antenna reccomendation

[dsmattin]

I am considering an antenna change either Antenna Direct DB4 or CM4228. Any opinions? I live in Louisville, KY @ 15 miles from transmission towers, a few trees are nearby.

 

[Buzzdar]

This might not be what you are looking for but for me this has now out beat any hdtv antenna i have ever bought too less than 20-30 mins to make.

i am getting 15 digital channels now with this one. and some are over 40 miles away.

YouTube - Coat Hanger HDTV Antenna!

 

[ciwsguy]

I am considering an antenna change either Antenna Direct DB4 or CM4228. Any opinions? I live in Louisville, KY @ 15 miles from transmission towers, a few trees are nearby.

Well, it's a small world. I'm out in Crestwood about 21 miles from the Floyd's Knobs towers and 28 miles from CH 21. I purchased and installed an outdoor Winegard 4-bay bowtie, PR4400. It works just fine. In my loc, I wanted to pickup all the local Digital transmitters with one antenna without installing a rotator. So I positioned the antenna approx half way between the two and cranked the gain up on the distribution amp. Get all of them very well. The PR4400 has a fairly wide beamwidth and decent gain. Trees and other houses don't cause me problems. Though listed as UHF only, mine will also pickup VHF (Digital 21 is actually broadcast on VHF-8). I can even pickup WAVE 3 analog (which is 100 degrees away from Floyd's knobs), so I'm actually picking up VHF-3 on my bowtie's backlobe. The bowties work amazingly well and are not what I would call obtrusive, i.e., big boom antennas. I highly recommend the 4-bay bowtie for your distance from the towers.

 

[Peter Parker]

That close to the towers you probably don't needa 4228. Perhaps 4221 isa better choie.

 

[ciwsguy]

That close to the towers you probably don't needa 4228. Perhaps 4221 isa better choie.

Geronimo,
The 4221 is a Channelmaster 4-bay bowtie, correct? Do you know why they use the fencing behind the active elements? Is that for VHF or does it help reflect the signals back onto the active elements?

 

[Peter Parker]

If you are serious about VHF it may not be best---though I am a similar distance from the towers in my area and get VHF as low as 6 (a now not working LP station).

 

[Larry1]

Geronimo,
The 4221 is a Channelmaster 4-bay bowtie, correct? Do you know why they use the fencing behind the active elements?

It reflects the signal form the pointing direction to increase the signal strength (gain) and blocks the signal from the opposite direction. (high front to back ratio) Not all antennas have the "fencing" and if you are trying to receive signals from two opposite directions, an antenna without the "fencing" would be ideal.

See Here
UHF Antennas, UHF Antenna

Longer bowties will give better VHF reception and shorter bowties will give better gain of the higher channels. So if all your channels are in the high UHF range, trimming the bowties will increase your gain.

 

[ciwsguy]

It reflects the signal form the pointing direction to increase the signal strength (gain) and blocks the signal from the opposite direction. (high front to back ratio) Not all antennas have the "fencing" and if you are trying to receive signals from two opposite directions, an antenna without the "fencing" would be ideal.

See Here
UHF Antennas, UHF Antenna

Longer bowties will give better VHF reception and shorter bowties will give better gain of the higher channels. So if all your channels are in the high UHF range, trimming the bowties will increase your gain.

Ah! So the Winegard 4 bay bowtie (which doesn't have fencing behind the active elements) is able to receive VHF from the backlobe. That explains why I'm able to pickup a high power VHF-L signal about 8 miles distant when I'm facing the other direction.