PBD Outdoor Yagi Satellite HD Antenna – Long-Range Digital TV Antenna for Attic, Roof, or RV, Clear OTA Reception in 4K/1080P, All-Metal Design

I purchased this antenna and the recommended preamp (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SRP6X7Q) because of it’s published specifications, small size, and my experience with this vendor’s other antennas and their very reliable and friendly tech support.. Unfortunately, I have a bunch of conflicting requirements at my location:(1) I do not have line of sight, there are plenty of hills in the way;(2) The VHF and UHF transmitters(which are CBS and ABC, Ch 8 and Ch 10) are on separate mountain tops about 50 miles away, with an angular separation at my location of about 34 degrees. The 3rd OTA network – NBC – is on UHF Ch 39.(3) I have a Solar PV system on the roof, a non-trivial source of EMI in the VHF band during the day;(4) My Homeowners Association limits the physical size of any external antennas;(5) Even without my Solar PV system, my location is not what you would call an “RF quiet zone”, there’s plenty of other local RFI in the area, mostly during the day.One piece of good news, however. VHF propagation conditions are much better at night. I have no UHF issues at any time, it’s the VHF reception that’s an issue in my location.The antenna comes with about 40 ft of high-grade RG6 cable, and that’s what I used in these antenna tests (there is also a short, maybe 3 ft length, “feeder” cable that is used with the amplifier, which I kept attached for all my tests).First a little physics lesson:(1) “Gain” in a passive antenna is determined by directionality, which means physical length (longer and more elements = more “gain”). More gain = better signal but narrower beam width. More detailed information can be found on Wikipedia if you’re interested.(2) The shorter the antenna/fewer elements, the wider the angular beam width, which in turn reduces the passive gain.(3) A preamp will in most cases NOT improve your reception quality, it will only compensate for long line losses. It will amplify the signal as well as the noise, but if designed correctly, only adds a small amount of additional noise to the signal (the so called “noise figure”). Once a certain minimum signal level is reached (typically greater than -60 dBm, but it does vary with each TV), it’s the signal-to-noise ratio that’s important.Right now I have two antennas on my roof- a UHF antenna from this vendor, and a VHF YAGI that…well, let’s say may not be in total compliance with the HoA police (depends how you measure it…;o). This new antenna is my backup plan, and before I get to the testing let me say it looks like a winner.For all the pictures shown I used an RF Explorer Handheld Spectrum Analyzer (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0789D75S5/), which I highly recommend by the way for anyone doing any serious antenna work. The noise baseline for the analyzer is about -120 dBm. The first two pictures are taken with an antenna height (AGL) of about 15 feet with no amplifier. The third picture has the amp (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SRP6X7Q) installed. All pictures are taken in the late evening.The first picture (RF cursor at 194.736 MHz) shows my VHF reception in my back yard on my deck. Not being thrilled with that result, I took the antenna and mounted it in my front yard on my garage, again about 15 ft AGL. The second picture (RF cursor at 189.54 MHz) shows that result, a significant improvement (lower peak noise and the preamp installed- a preview of my preamp review) but not a permanent solution since the UHF TV tower is blocked. It does go to show you, however, that antenna location is a CRITICAL parameter. I’m guessing that when I get to mount this antenna on my roof (about 40 ft AGL), the S/N results will be comparable, and the signal amplitude will be stronger. My UHF reception with the antenna pointed optimally for the VHF transmitter is shown in the third photograph (RF cursor at 497.852 MHz).Will I need a preamp for the 40 ft+ cable run in a final install? That will be an edit for a future date.So what does all this tell you? In my opinion, this antenna is an excellent performer for its size. Nothing I can do about the local RFI except turn off my Solar PV system if I’m desperate for daytime network TV (which I’m not). This antenna is definitely a keeper for me, I give it 5 stars. Once I convince a young hardbody in the neighborhood to do some roof work for me, I’ll report back on any significant changes.

Order received on time, no damage in shipping, product looked and worked as advertised.

Wow, it’s official, I love my PBD Digital HD Yagi Antenna and PBD HDTV Preamplifier combo! I installed them on my roof in Eastern Iowa 2 weeks ago and have had flawless digital TV reception since then. I struggled with intermittent spotty TV reception and image pixelation for years on my favorite channels. My PBD antenna + preamplifier combo solved these reception issues and I can watch any of my 39 channels anytime with clear reception. I waited for 2 weeks to write this review so I could experience reception in a wide variety of weather conditions and reception has been great throughout this entire period. I highly recommend getting & installing this equipment. A huge bonus is the tremendous customer support and practical guidance I received from Bill and the PBD team. Working with Bill and installing & using my PBD equipment is the best online customer experience I have ever had.I started my PBD journey by installing their preamp to boost the signal of my existing antenna, located on a 5-foot pole on the peak of my roof, 20 feet above the ground. The antenna cable from my roof routs to a 2-outlet splitter mounted on the exterior of my house with one cable going to the basement and one to the main floor. I needed to change this splitter to get one that allows power pass so that the PBD preamp located on the roof can receive power through the splitter from the power source inside my house. Bill helped me with this via email & even offered to send me a free PBD splitter with power pass, but I had already purchased one for $6. Once the preamp was installed, I continued having reception problems and Bill determined my existing 2-antenna (see old antenna photo) array on a single pole was probably causing signal interference. Bill suggested using the compact PBD Yagi antenna (see Yagi antenna photo with black preamp attached to the pole just under the antenna) and told me to set it facing Northwest. After watching PBD’s assembly and installation video, I was able to easily install the Yagi antenna on my existing antenna pole. From the moment I rescanned channels on both TVs, after installing the PBD antenna & preamp, my reception problems vanished and I have enjoyed glorious, interruption-free reception. The compact Yagi antenna also looks much better!Both the PBD preamp and Yagi antenna are well made, with easy installation instructions and come with all the necessary cables, brackets and materials to make installation a breeze. Bravo to PBD for great products & support.

Small wind load and best I found for a rear boom mount TV antenna. Installed it on chimney on a piece of Rohn 25 tower. Works well compared to a longer boom, narrower beam width antenna a storm took down. I actually get more channels now than with higher gain/narrow beam width antenna.