what the heck" I might as well give it a try." Took me about an hour to make this out of cardboard and my wife's glue gun. Hooked it up to the TV and set it to scan all the while thinking "naw, that's not going to work" Next thing I know BAM! in comes our local channels clear as day!! Thanx for this tutorial man!! It's awesome!

It's very useful! My TV got 22 digital channels and 3 radio after using this antenna. I am located in Auckland. Thanks Kipkay.

$5 HDTV Antenna! "I bought this at at a garage sale for about $10"

My friend is always complaining about his cable, I'm going to make this for him! Thanks kipkay!

There is no such thing as an HD antenna. Antennas don't know if the signal is analog or HD. They do both. It's just an antenna.

I just made it and it works better than the store bought antenna. Thanks Kip.

I need to try this. I NEED IT!!

You DO NOT need a converter box if you have a digital TV, only if you have an analog TV!

I did it and it's AWESOME. before i have around 16 channels, now i have 44 in HDTV THANK YOU SO MUCH I save around 50 dlls for a "high quality antenna" and I only hank spend 5 or less dollars in the dollar store.. Thank You Again

just built this, seems to help quite a bit. Gets stations my wife wants, so I'm happy!

2:45 That was a weird audio messup lol

Yeah. Just finished this and while mine isn't nearly as neatly built as his, it works better than any other free antenna on RU-vid that I've tried. I'm getting more channels and better quality. Took 2-3 hours but was well worth the time and effort. I recommend anyone who wants to build their own, try this one first.

Well you certainly won't get rid of cable/satellite. The channels you will receive, are all local stations(NBC/CBS/ABC..etc). The digital TV frequencies are usually between 470 & 700mhz, I would rather make one of my antennas and place it on the roof so I do not have to look at it.

I made a TV antenna that didn't cost me nothing. I had a long piece of stranded copper wire ( at least 8 feet long) and strip about 3/4 of an inch off one end to expose the copper wire and poked it into the antenna in Port and stripped another 1 inch off the other end and hooked it on to my curtain rod and I'm picking up 20 channels. I tried paper clip,a sewing needle ,a twist tie and didn't get over 3-4 channels at the very most. I even bought an amplified antenna and got 7 channels. I spent $35 for it and returned it. I'm very pleased with the results of my homemade TV antenna. Experiment with copper wire like I did and see what you can accomplish. It actually works better than a crappy store bought antenna that might give you a few channels.

I still can't belive that the average american guy don't know that he can get free TV signal

You deserve a medal

2:47 LOL!

Kipkay,your the 1st youtube channel i subscribed to.And I'm glad to say I'm a kipkay fan

RU-vid IS my TV. Over 150 subs, I don't have time for TV anymore.

Man kipkay, I haven’t watched this dude in 5 years, time really flies

This is cool and all but if you have to buy an extra converter box for $10 its not really since it would come out to a $10 project and you can get premade hd cable boxes for $15-$20 on eBay

This is the first time I have ever built something that KipKay has shown how to make. I just finished making it and I have to say... IT WORKS! I have gotten 17 channels so far! I just plugged it in and just set it on top of the tv. Now trying to move it around to see if I can get more! AWESOME!

Another cool video.. :D

That's the Kipkay quality we all know and love! Great hack, keep it up! :)

The third kipkay project I do and all three of them didn't work.

This actually does work pretty well, you can also use a paperclip as a (not as good) antenna in a pinch. Just stick one end of the paper clip into the center hole of the antenna connector, worked alright for me on a cruise once when their satellite TV went out

Fix the download link. I tried to download the picture to print, but all I got was codes...

I Did this and got really good reception for using stuff in the back of my closet, thanks Kip!

Click (show the comment) for an emotional rollercoaster.

Great stuff man. Another quick hack is to use about 5 ft of coax, strip everything less the center wire, insert into antenna port on a digital tv, taking care not to contact the outside of the port. Relearn channels, enjoy!

Thing is in England with sky tv you cant get free tv its not the antenna that matters its the card you have in your sky tv box and if you dont pay your subscription then the tv wont receive sky tv channels because the card will be registered invalid and the chip wont allow the sky box to playback any sky channels also removing the card wont make a difference due to it not working without the card :).

Agreed. Proper HD antennas that do the same thing are sold at all electronics stores.

Instructions too vague, got pancakes stuffed inside a lion

All these other people are hatin all over your video, but I think this is a great idea! I'll probably do this one at home!

question: if youbtv is digital tv why did you use the digital box in step of put itvdirect to the tv??

Great tip!

Do people really not know about local channels? I'd like to note that this is not cable in any sense of the term, these are many of the same local TV networks that have run for years. If you do this an expect to get cable TV networks, you're gonna have a bad time. And a converter box isn't needed on a modern LED TV btw, they convert the signal on their own.

Your voice sounds like the TV info-commercial sales person. You know, "Buy one and get the second one free, but hurry while quantities last!" :)

2:46 wtf

It actually works quite well for me! I get more channels than most $30 indoor rabbit ears or other indoor aerials. You can also be quite close to it without disrupting it.

2:47 waaaaa??????

Yes it is. Believe it or not antenna has better picture quality than cable. With cable you have to compress the huge amounts of digital information to send it through the cable. Which can distort the image. With antenna there is no need for compression so you get a clearer image.

WTF! I got an hd antenna for 15 bucks, then I see this shit.

This anteenna really works! On my HDTV it got me 49 channels without even positioning it!

With all these free audible books on all the different RU-vid videos, I'd probably have a library by now

Is This Legal?

I plugged a coaxial cable into my tv, added a coaxial Y-splitter to the end of the cable, then stuck two straightened paperclips into the coaxial splitter and hung it by the window. Works great, but I want to try kipkays method also to see if I can get a few more channels. Great video

What happened at 2:47?

I built this thing completely ready to write a review and slam it, surprise to me...... it actually works. I was having trouble getting a few channels, I assembled this antenna (not exactly like the one demonstrated---but close) and those four channels I was not getting immediately came in. I'm doing a search right now, I wonder how many channels will be added.

Baba Booey!

$5? Looks like free to me :) Another great video Kip :)

THIS IS ILLAGAL I AM CALLING THE COPS POLIECE!!! YOUR GOINGTO JAIL FOR CRIMES YOU CRIMINAL MASTER I HOPE YOU LEARND A LESSION,

10/10 Just made this, and its exponentially better than my old antenna.

thanks for doing this video i knew if any one could simplify this idea it was you. thanks again

This is legal, as radio is. An exception to this rule, though is countries that have licensing on broadcast TV(UK). And even then, you might have to build the antenna differently due to frequency changes based on the country. So, you would have to check the frequency difference between US signals in your country signals to check whether it would work or not. If your country has different connectors, you would also have to use those instead of the F type connector Kipkay uses here.

Finally, after being subscribed for so long, I will try this one. Thank you so much!

Analog is still around. Just not for commercial reasons. Churches and nonprofits use it all the time.

this is my favorite hack video on RU-vid

Making the antenna is perfectly legal and the TV stations are the local ones available to you via antenna, so it doesn't include cable stations. Usually it means ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, CW etc. It's like the old days of TV before cable when you HAD to use an antenna.

I'm sure the cable companies just love you kipkay

I did this and it works super well!

Printing a Hilbert Curve onto the paper instead of that pattern would likely provide a much farther signal range. When it comes to antennae it's the surface area that matters most.

It's nice log-periodic antenna. No doubt it will work perfectly!

Man, I truly love your neat ideas. You seem so cool and polite!

I'm not a patient person, but I was able to slap one together tonight that performs about as well as $20 rabbit ear antennas. If you have the items you need to make the antenna, it's a great way to get local channels for free.

I built this for free. Had everything I needed laying around the house. Didn't need the digital converter, my TV has that built in. Got 19 channels. Not bad.

see this is what i love about your videos, really awesome things anyone can do that can help anyone

kipkay you are the best I've tried all of your vids and they worked

It's legal, it's the same as buying an antenna and hooking it up to the converter and the tv. When it comes to signals it doesn't heat up a lot, only way it will burn is if you have a candle or some other heat source close by.

Well I guess this works for people who have to give up there Comcast cable/dish/DirectTV or people who don't have any of the 3 at all.. =) great work Kipkay

Someone sent me this as a joke because I am an amuter radio operater. All I can say is wow, and this person has 1.5 million subs.

If you have a TV there is 99% chance that you already have an outdoor TV antenna on your roof.

Making antenna's are fun and rewarding.

hey kipkay I made the 5$ antena and it worked! I jest want to say thank you for the video it realy helped me I made the antena with me and my dad and without Evan ajusting the pushing of the antena I got 13 Chanals as you saed some come better than others but I jest want to say thank you and keep up the vids!

How did you select this particular method of construction and that angle of seperation? If you look a Coax cable. Snip off one end, explose some of the copper wire it will also act as an antenna. If you change the shape of the copper or have it in a certain location it will work even better. My question is, Just how effective is this in comparison to other items or even a cheap antenna?

This is perfectly legal, ignore the Aereo headlines. The FCC isn't going to bust people over this, they just wanted to go after the business itself as it's a bit of a grey area for a business. With that said, I'd recommend this if you want a project to do. Digital antennas are like $20-ish new and cheaper and plentiful at pawnshops, flea markets, yard sales, etc. The only thing is, you may not get many channels depending how close to a major city and what the terrain is like where you live. Where I live (Central PA) these digital antennas are useless for TV thanks to the distance and mountains in teh way.

If you have cable internet, try to plug the RG-6 cable from your modem directly into your tv and do a channel search.

It looks like a great design I need to make one to compare it with my other home made HDTV antenna.

Magnetic field does not affect radio waves. That's like saying putting a magnet next to your phone will increase the gain of the antenna. You would need a high frequency amplifier for that, this will amplify the signal as well as the noise, for better signal to noise ration, you will need a better antenna.

Proper kipkay is back!

Works like a charm

You do not need to staple the outer layer of wire to anything, the metal in the middle is what caries signal, the wire on the outside is only shielding.

I don't have aerial plug in my room, so instead of running a cable from living room I built this and guess what: IT WORKS!!

2:10 Good Lord! For a second there I thought you cat was about to "lay claim" to your new antenna.

Kipkay, i think your the most awesome human on earth !!!!

you are a GENIUS!!! GET A PATENT FOR THAT!!!

I thought it wasn't going to work but it does work great!!!

Guys, this is 100% legal in the USA. Here we have public broadcast stations that consist of 'Local Channels' (i.e. News channels) which also are NBC CBS Fox ABC and PBS (there are other channels that vary from place to place). This is completely legal to do, and in fact, back in 2008 (maybe) the government was giving out coupons for free converter boxes.

You only need the converter if you have an old analog TV. Rabbit ears work too but you have to move them around a lot.

My standard external UHF antenna works fine, and this DIY one looks pretty good. I wonder if TV manufacturers could or maybe already do install an antenna built into the frame of the set, much like smartphones? As the screens get larger, surely there would be plenty of area to build in a sufficiently sized antenna.