High Gain Rotating Outdoor VHF/UHF/HDTV/FM Antenna Built-In Amplifier, Remote Control $30 Shipped @ 1 sale

This is interesting: "The motor is powered from control box inside the home through the coaxial cable. No outside power is needed."

Thanks for the info.

I have one of these. They do not have any indicator showing which direction the antenna is pointing.
The antenna rotates so fast that you cannot get an accurate setting, and you do not know which direction
it will rotate. Beware!

cpusrvc said: skidmark said: FauxCaster said: This is interesting: "The motor is powered from control box inside the home through the coaxial cable. No outside power is needed."What is so interesting about that?Well, it means he won't have to change batteries every day.

It also suggests that the cable is not ordinary coax, so if someone needed more than 30 ft., they might have a problem. Anyone know if you can run 12VAC thru normal coax wtth the TV signal?

Ah. I assumed that it had a power lead like DishTV cable.

I just got a Diamond 650 PCI-E TV Tuner card for my HTPC and the over the air signal sucks without an antenna. This would seem to be good. Most of the channels I would want are within close range. So how easy is it to set this up? I have never set up something like this before. How would something like this be installed or mounted?

Thanks OP - In for one.

The amplified rabbit ears behind my TV have not been very consistant, and TVFool says I should get many more stations than I do...

Now I just have to figure out how to build a direction indicator...

what are the dimensions of this antenna?

wizwor said: I don't care for directional antennas. I am pulling in stations from 50 miles with a DB8. It's a little more money, but there are no moving parts or electronics outside.
Links to equipment you have?

an reviews on how this antenna works at pulling in stations? I'm not too concerned about the rotating funcsion as we will probably never use it. All the channels come from the same general direction.

I'm tempted, but from reading the thread it seems that the consensus is that this is a waste of $30.

Current setup: $0.25 rabbit ears you usually stick to the back of a TV, screwed onto the vent on my roof with a 30' coaxial running directly into my TV. this works surprisingly well, but sometimes when the wind blows i can't get certain channels and have to scamper out on the roof to make adjustments...maybe this could remedy that.

someone make the decision for me!

save your money and get an eagle aspen.

LINK

I put one up in our attic and works much better than any indoor antenna.

The last time I tried one of those "flat, vertical grill" UHF antenna (a sizable Antenna Direct DB4), I had great trouble receiving three major VHF ATSC channels from Coney Island, ~11 miles south of transmitters in NYC (Empire State Building and maybe nearby skyscrapers): Channel 7 (WABC), 11 (WPIX-CW), and 13 (WNET-PBS). I'm not sure if those VHF channels have boosted transmission power since then to make a difference, but for the moment, the only sure way to receive those channels is with a VHF-specific Yagi antenna like the one discussed here. I've tried numerous indoor antennas from rabbit ears to the Terk HDTVi (Silver Sensor clone that many people have praised) and never obtained any satisfactory/consistent result.

This antenna is cheap enough to be worth trying, to replace an old roof Yagi that is falling apart. The only thing I wish for is a larger UHF receiving element on it, to receive two PBS channels which I enjoy, WNJN (23 miles away, 30`deg west of my antenna which is pointing toward NYC) and WLIW (30 miles away, 70`deg east).

skidmark said: shinsa said: save your money and get an eagle aspen.

LINK

I put one up in our attic and works much better than any indoor antenna.


Whoa there. That is UHF only. Not all markets have forsaken VHF (mine for one ...) I advise using antennaweb.org to see what the true RF channel assignments are for their desired stations. (Hint: Enter an antenna height of 250 feet to see what fringe stations it MIGHT be possible to get.)

Quote from Antennaweb

It's worth noting that some (but not all) DTV stations currently transmitting in the UHF band will be moving to VHF frequencies formerly occupied by analog stations that are being shut off. On the AntennaWeb results page these stations have two entries, one for current transmissions and one labeled "June 12, 2009 (post-transition)", which shows the new frequency allocation.

To receive all the stations in their area, most people are going to need an antenna that receives both UHF and VHF signals.

LOL! 20 db gain from a single VHF folded dipole

All those gain numbers are BS ! They just add in the gain from the cheap built in amplifier.

100+ miles ... only if you are 2000 feet up on a mountain with direct line of site to the transmitter

eBay is flooded with this crap from the same factory in just different designs.

I would guess no more than 20 miles VHF or 30 miles UHF with this thing unless you have direct line of sight to the transmitter.

$30 is not a bad price for a rotating antenna but just don't fall for the hype of huge distance and gain.

skidmark said: shinsa said: save your money and get an eagle aspen.

LINK

I put one up in our attic and works much better than any indoor antenna.


Whoa there. That is UHF only. Not all markets have forsaken VHF (mine for one ...) I advise using antennaweb.org to see what the true RF channel assignments are for their desired stations. (Hint: Enter an antenna height of 250 feet to see what fringe stations it MIGHT be possible to get.)

Despite the product description, I'm able to get most VHF signals, and the signal strength is much better than my indoor VHF/UHF antenna.

i think that antenna theory is still a mystery to even the best engineers.

here is one reference to amplified antennas causing interference:

"So far, I have tested only a few “amplified indoor antennas” and also some indoor antennas with a separate preamplifier. More to follow. Please don’t ask about specific brands or model numbers, but they are widely distributed products. One of these has a fixed gain, assuming it is switched to the “on” position. When it isn’t powered, it doesn’t pass the antenna signal to its output port.

Having two passive indoor antennas, I put one where the amplified unit was tested and received all local DTV stations. This proves that an amplified antenna is not needed here. Amplified antennas are very small and probably would not have provided enough gain on all stations without the amplifier operating, so any bypass feature would be of little help.

But, perhaps the signals here are too strong here for amplified antennas. My two indoor passive antennas are MegaWave brand devices. I also bought one of the MegaWave branded amplifiers when I purchased these antennas five or six years ago. With the MegaWave amplifier I could receive all local stations, and my spectrum analyzer showed very little, if any, FMI on vacant Channels 7, 9, 11 and 13. This shows that there are some amplifiers that are linear enough to not generate FMI. But how is a consumer going to know which are good and which aren’t so good?

As part of my testing I purchased an amplified indoor antenna from a national chain of retail stores. This one has a gain control feature, but no bypass. I was surprised to find that it worked quite well here when the gain control was set for maximum gain. However, if the gain was reduced, the amplifier generated FMI and reception abruptly failed.

Another amplified antenna was found by reader Howard to oscillate under certain conditions when adjusting its “rabbit ears.” Of course when it oscillates, it’s performing an illegal act and becomes quite useless to the viewer who has no idea that he is operating an illegal transmitter. Recently the FCC has found other instances of oscillating amplified TV antennas."
http://tvtechnology.com/article/88282

i got the indoor/outdoor antenna from Costco, $70. kind of expensive, but workds great, (but ugly looking) i have it sitting on the ground in the corner near the TV and it picks up everything, adjusted it only once when tv was searching for channels.. called Clearstream 2, with lifetime warranty.

Could this antenna be placed inside without a mast?

found it