To watch broadcasts of the World Cup for the organization's security guards, I made an indoor decimeter TV antenna for DVB-T2.

FIFA World Cup 2026 takes place in Miami, USA.
For the security guards of our organization, I manufactured and installed a television antenna based on a disk from an ES computer.
Antenna dimensions are given in previous article.

Checking the matching of the antenna with the cable

The antenna analyzer was calibrated to 50 ohms. Therefore, he shows the standing wave coefficient for matching with a 75 Ohm cable to be 1.5.

Antenna frequency bands:

• frequency band around 360 MHz - resonance exists, but there is no broadcasting at this frequency.
  

• in the range 470-690 MHz at frequency 585 mHz SWR~=1.5.
  

• in the range 470-690 MHz at frequency 666 mHz SWR~=1.5.
  *

Description of design

1. metal disk
2. wooden strip about 1 meter long.
3. wooden flat block 8 cm long.
4. connecting plate 300x60mm
5. M5 screws for fastening - 9 pcs.
6. nuts - 7 pcs.
7. wing nuts - 2 pcs.
8. M5 washers - 18 pcs.
9. Grover washers - 9 pcs.
10. plastic plinth - 1 pc.
    11.TV cable 75 Ohm - 3 meters
    12.F type connector for cable
    13.F-TV adapter
    14.contact-lobe for connecting the cable core - 1 pc.

A metal disk from an old computer's data storage device is attached to a vertical wooden block at the top and bottom.
The disk itself at the bottom of the antenna is sawn (10 mm gap). In the places where the coaxial cable will be attached to it, the disk is cleaned and tinned.

A wooden block in the lower part is attached to a plastic plinth, which can be installed on roller blinds (automatic shutters).

Connecting the cable core to the disk through a metal petal, which is soldered to the core. For convenience, use a wing nut.
It was not possible to tin the braid (possibly aluminum), so I put the braid braid under the washer and tightened it with another wing nut.

To suppress common-mode braid current (|common mode), I used a shut-off choke made from a coaxial cable.

On the TV side there is a regular F-connector (not shown).

Results of use

Both multiplexes of St. Petersburg are received (at medium frequencies 586 and 666 MHz).
Since the security office is located on the 1st floor, there is no direct visibility of the television center and both direct and reflected signals are received, which creates minimums and maximums of field strength. The level and quality is changing. But in general, reception is available 95% of the time.

Channel "Culture", the first multiplex.

Match TV channel, the first multiplex.

The second multiplex on a frequency of 666 MHz with channels like “Friday”, “Star”, “Mir” was poorly received outside the window. When installing the antenna indoors, the reception is more stable: the image does not crumble 95% of the time. Signal level problem.

Improving reception quality

1) Tried to use reflector from the cover of the computer case. Reception stability without image scattering has improved to 100% of the time. The distance between the reflector and the antenna surface has little effect on the reception quality. Fans of long-range reception definitely need to use an antenna with a reflector, because it also “fences off” from interfering reflected signals and interference coming from the room.

2)Set-top box model(Set-top-box) matters. For example, Rolsen 519W works more reliably in conditions of a weak DVB-T2 signal than a TV. Especially if you enable the 576i mode in it, since the lower output resolution, which corresponds to the resolution of the TV program broadcast signal, leads to less load on the central processor and the image, even with low quality of the input signal, does not crumble into squares.

Conclusion

Compared to the "wave channel" antenna, a flat disk antenna is convenient for installation near a window, because does not protrude beyond the dimensions of the building. Also, such an antenna can be installed indoors. The cable match is good. The lack of gain can be compensated by using a reflector or choosing a more sensitive TV set-top box.

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