Can this TV antenna be modified for HAM use?

[KG6AHU]

Greetings! Recently I took down this Television antenna that we inherited with the purchase of our home.

As a Technician looking to upgrade to General, and just getting my feet wet with respect to antenna design and homebrewing, I was wondering if it was worth keeping this TV antenna to try to modify/repurpose it for HAM use. My wife was going to throw it out last week and I said, "No! Not yet!". Let me see if there's any chance of re-using it.

Any/all suggestions and comments appreciated. I have a full-size and a close-up to hopefully show its size and construction.

Thanks in advance!

[K9STH]

There are a number of articles on the Internet about cutting down TV antennas for 2-meters. Also, if you add to the length of certain elements they can be used on the 6-meter band.

As for HF, the elements cannot really be extended and be strong enough even for the 10-meter band.

Glen, K9STH

[KG6AHU]

Thanks for the tip. Found alot of conceptual discussion, and after a little more digging found this ARRL article on recycling old TV antennas:

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/pdf/9611034.pdf

I'm linking it here for any other HAM's looking to recycle that old TV antenna. Will post more as I find them.

[WA7OET]

NEVER, NEVER throw out aluminum... you can make a nice 2 meter antenna from that thing... lots of usable parts on it. You can also use the parts to make gamma matches for other antennas... you can fold it up and store it in your garage attic until you need it.

[W9WD]

Never throw ANYTHING away.
You'll wish you had it someday

[W8HDU]

Low band VHF antennas can be adapted for 6 meters, while the high band VHF antennas work good for 2 meter. The long boom corner reflector UHF antennas can be great 70 cm antennas. Here's a couple of tricks.

Look for solid aluminum rods in .25, and .375" thickness. Like Texas Towers sells in bulk. Sometimes you can find it at Lowes or TSC. It's good for replacing bad elements.

If out driving around and you spot a garage sale, look for plastic cutting boards that you can get for a buck. This stuff can be cut and used to replace bad insulators or make new ones for different positions. See my article on the balun support.

Read up on feed points, and different ways to match to an antenna. You can come up with some clever tricks at time for matching. Such as using the hollow existing elements with solid rod run inside them, and held together with a small host clamp. That way you can lengthen and shorten elements to get the best match.

Another good score is old satellite dishes. They can be modified for 70 cm and above.

The nice thing about TV antennas is that with careful modification you can be rather stelthy in your ham activity. I used a Channel Master 3617A for a while, and trimmed down the elements and it worked well for 2 meter SSB.