antenna ?

why do people use aluminum foil on TV antenas?

 

What's a TV antenna? And what does it have to do with Networking or Computers for that matter?

 

well sorry if u don't understand I did not know where to post so i ask anyway capishhhh

 

Give us an example and hopefully someone can explain. I don't really get why people would use aluminum foil on antenae, since the disorganised surface would just scatter radio waves everywhere rather than concentrating them on the element.

In any case the use very much depends on the type antenna, since they work differently. A yagi is different to a simple loop antenna, for example.

Give us some more info on what you want to know

 

To try an improve reception….when we didn’t have the money for cable, I used to clip a long wire of ten feet on each ear of the rabbit ear’s….I’m not real sure, but I think it helps with the gain of the antenna, and you can pick up a radio or TV channel from further away………wobbles

 

We used to use wire coat hangers...it doesn't involve animal cruelty

 

The theory is increase surface area, trap more radio waves and increase reception. As far as I could tell when my mom did it, it just made aluminum foil companies richer.

 

Like I said, it depends what kind of antenna it is. Wrapping foil around a yagi could actually reduce the gain, since you would be creating interference with the signal you are trying to pick up. However, if it was a simple loop antenna, increasing the surface area might give a signal gain, provided it was correctly connected and a ground plane was present.

 

Don’t remember what the rest of the world has for TV, but the states have UHF or Ultra High Frequency, and VHF or Very High Frequency….VHF uses channels 2-13, and UHF uses the rest channel 14 and up…….I can remember, and still have a set with a loop, and two straight antennas, you could put tin foil on the straight antennas, and it would help some….using foil on the loop antenna made it worse….back when I had a ham radio receiver, I had a long wire antenna 300 feet long, I did hook it up to the TV once, but it would only work, when there was no wind…….this goes back a few years.......wobbles

 

we used to touch the end of the antennae to the aluminum window frame, that usually improved the reception. I think it was the same idea as adding aluminum foil.

 

Because it does improve the tv reception a little bit.

And i still use a wire coat hanger on my truck radio at work.