👇 Link to order the HD Digital Paperclip 📎 www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=YUGGUQY833HAG 👇Affiliate Link to recommended antennas 📡 www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman?listId=2LH365VAPDKLC 📡 For an antenna recommendation visit my website www.antennamanpa.com/index.html
Kewl beans. I'm so glad you are busting the antenna scammers. An od story i heard back in the late 60s was about a guy who hung an old spring set from an old mattress in a tree and pissed of his neighbor who had spent a lot of money on an expensive antenna and still couldn't get all the channels that were available in this area but the guy with the bed springs in the tree was getting all the channels without Shadows or anyting and it literally cost him nothing
Been there, done that. Was selling a TV and buyer wanted to see the picture and my 150 mile range paper clip was my only option. ;-) But wait! There's more! If you order within the next 10 minutes we'll send you a 2nd HD Paperclip for free. Just pay additional processing.
While supplies last. Shipping and handling extra. With approved credit. Void where prohibited. Batteries not included. Must be 18 or older to order. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. Sorry, no COD's.
Definitely used this at work during an emergency. We had a TV on the wall but no antenna. Paperclip worked well enough to let us see the news coverage of the emergency.
On an old black and white telly that used to belong to my nanna, in the days when we only had three channels in the UK - or possibly a fourth, if you could get an additional ITV region - I managed to get a pretty good signal with a pure wire coat hanger - only seemed to work properly on nanna’s telly - colour tellies were a bit fussy - an indoor aerial only worked adequately, though not necessarily acceptably, on a portable telly, but the main telly only worked well with a rooftop aerial - later on, you could buy aerial boosters, but, in some houses, you had to install the telly in the only room that got any reception at all and only in one part of the room - otherwise you got no reception at all, even with the booster!
@@arthurvasey VHF takes two coat hangers, or if the TV is grounded, only one on the center connection. The UHF connects across ground and center so use one.
@@alexanderpryor6563 VHF telly in this country (the UK) finally closed down in 1985, depending on where you lived at the time, so you can’t get anything on it to try that theory out - and, if you can, it’s a freak transmission - even UHF television closed down more recently - if you haven’t got digital television, and you haven’t got internet, or, you have internet, but you skimped and went for the cheapest option, you haven’t got television!
In a pinch I watched TV with a 3 foot wire but I never tried a paper clip. Awesome! The best antenna I ever used was in the 70s when I was in the Navy. We hooked up a CB radio to our 50 foot whip antenna array on the ship's stern. We could hear every trucker on the California coast.
Yes, it works here too, 30 miles from Boston, MA, on a 300 foot hill in NH, near the MA border. I have built UHF 4 bay bootie TV antennas of aluminum foil, wire and small screw on a cardboard backing, for free, from an article years ago in the former Popular Electronics magazine, and it was pretty resonant to the frequencies. I have also built directional beam antennas for various frequencies with a stick of wood, antenna ground rod elements, and a matching setup. Thanks 😊 Ray, W2CH.
@@aramb Thanks, you too. Been licensed 60 years since March 1962. I was originally. WA2ZPD until I became an extra, and this vanity call in 1997. My wife, too is a General Class since 2004, KC2NKU. 73
Funny I'm going to start calling uhf bowtie antennas bootie antennas just because it's silly. Kinda like A dead parrot naild to a perch so it won't muscle up to the bars and voom...
I'm thinking: Why use a paperclip antenna when one can use a "bootie antenna"! Bootie antennas sounds like a lot more fun to use, but it might hurt, though. Tyler MUST do a video on one.🤣
Tyler. Scan channels with a paperclip record the channels then re scan with a good antenna and compare the results with your audience. Love your cander! Back in the day 1960's we used a coat hanger wrapped in aluminum foil! It sucked but got a couple of channels too.
When HD first came out I had a DLP TV that I watched the superbowl with a coat hanger. The cable was only broadcasting 480i analog. I also at work inside an old building in the basement I hooked a piece of 12 gauge wire to the conduit in the ceiling for an antenna for the stereo. It didn't work as well but did pick up some close FM stations.
$9.99 for an HD paper clip? That’s a steal knowing it installs in seconds and you don’t have to see it 🤣. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone were to do that and ended up getting rich knowing how many people will fall for anything these days. Keep up the great work and love this channel.
At last,Tyler reviews one of my favorite antennas. LOL. I used to pick up used TVs/Vcrs back in the day (or at least test them) from thrift stores(stereos,too). Mr Paper Clip would at least tell me if the tuner worked on the device, It just demonstrates the principle that Tyler has long espoused. "There is no such thing as an HD Antenna".
I have a gold finished paperclip. I got about 20 channels! I live about 5 miles from several of my high power locals. I think the gold finish did the trick, LOL!
I did that. I was spending a few days with some relatives with a DISH receiver. The receiver had an ATSC 1.0 tuner in it. I told them I could get off-air TV with a paper clip. I found a heaver gauge paperclip, pugged it, and we got two stations.
Haha! I'd always heard about this rumored trick, never bothered to test it. Halfway through the video I ran to the next room where we have a tv only hooked up to video games and a smart device. Put a paperclip in the coax input and BOOM, we've got broadcast reception on it!
In a major metropolitan area, I had 85 channels with my low end external antenna in an attic mount. I took a 6 foot piece of old wire out of the garage plugged it in to the antenna port and got 58 channels. Knowing that any piece of wire can work as an antenna can be helpful in some situations. (like when you are moving and lost the antenna, or when a massive power outage occurs and cable services go out (and suddenly some people with generators, or inverters have the ability to power a TV, but cable and internet are down.) If you are going to improvise an antenna, a longer wire will give you better reception, there are also plans on the internet to make antennas out of aluminum foil or a disposable pie plates. If going this route, shape makes a big difference in antenna performance (a 12" crescent moon shape antenna with the center part of the RG-6 cable connected to one side and the insulating sheathe connected to the other side is one popular easy way to do it.)
I remember in high school I had a class that had a TV with a vhs in the room. Our teacher was best friends with another teacher close by. And she would leave the class a lot n put me in charge. And I would use a paper clip on the TV to catch channels. Some of the kids thought I was so cool and would call me Macgyver
I tried this trick a couple years back on an old Vizio 32 inch TV I had in my room. Picked up at least 20 channels, one of which was in HD which was neat. I'll have to try the bare coax cable trick and see what happens with that on my new 40 inch Vizio.
Takes me back to my high school days when I was learning basic electronics and one of our projects was to build a simple AM radio receiver. Everyone else's had to be turned on to work, but mine clearly worked without a battery. No one believed me without listening to the earphone themselves. True it could only pick up one station, but it was on the strength of that station's signal alone. Not even the instructor could figure out how I screwed up such a simple project as to allow me to listen to (what was then) WCAU-1210 for free. I guess you could chalk it up to the same phenomenon as people who get broadcasts on their dental work.
You probably inadvertently built a fox hole radio. With the right impedance on an earphone you wont need to have external power to be able to hear some radio stations, though it does depend on their location and transmit power.
@@MrDarkDragone Same thing can happen with telephone lines lol. I was exploring an abandoned beach front community in Connecticut that was really close to a broadcasting tower. No power anywhere on the peninsula. While I was moving around, I accidentally bumped a telephone handset off it's cradle and was surprised to hear voices. It was a local talk radio station that was being picked up and transmitted through the lines.
@@zoppie I remember that everyone back then listened to AM radio. WCAU transmitter had the strongest power output so we could pick it up easily although we had our radios powered.
In testing my new AM/FM antenna (Pixel Technology AFHD-4) I was able to pick up KAXL-FM which is 260 miles away (crow flying). Quality antennas are well worth the money.
If you want the paperclip to receive stations more effectively, you need to unbend it, into a square, with rounded corners. That way it's multidirectional, and we all know static can build up on pointed, or square corners. If the stations you want to receive are further away a forming a small loop on each of the unbent paperclips and joining them together as an unfolded paperclip chain will pull them in.
Had a TV out in my garage that I put a blue pushpin in the antenna jack and wrapped some wire around the metal pin part and ran it up the wall so I could watch college football out there on the fly, actually worked out well.
Oh and don't forget about analog tv, a paperclip definitely did picked up any analog tv signal including radio stations. And yes, a simple metal clothes hanger will also do the trick 👍
Don't forget the McKyver antenna which can pick up channels 520 miles away and even communication signals from distant planets in our galaxy. It is made out of a tin can lid, toothpick, some string, and a 6 pack of Bud.
I made a paperclip antenna a few years ago with aluminum foil for better reception (to extend the length), and that convinced my parents to use an antenna. My dad loves western channels, and he always watches Grit. Remember, an outdoor antenna is ALWAYS better! More gain (elements) = better reception, and more channels (sometimes). I heard the cable channel Oxygen is out over the air in LA, Houston, and Phoenix. Interesting move by NBC.
What I recently discovered that on non smart TV (Samsung); when you press menu button and go to support -> self diagnosis -> signal information you can see some useful information about signal strength and use your paperclip more effectively... :D
Yes, I found that recently myself on Samsung. Tyler might want to consider sharing that information. It would be far better for TV manufacturers to just put that info directly on the screen next to the channel number or directly under the tools button instead of buried 3 tiers down in menus. Many FM manufacturers put signal meters on their receivers. Why not TV's? At the end of the day, if your antenna is not optimally aligned, the product will provide poor results. You'd think they would make aligning an antenna easier. It always makes me wonder if the engineers that design these products actually use them? Not just TV's but many products.
Yep, depending on the sensitivity of the receiving TV or other device’s tuner and distance between the transmitters and the paper clip antenna. The antenna will not be optimum as will not be the correct length for the frequencies transmitter on, (VHF and Low end of the UHF band require a longer cut on a 1/2 wave dipole). The other problem is this simple, non ideal, antenna, will not be able to reject multi path signals, they become a real problem as the signal are delayed and out of timing with the original, which in the days of analog, we referred to as ghosting. So if the strong signals bounce off multiple reflecting objects like steel building, tall office buildings, stadiums, bridges etc. including the occasional Airplane flying by! To calculate the correct length of a 1/2 dipole antenna with no multipath rejection, here is a handy calculator. You will need the real frequencies of the new real transmit channels the stations are remapped to, not the numbers they go by from days of old so the change in numbers wouldn’t cost their graphics and news set designers time changing it with number like 032-01 when they used to be a simple 27. Somehow they think being as lister under a system as complicated as a cable converter would lose them viewers X and advertising money. Uggh! The frequency picked can be in the middle of your pack of transmit frequencies and should be in Megahertz MHZ. There are options to choose whatever way you want to express the target frequency, if making a full dipole antenna the impedance is not close to 75 ohms, but is 300 ohms, so an impedance matching transformer (Balun) is necessary to get to 75 ohms which is what your TV is designed to accept. The 1/2 dipole antenna will have an impedance of 50 ohms and while a mismatch, is close enough that a matching transform will unlikely to be necessary to get good results. To properly match, you could add a series connected resistor of 25 Ohms. www.omnicalculator.com/physics/dipole
Haha I’m a mile and a half from a bunch of tv stations and I’m getting channels with a bare coaxial cable from the box of random cables. Good enough for me! Thank you antenna man!
If you want a decent inside antenna, try a Channel Master Duo 35. It works amazingly well for $20 from Channel Master including shipping. I got one after a friend referred me and I even get my weakest translator here.
To add to the info on the Duo 35. The unit does come with a nice piece of RG6, but it wasn't long enough to reach the window facing North pointed where the translators are located, in the next room, so I replaced the piece with 25 feet of good Quad Shield RG6 to reach the window. Once I did that, I just stuck the Duo 35 between two books on book shelf by the window with the edge facing the North and a few inches from the glass and in popped everything. I did peak it on ch 34 the lowest power translator and I was up to 80% easily. So anyone can add a longer piece of RG6, just use good quad shield RG6, as you do not want to add more loss. I did try an outboard booster, but it not add much. The antenna itself claims 6DB on UHF, and apparently 6DB is enough. I figure in a metro area with higher powered transmitters, someone should have no issues, especially if they are line of sight. I'm between 10.6 and 12.2 miles from all 6 of the translators here giving me 33 channels. The translators are (23) PBS (6.2 KW ERP), 17 NBC, 26 ABC, 36 IND (Weigel) are 5 KW ERP, 21 FOX (1.86 KW ERP), and 34 CBS (546 watts ERP). The Duo 35 gets them all well. For an inexpensive indoor antenna, I would easily give it 5 stars. I don't do that often either.
great for just briefly testing but now my go to are those little remote antennas from the back of old dish network multi room DVRs (basically the little antenna directly connected to a F connector.
After hurricane Irma, my neighborhood in the Tampa area didn’t have cable for a bit. Guess who was a god on their street when he told people they could use a paper clip to get about 27 channels here… this guy.
I once worked for a A/V home theater company. We installed a new TV at high rise condo building in Virginia Beach VA. They had no cable installed yet. I knew they were close to the TV towers and at a higher elevation so I put about a 6" long piece of a center conductor out of RG6 cable in the TVs cable connector and the customer was able to get a few channels until they got service.
Fund debunking video. Our nearest TV station WMUR RF 9 is 12.5 miles away so the paperclip antenna works fine in our basement. However for the other NH VHF station and Boston UHF stations I needed a combination of a good VHF-hi and UHF roof top antennas.
I am sure your $9.95 Super HD Paperclip Digital Antenna is the ultimate in paperclip antennas, but I'm gonna save a few bucks and order the $2.95 Ping-Ding Paperclip Digital Antenna. Oh wait, I see, they sell 'em super cheap at the office supply store - I get 100 of them for $7.95... LOL. Great video!
You can unplug the antenna on your car radio and use a paper clip to only recieved a signal from a fm signal adaptor to your phone or other devise to listen to Internet music ipod ect over your car stereo .
We once hooked a speaker wire up to the wire cage of a dead shop fan, and we got 8 more channels than our old Rabbit ears did! So for a while we had a shop fan cage hanging from our living room wall on two drywall screws with washers lol. But then DTV happened and our shop fan cage didn't work anymore lol
20 miles outside Memphis, in a steel-frame, cinderblock school building, I used the paperclip and picked up what may be all the Memphis channels aside from WMC, the NBC affiliate, and WHBQ, the Fox affiliate. I haven't done a channel count yet.
It saved us during helene in Western nc we had no internet for 3 weeks,but with a paperclip we got a local news channel and got some news updates about the devastation around us. I also picked up cozi tv so we had a little to watch a bunch of CSI...
Prior to watching this video I used a paperclip to get 40 channels in my local area (Greensboro, NC). My Towers are 15 to 45 miles away. Only one set of channels was weak (NBC). I wondered if a paper clip could get this many, could a antenna get more and perhaps pickup the NBC channel 45 miles away. So I bought a Channel Master Flatenna 50+ (comes with a inline amplifier), final result NO DIFFERENCE from the paperclip. Guess I would need a rooftop antenna to improve signal strength.
In the early 2000s, when my brother got his first digital TV with ATSC tuner, I connected a short piece of coax to the TV but no channels came through because the house is about 25 miles from the transmitter and the house had aluminum siding. But I explained that your bones are made of calcium - a metal. And the closest you can get to your bones is through your teeth - also calcium/metal. I stuck the center conductor of the coax between my front teeth and the local CBS channel popped on at 40% signal strength. Kids laughed like he11. I raised my arms and it went up to 55%. I got 8 channels using my skeleton via my incisor teeth with an old piece of RG59 coax. Maybe I should sell human skeletons on craigslist as "HD compatible 4k-ready" antennas.
Don't know why but this reminded me of that gadget they sold in Magazines. You plugged it in and it claimed it turned your wiring into a big Antenna. I need to find it in my storage. Never tried it on Digital Signals
While this may all be true, I have an antenna that is made of metal loops and coils, and that run into the TV via coaxial, and which the coaxial runs through sn amplifier that is powered by 110v AC. The difference in signal with it plugged in and when it isn't is huge, and I have had clear reception on every major network 30 miles outside of a major city as long as there was unbroken line of site into the city. If I placed it outside of a window pointed at the city, no other antenna would come close.
Copper wire used to be my go to before over the air signals became digital.Copper wire in the input had much more range than a set of rabbit ears in my hometown.It was like having a mini rooftop antenna without having a rooftop antenna.
Funny video. In a pinch (storm damage--antenna and power), I hooked up my generator for lights, fans and tvs, and used the larger office sized paper clip and stretched it out. I received local channel 41 and sub channels so I was at least able to watch current weather events. Going a little more modified, I took a triple splitter and inserted 2 paper clips and my moving it around was able to garner a few more channels. I should have sold the idea on a shopping channel and made millions of $$$$....lol Buy it now! HD clip antenna! heheheheh
You went upstairs for a reason. Makeshift aerials only have a chance to work at an elevated position. Hardly on the ground level. And need to be pretty close to the transmitter. And, a paperclip can only pick up UHF signal; for VHF use a piece of wire. What’s good, in digital tv age you never get snow or ghosting even with simplest antenna.
When I was a kid (I'm 60+ yrs old) we'd wrap foil around the rabbit ears to get better reception and to think now a paper clip actually gets full channels.
I use to use paper clips to make free phone calls at pay phones back in the day, put one end in middle of receiver and other on the coin box,then dial.
Go up on the roof of your house, apartment, boat shed, whatever. Look around in all directions. If you can see the broadcast towers nearby or off in the distance then yes a paper clip will work to receive a signal. Possibly if you need/use a pair of binoculars to see the towers at a far distance you may even get a signal with a p.c.. If you can't see any towers with your naked eyes or binox then a p.c. will most like receive a very weak signal or no signal at all from more than 5 or 10-15 miles away.
Thanks Tyler...just signed for your super HD antenna wave amplifier attenuater clip...going with 12 mths supply🏃👍😱😳🙀🕵so family and friends can have bday gifts 😲😺😄👍whee... As always Your friend Jerry W
After seeing this wonderful demonstration I raced to my PC to try and buy that amazing antenna called a paperclip. Upon trying to place my order though I accidentally noticed a lot of antennas that look exactly like it at my desk. I proceeded to try each and every one of them and they appear to work every bit as well as your paper clip does. Being the entrepreneur that I am I am announcing I have many paper clip antennas instead of just a single paperclip available for $8.99 each. if anyone is interested they can contact me and receive an equally good product for just $8.99 per paper clip. That's right the amazing HD Paper Clip Antenna can be yours for just $8.99. Act now while supplies last. Subject to availability, I think I might be getting a big shipment in quite soon though. My local supplier is able to mass produce these. More will be available soon depending how well the sales go. Sorry antenna man. I'm sure you understand.
So you'll be rebranding the channel to Paper Clip Man? I have several friends who live near the TV towers in Houston. (Like within a mile) They use paperclips to pick up the signals.
I’m still going to use my fm radio antenna and I was able to get a analog tv channel with a jumper cable and a closet door sadly I did not think on recording. It and it was very snowy and no audio flickering. Between colour and black and white
👇 Link to order the HD Digital Paperclip 📎
www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=YUGGUQY833HAG
👇Affiliate Link to recommended antennas 📡
www.amazon.com/shop/antennaman?listId=2LH365VAPDKLC
📡 For an antenna recommendation visit my website
www.antennamanpa.com/index.html
Do we get a discount for ordering an entire box ?
🤣
I've gotta have one!!
Kewl beans. I'm so glad you are busting the antenna scammers. An od story i heard back in the late 60s was about a guy who hung an old spring set from an old mattress in a tree and pissed of his neighbor who had spent a lot of money on an expensive antenna and still couldn't get all the channels that were available in this area but the guy with the bed springs in the tree was getting all the channels without Shadows or anyting and it literally cost him nothing
@@eminence_front6043 can we pick up Andromeda ?
Tyler what is s the best converter box you can buy ?
"But...if you order *now*, I will ship you ANOTHER HD paper clip, absolutely FREE - just pay shipping & handling."
Hilarious video, Tyler. Well done.
Darn it, I should have added that to my competing product which is only $8.99.
Been there, done that. Was selling a TV and buyer wanted to see the picture and my 150 mile range paper clip was my only option. ;-) But wait! There's more! If you order within the next 10 minutes we'll send you a 2nd HD Paperclip for free. Just pay additional processing.
This has made my whole day. I laughed so hard when he started marketing the paper clip that I spit out my food 😂
While supplies last.
Shipping and handling extra.
With approved credit.
Void where prohibited.
Batteries not included.
Must be 18 or older to order.
Allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery.
Sorry, no COD's.
What colors does it come in?
I will take 4 digital HD paper clip great value.
Can you send me a box of them I want to go into business and make millions.
Hi def paper clip with 200 mile range
🤭 He's quite the salesman 🕊 PEACE 💜 BLESSINGS 👼
Yep 😅😅
Lmao
$149.99
flat earthers dream
Definitely used this at work during an emergency. We had a TV on the wall but no antenna. Paperclip worked well enough to let us see the news coverage of the emergency.
Great presentation, Tyler! I never tried just a paperclip. In the Air Force, we brought in the only station in town with a trusty coat hanger.
LoL 😅
On an old black and white telly that used to belong to my nanna, in the days when we only had three channels in the UK - or possibly a fourth, if you could get an additional ITV region - I managed to get a pretty good signal with a pure wire coat hanger - only seemed to work properly on nanna’s telly - colour tellies were a bit fussy - an indoor aerial only worked adequately, though not necessarily acceptably, on a portable telly, but the main telly only worked well with a rooftop aerial - later on, you could buy aerial boosters, but, in some houses, you had to install the telly in the only room that got any reception at all and only in one part of the room - otherwise you got no reception at all, even with the booster!
@@arthurvasey VHF takes two coat hangers, or if the TV is grounded, only one on the center connection. The UHF connects across ground and center so use one.
@@alexanderpryor6563 VHF telly in this country (the UK) finally closed down in 1985, depending on where you lived at the time, so you can’t get anything on it to try that theory out - and, if you can, it’s a freak transmission - even UHF television closed down more recently - if you haven’t got digital television, and you haven’t got internet, or, you have internet, but you skimped and went for the cheapest option, you haven’t got television!
I have actually used a coat hanger back in the '80s. It works. It's legit.
In a pinch I watched TV with a 3 foot wire but I never tried a paper clip. Awesome! The best antenna I ever used was in the 70s when I was in the Navy. We hooked up a CB radio to our 50 foot whip antenna array on the ship's stern. We could hear every trucker on the California coast.
Man 50 foot......any standing waves?
@@jerrydemas2020 We did try transmitting and fried it, so yes. LOL
Yes, it works here too, 30 miles from Boston,
MA, on a 300 foot hill in NH, near the MA
border. I have built UHF 4 bay bootie TV
antennas of aluminum foil, wire and small
screw on a cardboard backing, for free,
from an article years ago in the former
Popular Electronics magazine, and it was
pretty resonant to the frequencies. I have
also built directional beam antennas for
various frequencies with a stick of wood,
antenna ground rod elements, and a matching setup. Thanks 😊 Ray, W2CH.
I figured you had to be a ham ;-) 73 de N1XU
@@aramb Thanks, you too. Been
licensed 60 years since March 1962. I was
originally. WA2ZPD until I became an extra,
and this vanity call in 1997. My wife, too is
a General Class since 2004, KC2NKU. 73
Funny I'm going to start calling uhf bowtie antennas bootie antennas just because it's silly. Kinda like A dead parrot naild to a perch so it won't muscle up to the bars and voom...
I'm thinking: Why use a paperclip antenna when one can use a "bootie antenna"! Bootie antennas sounds like a lot more fun to use, but it might hurt, though. Tyler MUST do a video on one.🤣
@@johnnysea7 I meant Bowtie antenna, not shake your booty.
Tyler. Scan channels with a paperclip record the channels then re scan with a good antenna and compare the results with your audience. Love your cander!
Back in the day 1960's we used a coat hanger wrapped in aluminum foil! It sucked but got a couple of channels too.
When HD first came out I had a DLP TV that I watched the superbowl with a coat hanger. The cable was only broadcasting 480i analog.
I also at work inside an old building in the basement I hooked a piece of 12 gauge wire to the conduit in the ceiling for an antenna for the stereo. It didn't work as well but did pick up some close FM stations.
When I was a kid, my dad used a bicycle wheel and it worked very well and it was multi-directional as well.
$9.99 for an HD paper clip? That’s a steal knowing it installs in seconds and you don’t have to see it 🤣. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone were to do that and ended up getting rich knowing how many people will fall for anything these days. Keep up the great work and love this channel.
I found paper clips in my drawer. 😅😅
@@runrafarunthebestintheworld now you can have HD in every room in the house 😂😂😂
@@michaeldavis6550 I think I might just carry a paperclip. 😅😅
Not only informative but entertaining. Thanks Tyler!
At last,Tyler reviews one of my favorite antennas. LOL. I used to pick up used TVs/Vcrs back in the day (or at least test them) from thrift stores(stereos,too). Mr Paper Clip would at least tell me if the tuner worked on the device, It just demonstrates the principle that Tyler has long espoused. "There is no such thing as an HD Antenna".
As an electronic tech i have been testing tv's this way for 55 years.
I have a gold finished paperclip. I got about 20 channels! I live about 5 miles from several of my high power locals. I think the gold finish did the trick, LOL!
I did that. I was spending a few days with some relatives with a DISH receiver. The receiver had an ATSC 1.0 tuner in it.
I told them I could get off-air TV with a paper clip. I found a heaver gauge paperclip, pugged it, and we got two stations.
I need to upgrade to the HD paperclip.
Haha! I'd always heard about this rumored trick, never bothered to test it. Halfway through the video I ran to the next room where we have a tv only hooked up to video games and a smart device. Put a paperclip in the coax input and BOOM, we've got broadcast reception on it!
I did the same about half way through the video too!
@@chrisbosley7095 I did it right after watching the video. 😅😅
In a major metropolitan area, I had 85 channels with my low end external antenna in an attic mount. I took a 6 foot piece of old wire out of the garage plugged it in to the antenna port and got 58 channels. Knowing that any piece of wire can work as an antenna can be helpful in some situations. (like when you are moving and lost the antenna, or when a massive power outage occurs and cable services go out (and suddenly some people with generators, or inverters have the ability to power a TV, but cable and internet are down.) If you are going to improvise an antenna, a longer wire will give you better reception, there are also plans on the internet to make antennas out of aluminum foil or a disposable pie plates. If going this route, shape makes a big difference in antenna performance (a 12" crescent moon shape antenna with the center part of the RG-6 cable connected to one side and the insulating sheathe connected to the other side is one popular easy way to do it.)
I remember in high school I had a class that had a TV with a vhs in the room. Our teacher was best friends with another teacher close by. And she would leave the class a lot n put me in charge. And I would use a paper clip on the TV to catch channels. Some of the kids thought I was so cool and would call me Macgyver
I tried this trick a couple years back on an old Vizio 32 inch TV I had in my room. Picked up at least 20 channels, one of which was in HD which was neat. I'll have to try the bare coax cable trick and see what happens with that on my new 40 inch Vizio.
That's really something. Thanks for another interesting video. I'm glad to say that I CUT THE CORD two months ago. I'm so happy about it.
Takes me back to my high school days when I was learning basic electronics and one of our projects was to build a simple AM radio receiver. Everyone else's had to be turned on to work, but mine clearly worked without a battery. No one believed me without listening to the earphone themselves. True it could only pick up one station, but it was on the strength of that station's signal alone.
Not even the instructor could figure out how I screwed up such a simple project as to allow me to listen to (what was then) WCAU-1210 for free. I guess you could chalk it up to the same phenomenon as people who get broadcasts on their dental work.
You probably inadvertently built a fox hole radio. With the right impedance on an earphone you wont need to have external power to be able to hear some radio stations, though it does depend on their location and transmit power.
WCAU 1210. Is that Philly?
@@MrDarkDragone Same thing can happen with telephone lines lol. I was exploring an abandoned beach front community in Connecticut that was really close to a broadcasting tower. No power anywhere on the peninsula. While I was moving around, I accidentally bumped a telephone handset off it's cradle and was surprised to hear voices. It was a local talk radio station that was being picked up and transmitted through the lines.
@@johngallagher912 Yes. Though now it's WPHT-1210.
@@zoppie I remember that everyone back then listened to AM radio. WCAU transmitter had the strongest power output so we could pick it up easily although we had our radios powered.
In testing my new AM/FM antenna (Pixel Technology AFHD-4) I was able to pick up KAXL-FM which is 260 miles away (crow flying). Quality antennas are well worth the money.
@@chrisgarrett9619 The adpaters to split the AM and FM signal plus other attenuators are definitely not for cars and mandatory.
@@chrisgarrett9619 Why would you put a 4 foot antenna on a car?
@@chrisgarrett9619 I have a life and it doesn't revolve around 4' phallic symbols.
Clippy: "It looks like you're trying to cut the cord, would you like help?"
My thoughts exactly! Maybe an opportunity for Microsoft to release a Clippy antennae 😂
Only $75, paid annually.
Thanks for the great video. You are right, if the signal is strong enough, you can get it using almost anything.
The paper clip would work as well as some of those junk antennas you review.
Tyler, you are just hilarious. Thanks for all you do.
The sarcasm wasn't scathing at all. Great video.
I was almost ready to go buy one at Staples. Crisis averted. I will buy the HD paper clip from you, because I know you are a reliable source. 😆
If you want the paperclip to receive stations more effectively, you need to unbend it, into a square, with rounded corners. That way it's multidirectional, and we all know static can build up on pointed, or square corners. If the stations you want to receive are further away a forming a small loop on each of the unbent paperclips and joining them together as an unfolded paperclip chain will pull them in.
Had a TV out in my garage that I put a blue pushpin in the antenna jack and wrapped some wire around the metal pin part and ran it up the wall so I could watch college football out there on the fly, actually worked out well.
Oh and don't forget about analog tv, a paperclip definitely did picked up any analog tv signal including radio stations. And yes, a simple metal clothes hanger will also do the trick 👍
Don't forget the McKyver antenna which can pick up channels 520 miles away and even communication signals from distant planets in our galaxy. It is made out of a tin can lid, toothpick, some string, and a 6 pack of Bud.
I made a paperclip antenna a few years ago with aluminum foil for better reception (to extend the length), and that convinced my parents to use an antenna. My dad loves western channels, and he always watches Grit. Remember, an outdoor antenna is ALWAYS better! More gain (elements) = better reception, and more channels (sometimes). I heard the cable channel Oxygen is out over the air in LA, Houston, and Phoenix. Interesting move by NBC.
An interesting move by NBC, indeed.😊
@@NorthcoasterHobby Good videos, man! Hopefully this trend of cable channels OTA will continue!
@@sethbessinger2025 hopefully!
Love it! Hahaha! I remember adding aluminum foil to crap antennas back in the day, too.
Hay , Mr Antenna Man You have saved me over $1000.00 Dollars in the last 14 months
LoL Good One Tyler!!
Wish I would of thought of that, you know how hard it is these days to find a metal coat hanger, they work good too.
What I recently discovered that on non smart TV (Samsung); when you press menu button and go to support -> self diagnosis -> signal information you can see some useful information about signal strength and use your paperclip more effectively... :D
Yes, I found that recently myself on Samsung. Tyler might want to consider sharing that information. It would be far better for TV manufacturers to just put that info directly on the screen next to the channel number or directly under the tools button instead of buried 3 tiers down in menus. Many FM manufacturers put signal meters on their receivers. Why not TV's? At the end of the day, if your antenna is not optimally aligned, the product will provide poor results. You'd think they would make aligning an antenna easier. It always makes me wonder if the engineers that design these products actually use them? Not just TV's but many products.
@@RickPaquin I wish more manufacturers would put S-meters on their TVs. It would make setting up antennas much easier.
This was awesome! Thanks for all your awesome videos Tyler!!!
Yep, depending on the sensitivity of the receiving TV or other device’s tuner and distance between the transmitters and the paper clip antenna. The antenna will not be optimum as will not be the correct length for the frequencies transmitter on, (VHF and Low end of the UHF band require a longer cut on a 1/2 wave dipole). The other problem is this simple, non ideal, antenna, will not be able to reject multi path signals, they become a real problem as the signal are delayed and out of timing with the original, which in the days of analog, we referred to as ghosting. So if the strong signals bounce off multiple reflecting objects like steel building, tall office buildings, stadiums, bridges etc. including the occasional Airplane flying by!
To calculate the correct length of a 1/2 dipole antenna with no multipath rejection, here is a handy calculator. You will need the real frequencies of the new real transmit channels the stations are remapped to, not the numbers they go by from days of old so the change in numbers wouldn’t cost their graphics and news set designers time changing it with number like 032-01 when they used to be a simple 27. Somehow they think being as lister under a system as complicated as a cable converter would lose them viewers X and advertising money. Uggh!
The frequency picked can be in the middle of your pack of transmit frequencies and should be in Megahertz MHZ. There are options to choose whatever way you want to express the target frequency, if making a full dipole antenna the impedance is not close to 75 ohms, but is 300 ohms, so an impedance matching transformer (Balun) is necessary to get to 75 ohms which is what your TV is designed to accept. The 1/2 dipole antenna will have an impedance of 50 ohms and while a mismatch, is close enough that a matching transform will unlikely to be necessary to get good results. To properly match, you could add a series connected resistor of 25 Ohms.
www.omnicalculator.com/physics/dipole
I used to use old speaker wire. worked pretty well back in the day
Haha I’m a mile and a half from a bunch of tv stations and I’m getting channels with a bare coaxial cable from the box of random cables. Good enough for me! Thank you antenna man!
Enhanced my wire with tinfoil and now I get 84 channels while shoved vertically behind my tv lol
You're so funny!!! AND so informative in your videos. Thank you Tyler for keeping us informed AND entertained;)!!
If you want a decent inside antenna, try a Channel Master Duo 35. It works amazingly well for $20 from Channel Master including shipping. I got one after a friend referred me and I even get my weakest translator here.
To add to the info on the Duo 35. The unit does come with a nice piece of RG6, but it wasn't long enough to reach the window facing North pointed where the translators are located, in the next room, so I replaced the piece with 25 feet of good Quad Shield RG6 to reach the window. Once I did that, I just stuck the Duo 35 between two books on book shelf by the window with the edge facing the North and a few inches from the glass and in popped everything. I did peak it on ch 34 the lowest power translator and I was up to 80% easily. So anyone can add a longer piece of RG6, just use good quad shield RG6, as you do not want to add more loss. I did try an outboard booster, but it not add much. The antenna itself claims 6DB on UHF, and apparently 6DB is enough. I figure in a metro area with higher powered transmitters, someone should have no issues, especially if they are line of sight. I'm between 10.6 and 12.2 miles from all 6 of the translators here giving me 33 channels. The translators are (23) PBS (6.2 KW ERP), 17 NBC, 26 ABC, 36 IND (Weigel) are 5 KW ERP, 21 FOX (1.86 KW ERP), and 34 CBS (546 watts ERP). The Duo 35 gets them all well. For an inexpensive indoor antenna, I would easily give it 5 stars. I don't do that often either.
Please consider looking at different DIY antennas, I made one that worked great for my buddy in Watsonville Ca. He got over a dozen channels.
I just noticed you set your profile picture as the thumbnail from the last video 😂😂 love it!
great for just briefly testing but now my go to are those little remote antennas from the back of old dish network multi room DVRs (basically the little antenna directly connected to a F connector.
Back in the old days at Ultimate Electronics, we used paper clips all the time to get a temporary/test image.
After hurricane Irma, my neighborhood in the Tampa area didn’t have cable for a bit. Guess who was a god on their street when he told people they could use a paper clip to get about 27 channels here… this guy.
I once worked for a A/V home theater company. We installed a new TV at high rise condo building in Virginia Beach VA. They had no cable installed yet. I knew they were close to the TV towers and at a higher elevation so I put about a 6" long piece of a center conductor out of RG6 cable in the TVs cable connector and the customer was able to get a few channels until they got service.
If you need a stronger signal, just buy larger paper clips.....🤣
p.s : you can also string a bunch of them together ....😂
Fund debunking video. Our nearest TV station WMUR RF 9 is 12.5 miles away so the paperclip antenna works fine in our basement. However for the other NH VHF station and Boston UHF stations I needed a combination of a good VHF-hi and UHF roof top antennas.
I am sure your $9.95 Super HD Paperclip Digital Antenna is the ultimate in paperclip antennas, but I'm gonna save a few bucks and order the $2.95 Ping-Ding Paperclip Digital Antenna. Oh wait, I see, they sell 'em super cheap at the office supply store - I get 100 of them for $7.95... LOL. Great video!
You can unplug the antenna on your car radio and use a paper clip to only recieved a signal from a fm signal adaptor to your phone or other devise to listen to Internet music ipod ect over your car stereo .
You hit a home run that was great and so funny could not stop laughing
We once hooked a speaker wire up to the wire cage of a dead shop fan, and we got 8 more channels than our old Rabbit ears did! So for a while we had a shop fan cage hanging from our living room wall on two drywall screws with washers lol. But then DTV happened and our shop fan cage didn't work anymore lol
Hi !!! I love your Channel. I've been watching n learning from you for a long time. Thx for all you do to help us.
20 miles outside Memphis, in a steel-frame, cinderblock school building, I used the paperclip and picked up what may be all the Memphis channels aside from WMC, the NBC affiliate, and WHBQ, the Fox affiliate. I haven't done a channel count yet.
**LIAR!!**
I already have 100 of those paper clips (for just $1.99) in my desk drawer!
It saved us during helene in Western nc we had no internet for 3 weeks,but with a paperclip we got a local news channel and got some news updates about the devastation around us. I also picked up cozi tv so we had a little to watch a bunch of CSI...
Prior to watching this video I used a paperclip to get 40 channels in my local area (Greensboro, NC). My Towers are 15 to 45 miles away. Only one set of channels was weak (NBC). I wondered if a paper clip could get this many, could a antenna get more and perhaps pickup the NBC channel 45 miles away. So I bought a Channel Master Flatenna 50+ (comes with a inline amplifier), final result NO DIFFERENCE from the paperclip. Guess I would need a rooftop antenna to improve signal strength.
In the early 2000s, when my brother got his first digital TV with ATSC tuner, I connected a short piece of coax to the TV but no channels came through because the house is about 25 miles from the transmitter and the house had aluminum siding. But I explained that your bones are made of calcium - a metal. And the closest you can get to your bones is through your teeth - also calcium/metal. I stuck the center conductor of the coax between my front teeth and the local CBS channel popped on at 40% signal strength. Kids laughed like he11. I raised my arms and it went up to 55%. I got 8 channels using my skeleton via my incisor teeth with an old piece of RG59 coax. Maybe I should sell human skeletons on craigslist as "HD compatible 4k-ready" antennas.
that ad for the paper clip is too funny.
Now that was funny!! Thanks for laughs Tyler!
Don't know why but this reminded me of that gadget they sold in Magazines. You plugged it in and it claimed it turned your wiring into a big Antenna. I need to find it in my storage. Never tried it on Digital Signals
While this may all be true, I have an antenna that is made of metal loops and coils, and that run into the TV via coaxial, and which the coaxial runs through sn amplifier that is powered by 110v AC. The difference in signal with it plugged in and when it isn't is huge, and I have had clear reception on every major network 30 miles outside of a major city as long as there was unbroken line of site into the city. If I placed it outside of a window pointed at the city, no other antenna would come close.
Copper wire used to be my go to before over the air signals became digital.Copper wire in the input had much more range than a set of rabbit ears in my hometown.It was like having a mini rooftop antenna without having a rooftop antenna.
Funny video. In a pinch (storm damage--antenna and power), I hooked up my generator for lights, fans and tvs, and used the larger office sized paper clip and stretched it out. I received local channel 41 and sub channels so I was at least able to watch current weather events. Going a little more modified, I took a triple splitter and inserted 2 paper clips and my moving it around was able to garner a few more channels. I should have sold the idea on a shopping channel and made millions of $$$$....lol Buy it now! HD clip antenna! heheheheh
You went upstairs for a reason. Makeshift aerials only have a chance to work at an elevated position. Hardly on the ground level. And need to be pretty close to the transmitter. And, a paperclip can only pick up UHF signal; for VHF use a piece of wire. What’s good, in digital tv age you never get snow or ghosting even with simplest antenna.
It's actually a VHF signal I picked up and I can get it on the main floor of my home with a paperclip. It's just harder to pick up.
Back in the day….. had rabbit ears and had a potatoe on each rabbit ear boy did it help the antenna. Glad those days in tv are gone
Thanks for another great video.
Happy Easter!
Best,
Joe
When I was a kid (I'm 60+ yrs old) we'd wrap foil around the rabbit ears to get better reception and to think now a paper clip actually gets full channels.
When I lived in Raleigh my roommate could pick up wral with a bare port. I still gave her an antenna though.
Recorded horizontally:)
I use to use paper clips to make free phone calls at pay phones back in the day, put one end in middle of receiver and other on the coin box,then dial.
First time I saw paper clip antennas was at an electronics store in the 90s that was literally next door to the area tv transmitters.
Besides paper clips, coat hangers covered in aluminum foil and pie plates also work as basic TV antennas...
Metal coathangers have long been used for UHF reception.
LOL !!!!!
Classic . . . Happy Easter Tyler.
Wait wait wait.. your telling me that a paper clips is made of metal?? WTF just mind blowing
Go up on the roof of your house, apartment, boat shed, whatever. Look around in all directions. If you can see the broadcast towers nearby or off in the distance then yes a paper clip will work to receive a signal. Possibly if you need/use a pair of binoculars to see the towers at a far distance you may even get a signal with a p.c.. If you can't see any towers with your naked eyes or binox then a p.c. will most like receive a very weak signal or no signal at all from more than 5 or 10-15 miles away.
in the 90's I used a glad garbage twist tie for like 5 years
Antenna man I learn lot from you about tv sets and antenna for tv sets my friend
$9.99. does that include shipping? Should it be insured? Do you take credit cards?
A few weeks ago I was picking up a channel without an antenna. It wasn't stable but it was coming in.
I made an antenna out of a cd jewel case, foil tape and spring steel paper binders connected to a 300 ohm balun...not bad...not great.
Thanks Tyler...just signed for your super HD antenna wave amplifier attenuater clip...going with 12 mths supply🏃👍😱😳🙀🕵so family and friends can have bday gifts 😲😺😄👍whee...
As always
Your friend
Jerry W
I just ordered 2!,
Tape a copper penny on a cable cord . This works also if you live close to a tv station.
Love to see you put the coat hanger antenna against a real antenna that the simularto it in a test amd see if it works just as well
I live in a super strong signal area and just use a balun and some speaker wire cut to half wave UHF frequency length next to my window
Antenna man your utube videos are awesome my friend
Cute!! And funny!! 📺
I live in an antenna farm. While a paper clip works, it’s only for UHF. VHF stations (we have 2 here) not do much.
Make sure to rescan!
I rescanned. LoL
# 1 best seller wow
After seeing this wonderful demonstration I raced to my PC to try and buy that amazing antenna called a paperclip. Upon trying to place my order though I accidentally noticed a lot of antennas that look exactly like it at my desk. I proceeded to try each and every one of them and they appear to work every bit as well as your paper clip does.
Being the entrepreneur that I am I am announcing I have many paper clip antennas instead of just a single paperclip available for $8.99 each. if anyone is interested they can contact me and receive an equally good product for just $8.99 per paper clip. That's right the amazing HD Paper Clip Antenna can be yours for just $8.99. Act now while supplies last. Subject to availability, I think I might be getting a big shipment in quite soon though. My local supplier is able to mass produce these. More will be available soon depending how well the sales go.
Sorry antenna man. I'm sure you understand.
So you'll be rebranding the channel to Paper Clip Man?
I have several friends who live near the TV towers in Houston. (Like within a mile) They use paperclips to pick up the signals.
I’m still going to use my fm radio antenna and I was able to get a analog tv channel with a jumper cable and a closet door sadly I did not think on recording. It and it was very snowy and no audio flickering. Between colour and black and white
Need to try out fractal antennas now.