Fractal Antenna Systems issued a press release on Monday in which Nathan Cohen, the founder of the company, discussed the use of fractal antennas for TV reception.
"It's gone from a ripple to a torrent," said Cohen. "We used to get one or two TV antenna queries, now my e-mail is peppered daily with happy "thank-you's" for letting folks watch "Family Guy" without snowy signals. Its grass roots, homegrown fractal engineering, [was] built out of fun and fueled by need."
Cohen noted that it was "smart kids and thrifty home experimenters" who began building fractal antennas and trying them out for TV reception.
"It's gratifying to see others with the same curiosity that drove me 25 years ago," Cohen said. "In 20 years, how many of fractal engineering's innovators will have gotten their start by bending a wire for their HDTV?"
In case you are looking into building your own fractal TV antenna, you might want to take a look at some of the Fractal Antenna Systems patents.
"Most fractals will give you better TV reception, but only a handful of specific shapes work better than others," Cohen said. "We have the computer and laboratory tools that let us identify these."
He stressed that an individual who constructs only one or two antennas for his or her experimentation is not violating patent system protection.
In the event you don't want to build your own fractal TV antenna, Cohen said that his company would soon be marketing a fractal product for DTV reception.
"We realize some folks will want to buy their HDTV fractal antennas, so I am happy to report that we will be launching such a product in 2012," said Cohen. "We want to have some HDTV fun too."
